Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 11:50:04 -0500
From: txliberty@hotmail.com ("Terry L Parker")
Subject: [libs4peace] Israeli Soldiers For Peace In Palestine on CBS
To: lptexas@lptexas.org

[a topic for 'Chat&Chew' in Austin  at Hickory St Grill (11th & Congress) -Terry
]  

Sunday  CBS on 60 Minutes: Israeli Soldiers for Peace in Palestine

 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/02/60minutes/main507886.shtml

CBS) Yaniv Iczkovics and David Zonsheine, Israeli paratroopers, served a tour
in the Gaza Strip last December and say their presence there caused impoverished
Palestinians additional hardship. 

That=92s why they are leading a 450-strong group of Israeli soldiers who won=92t
fight in Gaza or the Wes Bank, reports correspondent Bob Simon, who 
interviewed the two in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for 60 Minutes. The interview
is to be aired Sunday, May 5, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. 

Members of the group are considered heroes by some and traitors by others.


=93I felt like what I was doing was wrong,=94 says Iczkovics. =93Our presence
there simply causes an impossible situation for their normal life.=94 The
two discussed their reservations among other soldiers and eventually more
joined their movement to refuse to fight in the Occupied Territories. 

Amit Mashiah tells Simon of a confrontation with an old Palestinian woman an
incident that he said helped convince him to become a Refusenik. 

=93There was an old lady who ran to me and spat in my face. It=92s a dangerous
situation. You=92ve got your soldiers behind you seeing you=92ve been spat
in the face and what do you do?=94 Mashiah asks. He tells Simon that he
=93shoved her real hard,=94 and says it was worse for him to shove her than
it was to have been spatupon. =93It was a terrible thing to do,=94 he says.


The Refuseniks have caused no shortage of soldiers in Israel. In fact, many
more volunteers have emerged since the Palestinian suicide bombings were stepped
up. Their numbers are small, but because many come from elite units,
they must be taken seriously, says Dr. Yoram Ezrahi, a political scientist.
=93The leadership cannot afford to ignore [Refuseniks],=94 says Ezrahi, who
has served as a strategic analyst for the Israeli Army chief of staff. 
=93My impression was that the leaders of the Israeli Army are definitely taking
this message very=85seriously.=94 

But a member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon=92s cabinet says that among the
Israeli people, the Refuseniks are an aberration, an embarrassment to Israel.
=93They are objectors without any conscience,=94 says Limor Livnat. =93I
believe that the vast majority of Israelis really believe that now we have
to=85defend ourselves=85make sure that there will be o bombers any more.=94



=A9 MMII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved


PeaceInTheHeartOfTexas,
Terry Liberty Parker
AustinVoiceCall 1.512.494.9176
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