Five Israeli Youth on Trial for Refusing to Serve in Army of Occupation

The military trial of five Israeli high school students - Jonathan Ben-Artzi, Haggai Matar, Matan Kaminer, Shimri Tsameret, Adam Maor and Noam Bahat - who have refused to serve in the Israeli army resumed in July. These youth, members of the Shministim (Hebrew for 'high school') movement, face jail terms of up to five years for refusing military service, which is compulsory in Israel. Some of them have already spent months in jail awaiting trial.

The members of Shministim are part of the growing refusenik movement in Israel, which includes both conscientious objectors and members of the military who are refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories. The refusenik movement burst onto the scene when a handful of military officers and reservists came forward in 2000 and declared they would not serve as part of an "army of occupation". Their numbers have since grown to over 1,100 and their public questioning of Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem has exposed the deep contradictions that threaten to destroy Israel from within.

The trial of the five high school youth has received extensive coverage in the Israeli media, in part because one of the defendants, Jonathan Ben-Artzi, is the nephew of former-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is well known for his racist and xenophobic views.

The Shministim have published two open letters to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defending their cause, and these letters are being used as part of the case against them in military court. The second letter states: "The state of Israel commits war-crimes and tramples over human rights, destroying Palestinian cities, towns and villages; expropriating land, detaining and executing without trial, conducting mass-demolition of houses, businesses, and public institutions; looting, closure, curfew, torture, preventing the administration of medical care, constructing and expanding settlements. All these actions are opposed to human morality, and violate international treaties ratified by Israel. In these and other actions Israel systematically prevents Palestinians from maintaining any reasonable life. This reality leads to suffering, fear, and despair, which yield terror attacks. Therefore, the occupation is not only immoral; but it also damages the security of Israel's citizens and residents. Such security will be achieved only through a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians." Their letter also calls on other youth, conscripts, soldiers in the standing army and reservists to join them in their cause.

Four of the students are refusing to serve because of their opposition to the occupation and Israeli actions. The fifth, Ben-Artzi, is claiming exemption from military service on the basis of his pacifism. In 1995, the IDF established the Advisory Committee to the Minister of Defence on Exemption from Service (known as the "Conscience Committee"). The committee was established as part of the commitment Israel made when it signed and ratified the International Convention on Human Rights in 1966, which requires that provisions be made for conscientious objectors to avoid military conscription. However, according to IDF figures, of the 178 requests for pacifist exemption made by male conscripts or soldiers between 2000-2003, only 14, or eight percent, were released from service. When Ben-Artzi's case began to receive coverage in Israel and internationally, the IDF moved quickly to try and accommodate him with a placement in a military hospital. Ben-Artzi, however, has remained committed to defending his right to be recognized as a pacifist, and is being tried alongside his Shministim comrades, who are all refusing to serve in the IDF as long as the occupation continues.

Nothing has underscored the courage of the Shministim and other refuseniks more than chilling descriptions of the intimidation and humiliation that they will be subjected to. Many are threatened that they will have no future, no possibility of a job and be cut off forever from their families if they refuse to serve. Israeli Colonel Noam Burstein, head of the army's Conscript Division, was first to testify at the trial. During cross examination he euphemistically described the IDF's main method of dealing with refusniks as a "mixture of personal discussions and prison sentences" which often "convinces" the refusnik to change his or her mind.

Adam Maor, one of the first youth on trial to testify, provided numerous examples of well-documented human rights abuses that have been carried out by settlers and IDF soldiers against Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories. Learning about these atrocities, which are often whitewashed in the Israeli media, convinced him that he could not serve in the IDF. He said: "If you participate in the occupation you become responsible for it, responsible for the immoral acts perpetrated in the territories and responsible for the terrorist actions."

The trial is expected to continue throughout the summer.