- Sep 21, 2001
- 18,447
- 133
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An opinion columnist from the San Francisco Chronicle. -
"A different fighting spirit"
Joan Ryan
The open letter appeared in January in Israeli newspapers. It didn't mention Americans or our war on terrorism, but it carried a message for us nonetheless.
The letter called Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza dehumanizing to both Palestinians and Israelis -- not such an unusual point of view. But this letter was different.
It was signed by 52 reserve soldiers, men who had fought for the Israeli army and were still called on periodically to patrol the occupied territories. The 52 declared publicly their refusal ever to go again.
"We will continue to serve in the army when it concerns defending the state of Israel but not in the task of oppression and occupation of the Palestinians, " the reservists wrote. "We combat officers and soldiers . . . whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this occupation exacts from both sides . . . hereby declare . . . that the mission of the occupation and oppression does not serve (Israel's defense)."
Their extraordinary defiance set off a debate about individual morality and civic duty in a country where military service is mandatory. It challenges the traditional definition of conscientious objector: These men aren't pacifists. They have no religious objection to violence and killing. Rather, they are opposed to a particular objective.
They are, in essence, trying to influence policy by defying the cardinal rule of military service: unquestioning obedience.
"If they want to make changes, they should run for office," one critic was quoted as saying. Others have called the soldiers "a gang of garbage" and "miserable traitors." They say soldiers can't pick and choose where they will serve without crippling the military and endangering the country.
"There's no room for draft resistance in a democratic state at war," said Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, calling the soldiers' actions a mutiny.
Yet despite such denunciations, despite threats of demotions and jail, despite the rapidly increasing violence between Israelis and Palestinians, more reservists are adding their names to the letter -- 332 at last count (posted at www.seruv.org). It is still a tiny number, but revolutions have begun with less.
"You are the beacons that may guide Israel back to sanity," a supporter wrote in an online forum.
No matter how much these resisters accomplish, the world should take notice.
Soldiers are the ones who must carry out the ideas that spring from the heads of politicians. For soldiers, the war isn't a map with color-coded pins standing in for actual neighborhoods. They smell the bodies in the streets and see the mother bent over her dead child and hear the cries of a father watching his home bulldozed into splinters.
Instead of undermining democracy, conscientious objectors like these 332 men strengthen it. They can serve to remind the country of its values when it has lost its way. They speak from experience, not just ideology. They hold up a lens through which we can see a different war than the conflict the leaders portray. They remind us that even in war there are lines a civilized society should not cross.
It's a lesson the United States should absorb as it digs deeper into the war on terrorism, a war likely to expand beyond Afghanistan's borders. As do all wars, this one will demand horrible acts of its participants; it is the price of engagement. And the price of might is, for the individual soldier, submission. A soldier must obey commands because single-minded purpose is an army's strongest weapon.
But even in fighting for a just cause, soldiers -- who are, after all, still human beings -- must feel obligated to prevent the persecution and mistreatment of civilians and to resist policies that exceed the bounds of decency.
"They are turning us into animals," one Israeli reservist wrote. "They are giving free rein to the most sadistic elements among us. We are not prepared to be part of this."
I hope American soldiers never feel the awful regret and resentment felt by those 332 Israelis. I hope they never face situations that challenge their moral codes. And I hope, as they board planes to faraway lands in pursuit of justice, they don't believe that when they pulled on their uniforms, they had to leave their values and judgment in a drawer back home.
"A different fighting spirit"
Joan Ryan
The open letter appeared in January in Israeli newspapers. It didn't mention Americans or our war on terrorism, but it carried a message for us nonetheless.
The letter called Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza dehumanizing to both Palestinians and Israelis -- not such an unusual point of view. But this letter was different.
It was signed by 52 reserve soldiers, men who had fought for the Israeli army and were still called on periodically to patrol the occupied territories. The 52 declared publicly their refusal ever to go again.
"We will continue to serve in the army when it concerns defending the state of Israel but not in the task of oppression and occupation of the Palestinians, " the reservists wrote. "We combat officers and soldiers . . . whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this occupation exacts from both sides . . . hereby declare . . . that the mission of the occupation and oppression does not serve (Israel's defense)."
Their extraordinary defiance set off a debate about individual morality and civic duty in a country where military service is mandatory. It challenges the traditional definition of conscientious objector: These men aren't pacifists. They have no religious objection to violence and killing. Rather, they are opposed to a particular objective.
They are, in essence, trying to influence policy by defying the cardinal rule of military service: unquestioning obedience.
"If they want to make changes, they should run for office," one critic was quoted as saying. Others have called the soldiers "a gang of garbage" and "miserable traitors." They say soldiers can't pick and choose where they will serve without crippling the military and endangering the country.
"There's no room for draft resistance in a democratic state at war," said Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, calling the soldiers' actions a mutiny.
Yet despite such denunciations, despite threats of demotions and jail, despite the rapidly increasing violence between Israelis and Palestinians, more reservists are adding their names to the letter -- 332 at last count (posted at www.seruv.org). It is still a tiny number, but revolutions have begun with less.
"You are the beacons that may guide Israel back to sanity," a supporter wrote in an online forum.
No matter how much these resisters accomplish, the world should take notice.
Soldiers are the ones who must carry out the ideas that spring from the heads of politicians. For soldiers, the war isn't a map with color-coded pins standing in for actual neighborhoods. They smell the bodies in the streets and see the mother bent over her dead child and hear the cries of a father watching his home bulldozed into splinters.
Instead of undermining democracy, conscientious objectors like these 332 men strengthen it. They can serve to remind the country of its values when it has lost its way. They speak from experience, not just ideology. They hold up a lens through which we can see a different war than the conflict the leaders portray. They remind us that even in war there are lines a civilized society should not cross.
It's a lesson the United States should absorb as it digs deeper into the war on terrorism, a war likely to expand beyond Afghanistan's borders. As do all wars, this one will demand horrible acts of its participants; it is the price of engagement. And the price of might is, for the individual soldier, submission. A soldier must obey commands because single-minded purpose is an army's strongest weapon.
But even in fighting for a just cause, soldiers -- who are, after all, still human beings -- must feel obligated to prevent the persecution and mistreatment of civilians and to resist policies that exceed the bounds of decency.
"They are turning us into animals," one Israeli reservist wrote. "They are giving free rein to the most sadistic elements among us. We are not prepared to be part of this."
I hope American soldiers never feel the awful regret and resentment felt by those 332 Israelis. I hope they never face situations that challenge their moral codes. And I hope, as they board planes to faraway lands in pursuit of justice, they don't believe that when they pulled on their uniforms, they had to leave their values and judgment in a drawer back home.
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