ISRAEL: ISRAELI ARMY 'REFUSENIKS' AND SETTLERS STAGE RIVAL POTESTS ON EDGE OF GAZA STRIP

Record ID: 400489

  • Title: ISRAEL: ISRAELI ARMY 'REFUSENIKS' AND SETTLERS STAGE RIVAL POTESTS ON EDGE OF GAZA STRIP
  • Date: 16th January 2004
  • Summary: (EU) KISUFIM CHECKPOINT, ISRAEL (JANUARY 16, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV OF DEMONSTRATION BY ABOUT 100 PEOPLE, INCLUDING 70 SOLDIERS, AGAINST ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF WEST BANK 0.04 2. SV PLACARDS READING: "REFUSING FOR ISRAEL", "IT'S NOT GOING TO END IF WE DON'T REFUSE", "I'M NOT WILLING TO KILL FOR YOU" 0.08 3. CU ISRAELI FLAG, PROTE
  • Embargoed: 31st January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KISUFIM CHECKPOINT, ISRAEL
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVAE4ZL5XEV81UL2GB0Q4B5RO18U
  • Story Text: Israeli army 'refuseniks', settlers stage rival
    protests on edge of Gaza strip




    A group of about 70 Israeli reserve soldiers who
    refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories, backed up by
    as many peace activists took their demands for peace to the
    heart of settler territory on Friday (January 16) by
    staging a demonstration at the main entrance to settlements
    in the Gaza Strip.

    Facing them on the other side of the road at the
    Kissufim Checkpoint that is the gateway to the Gaza
    settlements, an equal number of settlers protested in
    support of demands for Israel to hold on to its settlements.

    Organisers of the so-called 'refuseniks' demonstration
    said this was the first time that soldiers from different
    units had come together to oppose Israel's policy in Gaza
    and the West Bank.

    Waving banners that read: "I'm not killing for you",
    the soldiers and peace activists called on the Israeli
    government to withdraw from the Territories. They say the
    army should be one to defend the borders of the State of
    Israel and should not venture beyond Israel's 1967 borders.

    The 'refuseniks' are a tiny minority of the population.

    But their ranks have grown slowly as Israel has become
    embroiled in the three-year-old Palestinian uprising.

    Several of the participants said were former helicopter
    pilots, who are occasionally called on to carry out
    targeted assassinations of Palestinian militants.

    Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon raised
    the possiblity that the army could one day leave Gaza. At
    present, several hundred troops guard the settlement
    complexes inside the narrow strip of land and come under
    almost daily fire from Palestinian militants who say that
    they are fighting an army of occupation.

    Israeli men normally serve three years' military
    service and are obliged by law to be available for one
    month's reserve duty a year.





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