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CNN Live At Daybreak

Number of Israeli Reservists Refusing to Serve Rising

Aired March 21, 2002 - 06:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: U.S.-mediated talks between Israelis and Palestinians are to resume later today, and a cease-fire agreement is expected before Monday. The two sides have been arguing over who should take the first step. They have been doing that for years.

In the meantime, Israel today staged more raids in three West Bank villages. Our Christiane Amanpour has been touring the West Bank with members of the Israeli armed forces. She reports on the growing number of reservists refusing to serve in the Palestinian territory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On patrol in the West Bank with the reserve unit of the Israeli defense forces.

ERAN ELIAS, RESERVIST, ISRAEL ARMY: The problem is that it's not a regular war. It's very hard to distinguish between a person and between a terrorist.

AMANPOUR: Captain Eran Elias admits that for the Israeli military, every Palestinian is a suspect these days. He and his fellow reservists at this base believe that now, more than ever, they have a duty to serve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three weeks a year, one month a year, I see myself as a soldier that defends my country.

DAN SWIRSKY, RESERVIST, ISRAELI ARMY: My job is to protect civilians from people who would harm them.

AMANPOUR: But there is another debate gathering steam here, which the night before got a rare public airing. The issue: Israelis refusing to be part of an occupying force in the Palestinian territories.

ISHAI MENUCHIN, CHAIRMAN, "THERE'S A LIMIT": Because occupation by definition is immoral and an undemocratic act. The territories, we are spending 35 years in the territories. There are almost more than 3 million Palestinians that live under occupations.

AMANPOUR: A new and younger group of reserve officers says the situation in the occupied territories is unethical, unbearable and unjustified. In just eight weeks since they posted this Web site, the number of reservists refusing to serve in the West Bank and Gaza has risen from a handful to 349.

A recent report on Israeli television caused a stir here with these images of Israeli soldiers after raiding a Palestinian refugee camp, confronting civilians who plead that they are unarmed, and an Israeli soldier lounging in a Palestinian living room saying, "I don't know what we are doing here."

(on camera): The so-called refuseniks say that the level of popular support in Israel for their right not to serve is increasing from 15 percent this January to 23 percent just a month later. But what's clear is that every time a suicide bomber goes into a cafe, a pizza parlor, or a discotheque and blows up innocent Israeli civilians, the refuseniks cause suffers irreparable harm.

(voice-over): Captain Elias says in these circumstances refusal is not an option.

ELIAS: This is every day. It's every day, because the Israeli population now is afraid to go to the streets.

AMANPOUR: Many reservists oppose occupation, settlement, demolishing Palestinian homes, and F-16 bombing raids, but they don't believe that the Palestinians are fighting against occupation or settlement; rather against Israel's very existence.

But the refuseniks counter that they are acting to preserve Israel's existence and its future by trying to bring both morality and security into the national debate.

Christian Amanpour, CNN, on the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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