Yael Sharaz-Polkovski, 74, has started a new organization for the purpose, calling it The Voice of Mother - the same as a popular Army Radio program bringing regards from mothers to their sons in the army.
Her petition states, "Do not cooperate in the crime of evicting Jews and transferring part of our birthright to the Arab enemy. We did not educate our children to expel Jews in Israel. [Did we educate them] to destroy communities, synagogues and schools and uproot graves and cause a national tragedy? The army needs to fight the enemy, and the police must fight crime."
Women from all over Israel, including many secular kibbutz members, have already signed her petition. She told Maariv that she intends to present it to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon.
"My grandchildren have finished the army," said Polkovski, a resident of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. "I was a member of the Palmach [one of the main forerunners of the IDF in pre-State days] and I fought in the War for Independence to free Jerusalem. I participated in the shooting on the Altalena, and that is one of the black marks on my life. We don't want to see this happen again. What is happening here turns the country back 50-60 years."
The Altalena was a ship of Jewish refugee/volunteers and weapons, organized by Menachem Begin's Irgun, that the fledgling IDF attacked with shells and gunfire on the shores of Tel Aviv in June 1948; 16 Jews aboard the ship, and three others, were killed.
"The way in which events are occuring today causes us to feel betrayed," Ms. Sharaz-Polkovski said. "What we fought for is turning into a terrible catastrophe."
She said she is not telling her children what to do, as they are adults, but has admonished them, "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Differing opinions exist regarding the government plan to destroy Jewish Gaza and northern Shomron, said Polkovski, but "we have to turn to the silent majority, the same majority that established the State of Israel."
Kibbutz Kinneret member Tenna Lahavi, who has also joined The Voice of Mother, said the Israeli army must defend Jews. "It is terrible to place on a young man [an order] that is against everything we taught," she said.
Lahavi has three sons who are reserve soldiers who say they would not obey the orders. "We are not talking about religious people," she said, "[but] ten years ago, when my son was serving in Hevron, he refused to evict Jewish residents, and for that he sat in jail four weeks."
Her petition states, "Do not cooperate in the crime of evicting Jews and transferring part of our birthright to the Arab enemy. We did not educate our children to expel Jews in Israel. [Did we educate them] to destroy communities, synagogues and schools and uproot graves and cause a national tragedy? The army needs to fight the enemy, and the police must fight crime."
Women from all over Israel, including many secular kibbutz members, have already signed her petition. She told Maariv that she intends to present it to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon.
"My grandchildren have finished the army," said Polkovski, a resident of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. "I was a member of the Palmach [one of the main forerunners of the IDF in pre-State days] and I fought in the War for Independence to free Jerusalem. I participated in the shooting on the Altalena, and that is one of the black marks on my life. We don't want to see this happen again. What is happening here turns the country back 50-60 years."
The Altalena was a ship of Jewish refugee/volunteers and weapons, organized by Menachem Begin's Irgun, that the fledgling IDF attacked with shells and gunfire on the shores of Tel Aviv in June 1948; 16 Jews aboard the ship, and three others, were killed.
"The way in which events are occuring today causes us to feel betrayed," Ms. Sharaz-Polkovski said. "What we fought for is turning into a terrible catastrophe."
She said she is not telling her children what to do, as they are adults, but has admonished them, "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Differing opinions exist regarding the government plan to destroy Jewish Gaza and northern Shomron, said Polkovski, but "we have to turn to the silent majority, the same majority that established the State of Israel."
Kibbutz Kinneret member Tenna Lahavi, who has also joined The Voice of Mother, said the Israeli army must defend Jews. "It is terrible to place on a young man [an order] that is against everything we taught," she said.
Lahavi has three sons who are reserve soldiers who say they would not obey the orders. "We are not talking about religious people," she said, "[but] ten years ago, when my son was serving in Hevron, he refused to evict Jewish residents, and for that he sat in jail four weeks."