Israel: Mothers call on their children to refuse occupation

We, Mothers Against Violence, call on our children to refuse regular and reserve army service in the occupied territories, for the following reasons

1. Israeli law stipulates that the army’s presence in the occupied territories is “temporary”. The 56 years that have elapsed since the occupation began, have made it, for all intents and purposes, “permanent”. Therefore, without an official  government decision specifying otherwise, service in the occupied territories is illegal.
2. The current heads of the army and security services declared in June that settler violence against Palestinians is “nationalist terrorism”.  Despite this, army soldiers are still providing security for violent settlers. This puts them at risk of arrest and trial abroad, and traumatizes them for life.
3. The anti-democratic legislation just passed by this government removes judicial checks and balances on government decisions, enabling the government to give the army unreasonable and illegal orders, and compounding the risk of international prosecution for the soldiers.

See their Petition on their website. Read article by Refuser Solidarity Network.