Reservists won't give up. Six reserve soldiers who participated in the fighting in Lebanon have began marching from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Monday to protest deficiencies in the government's and the army's conduct during the Lebanon war.
The reservists, who set up a tent in Rabin Square in central Tel Aviv on Sunday, have demanded that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and IDF Chief of General Staff Lit.-Gen. Dan Halutz resign.
Reservists march to Jerusalem (Photo: Uriel Hershko)
Yigal Ben Ami, a representative of the soldiers, said that should Olmert opt for a government inquiry protests will be intensified.
"If such a commission is set up we will intensify the protest, we will no longer be good boys. We will block roads, entrances to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, we call for a nation wide strike … We demand the establishment of a state commission of inquiry… Half of the ministers support a state inquiry," he said.
Identification march
Ben-Ami said reservists fear a government inquiry will fall short of addressing the root causes of the government's and army's failures in conducting the war and will serve as a mere conciliatory gesture to ease public outrage against politicians and army commanders.
Soldiers are expected to arrive in Jerusalem on Tuesday where they will stage a protest near the central bus station in the capital.
The Movement for Quality Movement in Israel said a hunger strike observed by its activists will persist until a state commission is launched.
The families of two IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah on July 12 in a cross-border attack that triggered the war will meet reservist soldiers on Monday to demand that the protest be suspended for one day on Thursday.
Reservists will be asked to join a rally of identification with the kidnapped soldiers in Rabin Square.
Aviram Zino contributed to this report