NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Senior spokesman for Yesh Gvul,
Ram Rahat, speaks in Bunche Hall Monday
afternoon.
By Andrew Edwards
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]
For some people, battle lines are not always clearly drawn.
In an a noontime event at Bunche Hall Monday, Ishai Sagi and Ram
Rahat told an audience of about forty about their refusals to serve
with the Israeli Defense Forces in the occupied territories. Both
speakers also stated their support for Israel’s right to
national defense.
Ishai Sagi spoke first and prefaced his remarks by declaring his
support for the state of Israel.
“I’m a very strong Zionist. Israel is the only
country in the world a Jew can live in peace and not be
persecuted,” Sagi said.
He also denounced people he calls “liars” who claim
that Israeli troops committed a massacre at Jenin or that Israel
targets Palestinian civilians. These people do more to promote war
than peace, he said.
Sagi, who was drafted into the IDF at the age of 18, and
eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant, developed a moral
opposition to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. He
recalled an episode where he held a gun on a Palestinian family
while another soldier searched their home for weapons. He said his
greatest fear is that the child who saw him that night would grow
up to become a suicide bomber.
Though many believe that only terrorists are to blame for their
attacks, Sagi said that the Israeli presence in Palestinian
territories can provoke Palestinian terrorists.
“We are teaching them to hate us. We are teaching them to
be terrorists. We are doing this to ourselves,” he said.
Sagi was sentenced to a 26-day prison term after refusing to
report to duty in the occupied territories. He said he would have
served along Israel’s borders, but not in territories gained
in the 1967 war.
Ram Rahat, a spokesman for Yesh Gvul, a group that supports
soldiers that Rahat calls “refuseniks,” himself refused
to fight in the 1982 war with Lebanon.
Rahat clarified that Yesh Gvul ““ which in English
translates to “There is a limit!” ““ is not an
organization for conscientious objectors, but for soldiers that
specifically oppose the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
“We’re not pacifists saying there is no role for the
army,” he said.
Rahat expressed his belief that Israeli occupation of
Palestinian territories hurts both sides.
“We have no reason to be there … It’s bad for
Palestinians. It’s bad for Israelis. There is no enlightened
occupation,” he said.
Yesh Gvul, Rahat said, has for 19 years approached soldiers and
others in Israel’s security establishment asking Israel
“not to take part in the occupation.”
The group also seeks a return to the 1967 borders, he said.
The number of refusals in the IDF has increased, Rahat said. He
also mentioned that the penalties for refusal are relatively mild
““ refuseniks face short jail sentences, a few social
repercussions in civilian life and are not even stripped of rank,
Rahat said.
Rahat was not even jailed for his refusal, but was transferred
to Tel Aviv where he worked with medical supplies.
No one in the audience spoke in favor of the Israeli military
presence in Palestinian territories, though one attendee disputed
the point that Israeli policies were responsible for terrorism,
insisting that terrorists themselves make the choice to attack.
Another attendee took issue with Sagi’s claim that
Palestinian schools teach children to hate. The same man brought
flowers for both speakers and embraced Rahat after his
presentation.
The event was sponsored by the Los Angeles branch of Women in
Black, an international, anti-war group that has held peace vigils
in Israel since 1988.