SIGNS are multiplying that many of Israel's military reservists, the backbone of the country's fighting force, may be unwilling to fight against the Palestinians if the collapse of the peace process spawns a new era of confrontation.
The Israeli Palestinian gunbattles at the end of September demonstrated the potential for a return to conflict.
Although Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will resume talks tomorrow aimed at breaking the deadlock over Israel's delayed military pull out from Hebron, and Israel yesterday allowed several thousand Palestinians to return to their jobs after a 2 1/2 week closure, few officials on either side are optimistic about the future.
Accusing the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, of making every possible effort to drag us into an unjust war and destroy the hope of peace, a group of 33 reservists from the army's most elite units wrote a letter to the Prime Minister at the weekend, warning him flatly that they would not be prepared to fight if his policies led to war.
Mr Rafael Eitan, one of four deputy prime ministers, said the letter could not be ignored, and that it "gravely damaged" Israel's deterrent capability.
A recent call up of reservists for service in the Nablus area of the West Bank underlined the growing tendency among the reserves simply to ignore recruitment orders. Some 340 reservists were called. Just 60 turned up.
Israel has a conscripted fighting force of some 180,000. The reserves, numbering some 430,000, are therefore crucial to its fighting capability.
Most Israeli males aged under 49 are normally required to serve in the reserves for about one month each year.
The protest letter and the falling motivation exemplified by the Nablus call up reflect the growing dismay among opponents of Mr Netanyahu at Israel's deteriorating relationships with the moderates of the Arab world. King Hussein of Jordan is still refusing to meet the Prime Minister or any of Mr Netanyahu's emissaries; Egypt's President Mubarak says he won't talk to Mr Netanyahu until Israel has pulled out of Hebron; Morocco's King Hassan has ordered a toning down" of his country's contacts with Israel; Tunisia and Qatar have followed suit.
Mr Shimon Peres, the leader of the Israeli Labour opposition, said yesterday after a meeting with the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, that he was sure Israelis would act to prevent a further deterioration in relations but acknowledged he didn't quite know which Israelis would act, or what they could do.
Mr Peres's would be successor, Mr Ehud Barak, was more bleak. He spoke yesterday of a fear of a "bloodbath" in the region, as a consequence of Mr Netanyahu's reluctance to honour signed peace accords.