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Last update - 00:00 13/07/2005
Five Givati soldiers refuse to follow pullout-related orders
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers serving in the Givati infantry regiment refused Wednesday morning orders related to the disengagement. Their commander ordered the five tropps to participate in the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip preventing the entry of non-resident Israelis, following Prime Minsiter's Ariel Sharon's order declaring the area a closed military zone.

IDF GOC Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Dan Harel said that the five will be put to trial and will be dealt with in the same manner previous refuseniks were handled. He also said he is aware that all five "came from a particular place," meaning they all came from the hesder yeshiva in the West Bank Elon Moreh settlement near Nablus. Hesder Yeshivas offer religious soldiers a military service combining torah studies.

Harel refused to define the organized refusal as mutinous, and said that the nature of this refusal will be examined.
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This has been the third case in recent weeks of soldiers refusing orders related to the disengagement.

The first disengagement refusnik Corporal Avi Bieber, refused in late June to partake of the demolition of houses erected by settlers in a Gush Katif illegal outpost. He was sentenced for 56 days in jail in a second trial after the military prosecution proved the initial legal proceedings were faulty.

Several days later Haim Atar, who served in the armory corps, refused to participate in blocading an area around the illegal outpost Maoz Hayam. Atar was sentenced for 21 days in prison.

In the previous blocade imposed by the army on Gush Katif settlers, the Givati regiment commanders chose not to engage the platoon in which the five refusniks serve.

Halutz: We will not tolerate refusals
On Tuesday the IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz told the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs committee "we will not tolerate the phenomenon of refusal, even if we'll have to close down units.

Halutz emphasized he is determined to respond harshly to any case of refusal by soldiers with right-wing or left-wing affiliations.

So far 30 cases of order refusal or intentioned refusal have beed recorded but the chief of staff called this phenonmenon "minor."

Speaking in relation to the implementation of the disengagement Halutz said "the work assumption is that the disengagement will be coordinated but will take place under fire." He guaranteed that "the IDF will respond where it should respond and not where it is expected to respond."
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