International Solidarity Movement Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.
In these days, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing “mighty vengeance” following Saturday’s offensive by the Palestinian resistance, European governments are releasing statements essentially greenlighting Israel’s bombing campaign, which has already killed more than 400 Palestinians in Gaza and that might soon be followed by a ferocious ground invasion. For its part, the United States government has pledged a swift additional package of military aid to Israel. Once again deciding to directly participate in the crimes of the Israeli government.
Colonial violence is rising in the West Bank, as Israeli soldiers and settlers seek reprisals against Palestinian communities. The Israeli government now feels it has additional clearance from the West to escalate its project of ethnic cleansing.
The International Solidarity Movement maintains its presence on the ground in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, provide protective presence and report on human rights abuses.
Given the dire situation, more volunteers are needed. We are calling for all those who stand in solidarity with Palestine to join ISM’s efforts on the ground in the West Bank.
https://palsolidarity.org/join/
The ISM also calls on everyone in solidarity with Palestine to act immediately to stop Israeli massacres by organising demonstrations, and pickets and direct actions, organising boycott campaigns in line with the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid. We also call for people to contact their representatives, and lobby them to condemn the colonial policies of the Israeli state.
Palestinians have been living under Israeli occupation, settler colonialism and racist military dictatorship for decades. In particular, for 16 years Palestinians in Gaza have been subjected to an inhuman military blockade, under which the Israeli government calculatedly deprives two million Palestinians of the most basic necessities, such as access to essential goods, medical treatment, electricity and water. Recurrent bombing campaigns by the Israeli military killed more than 6400 Palestinians between 2008 and 2022, and deliberately targeted critical civilian infrastructures such as schools, hospitals and water plants.
Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem face killings, torture, beatings, night raids, settler pogroms, tear-gas, house and school demolitions, collective punishments, ethnic cleansing, expulsions, land seizure, arbitrary arrests, humiliations at check-points, and systematic racial discrimination on a daily basis.
No Palestinian is a stranger to the war that Israel has been waging on them for decades, a war that has only escalated under the current Israeli government, the most far-right the country has ever seen.
On Saturday Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel was at war. What this really means is that for the first time in decades, Palestinians are not the only ones facing the consequences of Israel’s colonial apartheid state.
The International Solidarity Movement joins Palestinians and Palestine solidarity activists and organisations all around the world in restating that the root cause of the current violence is Israeli occupation and settler colonialism. Until the oppression of Palestinians comes to an end, Israel is responsible for the death and misery of Palestinians and Israelis. Governments and companies that directly support Israeli apartheid and military occupation, and the international community that fails to react to constrain Israeli terror, also share responsibility for the continuing violence.
ISM activists will maintain their presence on the ground in the West Bank and continue their efforts outside of Palestine to stand in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli oppression, until freedom, justice and equality is achieved. We invite you to contact your local ISM support group and join us in Palestine.
Please email at ISMtraining@riseup.net.
