27 pilots say will refuse to operate in territories

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

A group of 27 active reserve duty pilots and retired pilots have sent
a letter to Air Force Chief, Major General Dan Halutz, declaring that
they refuse to participate in operations against Palestinians in the
territories.

"We, veteran pilots and active pilots alike, who have served and who
continue to serve the state of Israel for many weeks every year, are
opposed to carrying out illegal and immoral attack orders, of the type
carried out by Israel in the territories," the group wrote. "We, who
have been educated to love the state of Israel and to contribute to
the Zionist endeavour, refuse to take part in Air Force attacks in
civilian population centers."

The group was referring to Israel's policy of targeted killings of
Palestinian militants in the territories. Dozens of civilians have
been killed in these strikes, which began a few months after the
intifada erupted in late September 2000.

News that a group of pilots opposed to the targeted killing policy was
coalescing, was first published in Haaretz a week ago.

"The pilots refusing to follow orders will have to face the law," IAF
chief Dan Halutz told Channel 10 in response to the letter.

"We must keep things in the right proportions, we are talking about
only 27 out of thousands of pilots." Halutz said.

"There is no corps and army more humane and moral than us," Halutz
said. He added that if the pilots had received an illegal order, they
should have informed their commanders of it, instead of sending a
letter before receiving such a command.

Halutz said that refusal to serve was an inappropriate form of protest
in the general context, and called it "the mother of all dangers to
our people."

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz reacted to the letter, saying the letter
was entirely political and had nothing to morality.

Housing and Construction minister Effi Eitam called for the discharge
of the pilots and said the letter was a realization of Arafat's vision
of the disintegration of Israeli society, Channel 10 reported.

Sources in the IAF reacted to the letter, saying the signatories were
all inactive or veteran pilots who were never asked to carry out
targeted assassinations in the territories.

Among the signatories is Brigadier General Yiftah Spector (res.), who
was a squadron leader during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Several of the signatories have spoken out against operations in the
territories in the past.