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The territories are not
Israel
The following is the text of the letter published in the
Israeli press Jan. 25. As NCR went to press, 104 soldiers had
signed.
- We, reserve combat officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense
Forces;
- Who were raised upon the principles of Zionism, sacrifice and
giving to the people of Israel and to the state of Israel, who have always
served in the front lines, and who were the first to carry out any mission,
light or heavy, in order to protect the state of Israel and strengthen it;
- We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of
Israel for long weeks every year, in spite of the dear cost to our personal
lives, have been on reserve duty all over the occupied territories, and were
issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our
country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the
Palestinian people. We, whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this occupation
exacts from both sides;
- We, who sensed how the commands issued to us in the territories
destroy all the values we had absorbed while growing up in this country;
- We, who understand now that the price of occupation is the loss
of [the Israel Defense Forces] human character and the corruption of the
entire Israeli society;
- We, who know that the territories are not Israel, and that all
settlements are bound to be evacuated in the end;
- We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War
of the Settlements. We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in
order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.
- We hereby declare that we shall continue serving in the Israel
Defense Forces in any mission that serves Israels defense. The missions
of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose and we shall take no
part in them.
Related Web site:
Letter and
signatories www.seruv.org
National Catholic Reporter, February 8,
2002
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