Good News from the Middle East

Yes, you read that correctly - I actually found some good news in the Arab-Israeli peace process. To wit:

JERUSALEM, Jan. 28 -- More than 60 Israeli army reservists, half of them officers and all of them combat veterans, have publicly refused to continue serving in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the grounds that Israel's occupation forces there are abusing and humiliating Palestinians. "We will no longer fight beyond the Green Line for the purpose of occupying, deporting, destroying, blockading, killing, starving and humiliating an entire people," declared a petition signed by the reservists and published in Israel's best-selling daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. The Green Line refers to the border between Israel and the West Bank.

Of course, the Israeli military isn't going to allow much dissent to go unpunished. But the fact that "real" Israelis are beginning to object to the occupation in greater and greater numbers means there's a little hope for peace. If a voice for withdrawal within Israel can survive, perhaps a political dialogue can be established. Someday.