GROUND BREAKING PETITION AGAINST THE LEGALITY OF THE OCCUPATION
Lieutenant (Res.) David Zonsheine and seven other reserve duty soldiers argue that “refusal is legal because the occupation of the last two years is illegal.”
On Wednesday, 4 September, at 09:00 a.m. Lieutenant David Zonsheine and seven IDF combat reserve soldiers, four of whom are also officers, will submit an unprecedented petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice (Supreme Court). The petitioners, all members of “Ometz Lesarev” and signatories of the “officers letter” have all been sentenced to prison terms, and claim that their refusal to serve in the occupied territories is legal and imperative, because the entire occupation has become illegal over the past two years.
A landmark petition:
– For the first time the Supreme Court is called upon to rule on the legality of the occupation.
– The first petition on conscientious objection in twenty years.
– The petition represents the first detailed presentation of the Israeli occupation and its full implications on the lives of ordinary Palestinians to the Supreme Court.
A comprehensive petition:
– The petition includes 26 reports from 14 different organizations that have monitored the occupation over the last two years.
– The petition includes 20 affidavits submitted by officers and soldiers that have served in the Occupied Territories during the current intidfada. Their vivid testimonies describe the routine of the occupation and the extensive violations of human rights that result from the occupation.
Advocate Michael Sfard, of Advocate Avigdor Feldman’s office, who is representing the petitioners: “For two years now the State of Israel has systematically violated the human rights of the Palestinian residents of the occupied territories and failed to fulfill its duties, as required by Israeli and international law. If the IDF wants to continue to punish soldiers who refuse to take part in the occupation and these violations it needs to prove the legality of the occupation.”
Lieutenant David Zonsheine, recently sentenced to 35 days in jail for refusing to serve in the Beit El region, and released after two weeks by order of the Supreme Court: “As someone who has dutifully served the IDF in my compulsory and reserve service, both in Lebanon and the Occupied Territories, I know that the duties imposed on IDF soldiers in the Occupied Territories are immoral and illegal. Moreover, they do not serve the security interests of my country. As a Jew, an Israeli and an IDF officer I refuse to take part in these activities.”
An extract from the petition: “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 IDF’s activities, notwithstanding the important goal of fighting terror, have a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. For this reason, the occupation is illegal, and as such it is no longer possible to distinguish between legal and illegal order.”
For additional comment:
Amit Mashiach – Ometz Lesarev spokesperson: 054 578822;
Adv. Michael Sfard, 054-713930.