In January, a group of Israeli soldiers decided they would no longer fight in the Occupied Territories — areas settled since their acquisition during the 1967 Six Day War.

They published a letter that declared, “We shall continue to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in any mission that serves Israel’s defence. The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose — and we shall take no part in them.”

One of the signers was Elad Lahav, 27. This veteran of the war in Lebanon is a Staff Sergeant in the IDF Infantry Reserves. On March 18, he was sentenced to twenty-eight days’ imprisonment for refusing to serve in Hebron.

This month, Elad Lahav was in Toronto.

James Terral: Why did you decide stop fighting for the Occupation?

Elad Lahav: We were [in Ramallah] for about a month. Though we did not commit atrocities or war crimes, it was all about harassing the civilian population. It was done in the name of security for Israeli settlements. Those settlements began after 1967 as a movement that claimed as part of Israel the territories occupied during the war.

The motives are mainly religious. Some people in Israel saw the great victory in 1967 — when in justsix days the major Arab armies were crushed — as a heavenly miracle. The more extremist among them saw this as the beginning of the Apocalypse. They thought God was signalling that He wanted the Jews to have the entire land as was prophesied in the Old Testament.

For me, as a secular person, it is hard to agree. If the settlers were not there, we could have had peace a long time ago. In Ramallah, we were basically there to protect them. It had nothing to do with the security of people in Israel. My company and I were mostly stationed in roadblocks and outposts on the outskirts of Ramallah. Since 1994, Ramallah has been controlled by the Palestinian Authority and Israelis cannot enter.

James Terral: Ramallah is Area A? [Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, areas designated “A” were acknowledged to be under Palestinian control.]

Elad Lahav: Yeah. We were exactly on the border of Area A, between Ramallah and the Jewish settlements that surround it. We were manning roadblocks where we had to monitor Palestinians’ vehicles going from Jericho to Ramallah. We had to search these vehicles and take people’s identification cards and passports for examination. Sometimes, when the General for the entire area ordered it, we turned people back.

It created difficult situations. The distance between Jericho and Ramallah is about an hour’s drive. But because of the roadblocks, people may have been travelling for five hours … and just before reaching Ramallah were not allowed to enter the Palestinian section and forced to turn back.

James Terral: Jericho is also in Area A?

Elad Lahav: All major Palestinian cities are now Area A. Only the rural area is controlled by Israel.

James Terral: So the space between these two cities was controlled by Israel … but the cities themselves were controlled by the Palestinian Authority?

Elad Lahav: This is why many Israelis feel that the Palestinians were already given independence. They do not understand the difference between an independent state and a group of independent cities. If you live in a cityand cannot get out — or if you are always stopped and harassed by soldiers — you can hardly call it an independent state. It’s municipal autonomy, but nothing more. Many Israelis do not understand this.

These were my experiences. I did not take part in door-to-door searches. But I saw it, and it made me very uncomfortable.

The big dilemma is that we actually have terrorism in Israel. It’s not some fairy tale. It actually happens. So you’re torn between (a) anger and the desire to protect your fellow citizens, and (b) the means the army or the state tells you to take, which you know have nothing to do with the security of Israel. These means only perpetuate the conquest of the occupation.

James Terral: What are the consequences of your decision to refuse?

Elad Lahav: My commanding officer tried to get me a non-combat job for this reserve duty — guarding a facility inside the Occupied Territories. I had already told him I would not do anything outside the 1967 borders. So when he could not find me another post, I went to the battalion commander. I was tried and sent to military prison for 28 days.

Twenty-eight days in military prison: it’s not such a great punishment when you think about other rebels in history. Our main punishment is the way society treats us. An officer who has fought in Lebanon for what he thinks was the defence of Israel — he’s now being called a traitor. This is very difficult.

James Terral: Describe your refusenik movement.

Elad Lahav: It’s not really a movement yet. It’s a bunch of guys. And it’s not pacifism. We would all like to be pacifists, but we can see that Israel is still being threatened. I believe that when you are threatened, you have to defend yourself. The only question is what you do to defend yourself — and whether your acts are actually defence or aggression.

We love Israel. We want to be Israelis. We want to serve Israel — as long as it is in a moral context, as long as we are not oppressors, as long as we do not serve the occupation. Because the occupation has nothing to do with the defence of Israel.

So the letter came. It was publicized some months ago with only 50 signers who initiated this whole process.

James Terral: This is clearly a moral crisis. What is it about for you?

Elad Lahav: I am affiliated with both Zionism and socialism, and the two tend to contradict each other. On the one hand, we want a Jewish homeland. On the other hand, we want it to be just.

You have this dualism throughout Israeli history, especially through the history of its left wing. The right wing in Israel wants a Jewish state, period. But we on the left want it to be a moral example. We want Israel to become the catalyst of regional prosperity, along with our Arab neighbours. This is something that you have to manoeuvre between — these two angers, these two points of view.

James Terral: How can people support the refuseniks?

Elad Lahav: Before anyone supports me or any group, I want them to understand the situation. A lot of statements from both sides are based on ignorance. I hear things that really make me angry.

James Terral: Like what?

Elad Lahav: On one side, there are accusations about the Israeli army using the tactics of the Nazis. This is completely ignorant — because either you do not know what the Holocaust is all about, or you are not familiar with the Israeli-Arab conflict. There have been atrocities on both sides. None of them reaches the level of the Holocaust. This should not be used as an issue in the debate at all.

From another side, you hear statements like, “Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, and there were no Arabs when the first Jews came back from Europe.” This is nonsense as well.

You have to get familiar with the conflict before you make a stand. Even if you make a stand that supports me, if it comes from ignorance, I will not support it.