Israeli Army Drafts Sharansky

Former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky may be a general in the battle for Soviet Jewry, but he was only a private in the Israeli army today.

Sharansky, 40, who spent nine years in Soviet jails and prison camps in his fight to leave the Soviet Union, was drafted into the army Sunday and sent to an undisclosed training base in central Israel. The diminutive, balding mathematician who was released from the Soviet Union in 1986, will spend three weeks in basic training--doing exercises and kitchen duty, learning about weapons and standing guard. After basic training, Sharansky will be assigned to the Haganah Ezrachit, or civil defense, wing of the military and will be called up from time to time for reserve duty, an army spokesman said.