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"Is it moral in your eyes to conduct a body search on a woman who has just given birth at the road block, with the baby still attached to her by the umbilical cord? Is it moral in your eyes to deny treatment to cancer patients? Is it moral in your eyes to deny food and water supplies to Palestinian towns and villages?
Is it moral in your eyes to prevent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from earning a decent living?
"Is it moral in your eyes to repress 1.5 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, merely to meet the whims of the 5,000 settlers of Gush Katif?"
-from a Yesh Gvul leaflet circulated to Israeli soldiers at bus and military transport stations
There is nothing uncommon about activists from Yesh Gvul posing difficult moral and political questions to Israeli conscripts and reservists about the nature and purpose of their military service. They've being doing that for the past twenty years. Established in 1982 in response to Israel's devastating invasion of Lebanon, this Israeli organization, whose name means "There is a Limit," has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of soldiers who refuse to obey illegal commands or who are being used to further military and political ends that have no tangible relationship to Israel's national security or to the cause of peace.
Since the eruption of the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2000, Yesh Gvul has emerged again as the leading champion of soldiers caught between the dictates of conscience and a highly militarized state waging a savage war against 3 million Palestinians under occupation. With a core group of approximately 30 organizers, it has successfully mobilized hundreds of sympathizers to attend rallies, demonstrations,...