OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, September 4 (IslamOnline & New Agencies) - A group of Israeli soldiers refusing to serve in the occupied Palestinian territories submitted Wednesday, September 4, an unprecedented petition to the Supreme Court asking it to rule that the Israeli occupation is illegal, hence their objection to serve is legal.

In a statement issued before the case was filed at Israel's highest legal authority, the Ometz Lesarev ("Courage to Refuse" in Hebrew) group said their refusal "to serve in the occupied territories is legal and imperative, because the entire occupation has become illegal over the past two years," Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"The Israeli occupation has over the past two years become a mechanism of collective punishment of the civilian population. The state of Israel abrogates its duties - as demanded by international and Israeli law - to take care of the Palestinian population living under occupation," the petition says.

The Israeli army’s activities "have a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians," the petitioners wrote, the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported. "For this reason, the occupation is illegal."

The Israeli army has reoccupied most of the West Bank since June 19, keeping at least 700,000 people under regular curfews and completely disrupting their lives.

The eight petitioners, who hold ranks ranging from staff sergeant to major, are among more than 100 conscientious objectors to have come forward in recent months. All of them have been punished with jail terms for refusing to serve in the occupied territories.

They are headed by Lieutenant David Zonshein, 29, a software engineer, who said that during a reserve stint in the Gaza Strip in November 2001, he was forced to hold up Palestinian traffic, including ambulances, at a makeshift checkpoint.

"I don't know how many people died because of the 200 ambulances I delayed there," Haaretz quoted him as saying. "This made me realize there is no way to have an enlightened occupation," he added.

Zonshein was sentenced to 35 days in military prison for refusing two months ago to do reserve duty.

The petition, the first ever requesting that the Supreme Court rule on the legality of the occupation, includes a detailed account of the occupation army's activities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip based on reports by various organizations as well as testimonies by soldiers and officers.