Confessions of an Israeli reservist

The West Bank campaign is popular in Israel

By Tarik Kafala BBC News Online, Jerusalem

Israel has called up about 20,000 reservist soldiers to support its operations in the West Bank.

But sending the reservists into refugee camps to destroy what the government calls the Palestinian "terrorist infrastructure" has been controversial.

The most terrible thing is to go into houses and see that they are just regular families. The children with their wide frightened eyes, I find very difficult

Yoni - Israeli reservist

The killing of 13 reservists in an ambush on 9 April in the Jenin refugee camp shocked Israelis.

Parents of the dead soldiers complained that their sons were sent unprepared into "a hornets' nest of terrorism".

Yoni, a reservist serving in the West Bank, told BBC News Online: "We have become cannon fodder. We are reservists. Many people are asking why we don't just go in and carpet bomb the place."

Yoni did not advocate the bombing of refugee camps because of the civilian casualties.

But he said that even regular Israeli soldiers, let alone reservists, should not be sent into the alleys and tightly packed buildings of the Palestinian camps.

International criticism

The current operations on the West Bank are being strongly criticised internationally.

The death toll among civilians is believed to be high and aid agencies say the humanitarian crisis in the closed off Palestinian towns and villages is critical.

However, the operations are popular with the Israeli public as a response to a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings.

Israeli leaders have made it clear that they will not pull back until their mission is completed.

Cramped Palestinian towns are dangerous to patrol

Yoni, who is probably in the minority in Israel, argued that he saw no military solution to the conflict because "it is about people".

"Take this for an example," he said. "There is a village where we have intelligence that someone is planning a terrorist attack.

"We surround the village and move in but there is a 17-year-old shepherd in a field on the edge of the village. He could be a terrorist, or he might warn them. Do I arrest him, blindfold him, tie his hands? Do I tell him to get inside quick.

"We are trained to fight armies and soldiers, and yet we have to deal with people in this situation."

The whole principle of Operation Defensive Shield was questionable, Yoni said.

Hatred 'not personal'

He and many of his colleagues, he said, are not as sure as their political and military leaders that the campaign in the West Bank will stop terrorist attacks.

"How do you destroy the terrorist infrastructure? We can get the weapons and the terrorists, but this infrastructure is in people's hearts and it cannot be uprooted from there.

"They hate me because I am an Israeli soldier, not personally. The people are not being held hostage by the terrorists, they sympathise with them. They think terrorism is going to help their national cause.

"The most terrible thing is to go into houses and see that they are just regular families. The children with their wide frightened eyes, I find very difficult. We all have kids at home.

"We are serving here because it is our duty. But I don't know where it is leading and we would all rather be at home."