By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON (AA) – The instruction to shoot to kill unarmed demonstrators is a product of Israel's occupation and military rule over millions of Palestinians, a group of former Israeli army soldiers said in a letter they sent to a top British daily.
The apologetic letter published by The Guardian was signed by four former Israeli combatants expressing their distress over the most recent killings of demonstrators in Gaza.
“We, a group of former combatants who were members of sniper teams, seek to express our feelings of distress regarding the recent incidents in the Gaza Strip,” the letter said.
The letter by Gil Fermon (formerly of Nahal 50th Battalion), Amit Goldberg, Nadav Weiman (Nahal reconnaissance unit), Avner Gvaryahu (Paratroops anti-tank unit), and Ron ZaidelNahal (931st Battalion) argued that the snipers in Israeli army are under orders to fire live rounds on crowds during demonstrations.
“As we hear about military orders permitting snipers to fire live ammunition at unarmed demonstrators, we are filled with shame and sorrow: shame at the orders devoid of moral and ethical judgment, and sorrow for the young soldiers, whom, as we know very well from our own experience, will always carry with them the scenes that they witnessed through the sights of their rifles,” the letter said.
“Instructing snipers to shoot to kill unarmed demonstrators who pose no danger to human life is another product of the occupation and military rule over millions of Palestinian people, as well as of our country’s callous leadership, and derailed moral path,” it said.
The former soldiers also said that deliberately harming innocent people in Gaza “is part of what is needed to maintain the regime of occupation, and we must not allow it to continue.”
“Only ceasing to militarily control the Palestinian people will bring this to an end,” it said.
Some 33 Palestinians have been martyred by cross-border gunfire by the Israeli army since March 30, when peaceful rallies began along the Gaza Strip’s roughly 45-kilometer eastern border with Israel.
Demonstrators are demanding that Palestinian refugees be given the “right of return” to their towns and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948.
The rallies are part of a six-week-long demonstration that will culminate on May 15. That day will mark the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment — an event Palestinians refer to as the “Nakba ” or “Catastrophe “.
