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| By israelinsider staff January 9, 2005 |
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Six reserve Israeli army officers were dismissed from command roles Monday after they indicated they would refuse to carry out orders to evacuate Jewish settlements, defining such a move as "completely illegal."
The punishment was the first such move by the military in connection with the government's plan to evacuate all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank this summer.
Settlers and their backers hotly oppose the plan, and the officers signed a letter identifying with the settlers' argument that soldiers must defy such orders because they are illegal.
Among the six removed from command positions on Monday were five lieutenant colonels, considered a senior rank. However, their stripes were not removed and they were not dismissed from service, though the army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, said after the letter was delivered last week that they had no place in the military.
Another 28 officers who signed the letter opposing the evacuation will be summoned to a hearing and face similar measures, the army said in a statement.
On the other side of the political spectrum, several hundred Israeli soldiers have been jailed for refusing to serve in the West Bank and Gaza, opposing Israel's presence there. In 2003, 27 air force pilots wrote a letter saying they would not take part in missions in the Palestinian areas, and the nine still on active duty were dismissed from the air force.
After meeting with the six officers for several hours late Sunday, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski, the top commander in the West Bank, informed them they were being thrown out of the army.
The officers had handed over a new letter stating that they do not support dissension in military ranks, but wanted to stick to the wording in their initial statement, which called an order to evacuate settlements "completely illegal."
According to Israeli army regulations, a soldier is morally obligated to disobey an order that is defined "completely illegal," such as an order to execute a prisoner.
When the officers refused to back down, Kaplinski decided "to dismiss them from their jobs and from any other officer position for an unlimited time," the army said in a statement.
"The general and the army emphasize that they view very seriously any call to insubordination and any use of ranks for political purposes," the statement said.
Heads of the Jewish settler establishment recently warned that hundreds, and possibly thousands, of soldiers could refuse to carry out the evacuation.
Settler leaders have said that hundreds and perhaps thousands of soldiers would refuse to take part in removal of settlements. The Israeli plan would mark the first time the government was removing veteran settlements from the West Bank or Gaza.
In a meeting with soldiers on Sunday, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said of the officers who signed the letter: "We don't want them among us."
Yaalon ordered officers on Sunday to remind their soldiers that they are barred from all political activity, including signing petitions.
"The army has no room for insubordination, there is no room for using ranks for political means, even when we are talking about reserve officers," Yaalon said.
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