This letter , dated December 2003 , was signed by 13 reservists of Sayeret Matkal , an elite commando unit , serving in the West Bank and Gaza Strip ( nine commandos in Sayeret Matkal , 2 soldiers who had been removed from reserve duty because of prior refusals to serve there , and 2 additional combatant soldiers ) . Their letter , addressed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , stated : '' We shall no longer lend a hand in the occupation of the territories . We shall no longer take part in the deprivation of basic human rights from millions of Palestinians . We shall no longer serve as a shield in the crusade of the settlements . We shall no longer corrupt our moral character in missions of oppression . We shall no longer deny our responsibility as soldiers of the Israeli DEFENSE force . '' There are some Israeli rabbis , former generals and public figures who call on soldiers to refuse orders to dismantle Israeli settlements and remove their residents . One of those who call soldiers to refuse removal order is Uri Elitzur , a publicist and former civil servant . Eliztur claims that settlers-removal order is an illegal order , and therefore soldiers must refuse to obey it . He used the Hebrew term פקודה בלתי חוקית בעליל ( literally , a clearly illegal order ) , which is a judicial term for an order that a soldier '' must '' refuse , coined in relation to the Kafr Qasim massacre . He used a Yossi Sarid ( a left-wing politician from Meretz ) quotation that an order to transfer Palestinians should be resisted by any means , as a legitimation to a total and even semi-violent resistance against transfer of settlers . On June 2004 , MKs Effi Eitam and Aryeh Eldad ( National Union ) initiated a law bill called " Unity of the Military Law " . The law says that only Israeli police ( including Border Police ) officers could engage in the removal of Jewish settlements , and soldiers could not . In 2005 , as a reaction to the Israel 's unilateral disengagement plan , a group called " Mateh Chomat Magen " ( the name referring to Operation Defensive Shield ) published a letter with 10,000 signatures of soldiers who signed a petition saying that they would refuse to uproot and remove Israeli settlements
Kafr Qasim massacre
Kafr Qasim massacre
Refusal to serve in the IDF