Growing
numbers of Israeli troops reject occupation of Arab territories.
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM,
June 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Israeli reserve army
officer was sent to prison for the second time in 10 months for
refusing to serve in Palestinian occupied territories, a report said
Friday, June 7, 2002.
Captain
Yosef Sandik, 38, was sentenced to 28 days in military prison for
insubordination after he refused to join his unit, according to
Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz.
Sandik,
a marketing manager from Tel Aviv, refused to report for duty even
though his unit was not scheduled to be posted over the Green Lines
into the
West Bank
or Gaza Strip, the paper said.
He
was sentenced to a 14-day-term last September for refusing to serve in
the territories, where the Palestinians waged their Intifada against
Israeli occupation since September 2000.
His
friends said he was offered another job for the month of service - if
he didn't speak to the press about the refusal - but then the army
withdrew the offer.
Because
Sandik’s refused to serve he was sent to military prison 6,
according to the paper.
The
Israeli military has in recent months stiffened its attitude towards
the reservist "refuseniks" after initially turning a blind
eye.
A total of 467 reserve officers and soldiers signed a petition
testifying they will not serve in the Palestinian occupied
territories, according to the movement's organizers. More than two
dozen have been sentenced to military prison terms usually between two
weeks and one month.
Military service is compulsory in
Israel
, with 18-year-old men serving for three years and 18-year-old women
serving 21 months. Men are also required to serve in the reserves for
more than a month a year up until the age of 49.
