It's certainly true, it's the top story in both the mainstream online Israeli newspapers:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/343998.htmlhttp://www.jpost.com/The Jerusalem Post article requires free registration.
From the Jpost article:
"IAF officials Thursday suspended at least nine active pilots who signed a letter refusing to carry out targeted assassinations and other operations in the Palestinian territories.
The other signatories are reservists, and their fate has yet to be determined.
The letter, addressed to Air Force commander Maj.-Gen. Dan Halutz, said in part: "We new and old soldiers refuse these illegal and immoral orders that have been carried out by the State of Israel. We, who were brought up to love Israel and to contribute to the Zionist ideal, cannot take part in operations in the center of populated civilian areas, and refuse to endanger innocent Palestinian civilians."
The pilots also wrote that they would refuse to transport IDF troops on missions into and out of occupied Palestinian territories, nor would they provide air support for combat troops in those areas. "
Now if some suicide bombers would refuse to blow up civilians there would be hope. What would happen to a suicide bomber who declared that it is immoral to target children?
Suicide bomber is largely a volunteer "occupation". There are plenty of people in Palestinian society who declare suicide attacks immoral. As far as Palestinians are concerned, there are 3 "levels" of attacks.
Attacks on the Israeli military, mainly inside the occupied territories, which almost all Palestinians support. Attacks on Israeli settlers inside occupied territory, which have a lot of support, and attacks on Israeli civilians inside the Green Line, which have less support.
It's hard to gauge exactly how much support they have. Currently about 60% of Palestinians say they support suicide bombings inside Israel, but the actual figure is probably lower.
Let's hope the Palestinian's make a similar move.
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Thats all it would ever take..
Sadly, no.
The war has underlying causes. No country is stupid enough to let tit for tat violence continue this long, unless there is an underlying reason.
On the Israeli side, the current government values the settlements more than they value peace, and the Palestinian leadership is not prepared to confront Hamas, certainly until they feel they need to.
If the killing stops, it's only going to be temporary, unless the real issues are sorted out.
Pretending that this conflict exists only because neither side has the political will to find a peaceful solution is fantasy.
The conflict exists because the Palestinians and Israelis both want the same land. It really is as simple as that.
The natural compromise, which is supported by most countries around the world, is for an Israeli state inside the 1967 borders, and a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza strip.
That can't happen without removing at least 50,000 Jewish settlers, and that's something no Israeli government has even contemplated since widespread settlement began.
Wether the Palestinian leadership would settle for that is open to question. I personally think they would, but it's impossible to say, as it's not really an option at the moment.
