Arab-Israeli leaders call for refusal to serve in IDF

In wake of the killing of five Israel Defense Forces soldiers from the Bedouin reconnaissance battalion last Sunday, the Arab-Israelis political leadership published a manifesto Saturday calling on all Arab youths, including Druze and Bedouins, to refuse to serve in the IDF.

In the statement, issued by the Israeli-Arab Monitoring Committee, no reason was given for the "total refusal to take part in either compulsory or voluntary service in the Israeli army."

Members of the committee explained that they felt they must once again voice this position, though it is not new, in light of the fact that the service of Arab-Israelis is on the public agenda after the five soldiers were killed when a booby-trapped tunnel blew up under an army outpost near Rafah, in the Gaza Strip.

Druze soldiers enlist in the army as part of compulsory service, and other Arab-Israelis in the army, mostly Bedouins and Christians, volunteer to serve.

In the past year, the Defense Ministry has formed a committee which is trying to come up with an offer for a type of civilian service that will be comparable to military duty, primarily for young Arab-Israelis.

But the Arab leadership has so-far rejected these initiatives, and refuses to attend discussions on the matter.

On Saturday, the leaders reiterated this stance, saying they were opposed to any attempt to "link military service with equality."

But the Israeli-Arab Monitoring committee has decided that in the next few months it will hold a "special conference to examine the phenomenon of military service, either compulsory or voluntary in nature, under any label and in any form it may take - including national, civilian, or popular (names generally associated with volunteer work done instead of compulsory military service)."

The chairman of the Druze and Circassian authorities, Malec Bader, said in response to the manifesto that "Service in the Israel Defense Forces has almost a complete consensus, and so we are not part of such calls (against service in the IDF)."