By Kathleen Kern

“Already for years I know that I am not going to join the army. I know it with as much certainty as I know that I will never kick a homeless person lying on the sidewalk, never rape a woman, and when I will have a child — never abandon it.”

So testified 20-year-old Shimri Tzameret at an Israeli military court last June. He and four other defendants were among dozens of young people who have decided they will not submit to mandatory military service.

They choose conscientious objection knowing that most of their fellow Israelis will revile them for doing so and that they will be denied employment, housing and educational opportunities.

On Jan. 4, the Israeli military court sentenced Tzameret and the other four young men to a year in prison, without deducting the time they have already served.
The refusal of young people to participate in the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is part of a growing movement in Israel. In 2002, about 50 reserve officers and soldiers founded Courage to Refuse. They wrote: “We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.” Their letter has garnered signatures of more than 500 other reservists.

Most recently, some reservists from the elite Sayeret Matkal reconnaissance unit have also published an open letter stating their refusal to serve the occupation.

The refuseniks who have perhaps drawn the most Orwellian responses from the Israeli government are air force reservists. In September, 25 of them sent a petition to the air force commander saying they would not participate in the assassinations of Palestinian militants anymore, because these attacks nearly always killed innocent civilians. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon referred to the pilot’s letter as an attempt “to overthrow a democratically elected government.” That’s right: For refusing to assassinate people, the pilots stand accused of fomenting a coup.

Progressive Israelis have also leveled criticisms at the conscientious objectors. Some say that if ethical soldiers refuse to serve in the occupied territories, then no one will restrain unethical or immature soldiers from abusing Palestinians. When the occupation ends, soldiers committed to the fantasy of a greater Israel stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates may also refuse to evacuate the settlements for reasons of conscience.

Yet, even in the face of such criticisms, support among Israelis for the refuseniks has grown from the single digits a few months ago to 28 percent, according to a recent poll conducted by an Israeli newspaper.

I regard the growth of conscientious objection in Israel as one of the last straws of hope as the conflict continues to destroy lives and livelihoods.

The Israeli government announced Dec. 31 that it intends to increase the number of Israeli settlers in the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967, by 50 percent. The wall that the Israeli government is building in the West Bank continues to gobble up vast amounts of Palestinian land.

On Oct. 4 a Palestinian blew herself up at a restaurant in Haifa, killing 21 Israelis. On Dec. 25 a Palestinian blew himself up at a bus stop near Tel Aviv, killing 4 Israelis. Mainstream media called the time between a “period of relative calm,” despite the fact that Israeli violence killed 117 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians, (including 23 children) during this period.

We who come from a tradition that honors conscientious objection would do well to pray for the soldiers who are defying this deadly, dehumanizing course the Israeli government seems determined to follow. They have sacrificed reputations and opportunities for advancement in order to protect civilian life and save their country from self-destruction.