Is the Israeli military starting to turn on Sharon?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Washington Post

JERUSALEM, Oct. 30 – Israel’s senior military commander told columnists for three leading newspapers this week that Israel’s military tactics against the Palestinian population were too repressive and were fomenting explosive levels of “hatred and terrorism” that might become impossible to control.

In remarks that suggest a dramatic split with the approach of the current government, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, chief of staff of the Israeli armed forces, said that crackdowns, curfews and roadblocks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were crippling the lives of innocent Palestinians and that the military’s tactics were now threatening Israel’s own interests.

The military chief directed most of his complaints at restrictions imposed on the West Bank four weeks ago, after a suicide bomber from the West Bank city of Jenin killed 21 people in a restaurant in the Israeli port of Haifa. Yaalon said the current curfews and travel restrictions, some of the tightest since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000, were preventing Palestinians from carrying out critical olive and other agricultural harvests, hampering thousands of children from attending school, increasing hatred for Israel and strengthening terrorist organizations.

<snip>

“We’re in a more serious situation that the U.S. was in Vietnam,” said reserve Brig. Gen. Yiftah Spector, one of the most decorated fighter pilots in Israeli military history. Spector was grounded as a flight instructor last month after signing a letter, along with 26 other reserve pilots, calling the military’s targeted killings of militants in crowded civilian neighborhoods “illegal and immoral.”

Israel’s military policies in the Palestinian territories, Spector said, are “opposing everything I was raised on” during his career in the air force.

There is more in the article which suggests a growing disillusionment in the ranks of the Israeli military about the repressive policies of the Sharon regime. Is Sharon losing the support of the military? What does it mean for his political future if he does?

Could these kinds of sentiments being expressed within the Israeli military indicate an imminent change of heart in how Israel has historically dealt with Palestinians?

Basically, what does this apparent rift between Sharon and the miltary really mean and how will it affect future Israeli/Palestinaian relations?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Crap. I didn’t see Go Heels’ thread when I started this. Sorry for the rendundancy.

[Aldebaran]

The post of London Calling on that topic alsready explained that this is not a new development.

What isn’t said is that many citizens of Israel think the the same; and that is also not something new.
Salaam. A

[KidCharlemagne]

I’m surprised no one has made a thread about the Israeli Pilots who refused to go on bombing missions last month:

Israeli pilots refuse to fly assassination missions

[Beagle]

I hope it leads to some kind of end to the constant killing. Sharon needs to back off and try to deal with whatever moderates are left. I think the latest point has been made.

Prediction: boom(s) [reset] more boom(s)

There are plenty more pilots who will follow orders, I’d guess. I did mention that about a week ago in another thread. As much as bombing creates terrorism, terrorism creates people willing to drop bombs.

[Beagle]

One last point: isn’t it obvious that the presence of Israeli dissenters should mean that you support the State of Israel as a fully functioning member state in the world community of developed democratic nations and quit pretending like Palestinians can criticize their leadership?

IMO, of course.

Strange how one set of facts can lead some political true believers to spin things the exact wrong direction.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Anyone who can be victimized by Israeli leadership has the right to criticize it, imo.

Also, criticizing Sharon’s policies is a long way away from asserting that Israel has no right to exist a state.
Or am I being whooshed?