[NYTr] Israeli Soldiers refuse to remove Hebron settlers

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AFP - Aug 6. 2007
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2749&click_id=2749&art_id=nw20070806152613455C645012&set_id=6


Soldiers refuse to remove Hebron settlers

Agence France-Presse

Jerusalem - Backed by rabbis and far-right MPs, about a dozen Israeli
soldiers are refusing to take part in a forced removal of settlers from
two houses in the West Bank flashpoint town of Hebron, the army said on
Monday.

The soldiers are among about 3 000 troops and border police due on
Tuesday to remove two families who for months have illegally squatted
inside two houses in Hebron's wholesale market.

The mutinous soldiers, most of them religious, have told their
commanding officers that they will refuse to join in the operation to
evacuate the Hebron market, the army said in a statement.

"A number of soldiers from the Kfir regiment training base protested
before their commanders this morning over the task they had been
given," it said.

'The head of the central army command General Gadi Shamni ordered the
court martial of "two company commanders and some 10 soldiers, who will
be removed from their unit," the army said in another statement.

"This is a dangerous phenomenon that threatens the very basis of the
army being the people's army in a democratic state," Shamni was quoted
as saying.

"There is only one commanding authority in the army and its soldiers
are not allowed to choose their tasks, as tough as they might be," the
statement said.

The army initially said that some 30 soldiers had refused to take part
in the forced removal.

The father of one of the troops, Moshe Rosenfeld, told army radio that
"dismantling Jewish colonies is not part of the missions that my son is
supposed to be doing.

"He has trained to become an elite sniper, carry out operations, but he
has not been educated to expel his brothers and he will not do so," he
said.

Zvi Handel, an extreme-right opposition lawmaker, expressed support for
the insubordinate soldiers.

"I am proud that we have soldiers who think before obeying illegal
orders and refuse to be part of a political game," he said.

Several rabbis close to the settler movement have also thrown their
weight behind the soldiers.

The families squatting in the market claim that the property is Jewish.
They received an evacuation order on Sunday to vacate the premises
within 48 hours.

The Israeli settlers in Hebron, long a flashpoint between Palestinians
and Israelis, are known for their extreme views and confrontational
methods, especially with their Palestinian neighbours.

Under an agreement with the Palestinian Authority, Israel evacuated 80
percent of Hebron in 1997, leaving a settlement of several hundred
Jewish settlers, protected by soldiers, around the Tomb of the
Patriarchs - a site holy to both Jews and Muslims.