RAMALLAH, January 22, 2009 (WAFA)- Israel has imprisoned a solider from the Israeli army who refused to take part in the recent aggression on Gaza Strip, International Solidarity Movement (ISM) said, Thursday.

Betty Hunter from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: “What the people of Palestine and Israel need to bring about a last and just settlement, are people of conscience who are prepared to stand up for peace, people who will show a moral lead. The imprisonment of this soldier is an attempt by the Israeli government to silence all internal criticisms of their illegal acts of aggression, the massacres of innocent people and war crimes they have committed.”

“There is nothing brave in slaughtering thousands of people in Gaza. There is nothing brave in bombing United Nations shelters where people were seeking refuge and there is nothing brave, as both ITV and the BBC reported last night, in murdering Gazan children.” Hunter added.

“The really brave people are those that are prepared to stand up to the might of the Israeli machine and that is what this soldier, along with many others, has done, by refusing to kill innocent children, men and women,” she concluded.