Category: Action Alerts - Page 8 - International Solidarity Movement

Summer of Return 2018

This is a call for all those who believe in justice, equality and freedom to come to Palestine and support the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

Palestinian women flying kites at The Great March of Return in Gaza (Mohammed Asad, via Mondoweiss)

The International Solidarity Movement is looking for volunteers from now until the end of August to join the Summer of Return campaign. Volunteers will assist actions across Palestine that raise global awareness of the Great March of Return, large-scale popular protests in Gaza, consisting of thousands of demonstrators each Friday demanding to implement their right to return to their land and homes. While the brutal siege of Gaza has transformed the strip into an open air prison camp, it is almost impossible to enter the isolated strip. However solidarity actions with the Great March of Return are taking place across Palestine. Volunteers will support nonviolent actions of popular resistance against Israeli occupation and apartheid. Human rights defenders will also offer accompaniment to Palestinians and their communities who face daily harassment, risk of physical violence and arrest by occupation forces and settlers.

Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip attempted to cross the highly fortified fence separating the enclave (Al-Jazeera)

Since the start of the Marches, at least 135 unarmed protesters have been shot dead and more than 14,000 wounded by Israeli forces (UNOCHA), including children, medical staff, journalists, and the disabled. Gaza’s health system has been pushed to the brink of collapse, as hospitals struggle to handle an influx of serious and life-threatening injuries. Palestinians under siege in Gaza are marching home to the villages and cities from which they were expelled. They are marching out of the concentration camp that Israel has transformed Gaza into. They are marching to claim the international human right of refugees to return. Because of this, the Israeli occupying forces are murdering them in cold blood. The courage and sacrifice of this March demands all to stand up and end Israeli impunity and apartheid..

Palestinian youth play during the mass rally on April 11, 2018 (Xinhua/Stringer)

The ISM is a Palestinian-led movement which is committed to non-violent action. We will provide further information on our principles and other necessary information in a two day training course in our Ramallah office from the 2nd to the 4th July and from the 2nd to the 4th August.

More information on training here.

Palestinian medics attend to an injured woman during the march (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

For background on the Great March of Return see here.

Call on Israel’s parliament to oppose the bill criminalizing the documentation of soldiers

Israel’s parliament is to consider a law banning the photographing or filming of soldiers. The proposed legislation is entitled the “Prohibition against photographing and documenting IDF Soldiers”.

“Anyone who filmed, photographed, and/or recorded soldiers in the course of their duties, with the intention of undermining the spirit of IDF soldiers and residents of Israel, shall be liable to five years imprisonment. Anyone intending to harm state security will be sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment”, says the bill, proposed by Robert Ilatov, a member of the Knesset and the chairman of the right-wing nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party.

On Sunday 17th June, the Israeli government endorsed the proposal, if the aim is “hurting a soldier’s spirit” or “harming national security.” The bill will now undergo four full rounds of votes in the parliament before it becomes a law. The first round was scheduled to be held on Wednesday.

This is a dangerous, totalitarian attempt to undermine scrutiny of the violations of international law carried out by Israeli forces. Haaretz has condemned the bill, saying its aim was to “to silence criticism of the army, and in particular to prevent human rights organisations from documenting the Israeli army’s actions in the territories. The immediate result of such a prohibition is serious harm to the possibility of protecting human rights and overseeing the army’s activity. The bill does serious harm to freedom of the press and the public’s right to know what the reality is and especially what the ‘people’s army; is doing in its name and on its behalf.”

Israeli forces have long been targeting journalists in Palestine, from directly shooting tear gas and bullets at press and human rights activists (including children) in the West Bank to the recent murders of Yasser Murtaja and Ahmed Abu Hussein during the ongoing Great Return March in Gaza. The number of journalists killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 2000 has reached 43.

Please join us in condemning the proposed bill and calling on the Knesset to oppose this law by signing the petition.

An Israeli soldier escorts a Palestinian journalist during a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, on May 11, 2018 (Getty)

International Solidarity Movement training days Manchester & Ireland

International Solidarity Movement training days in Manchester & Ireland

Welcome to Palestine, International Solidarity Movement support group will be holding training days. If you are considering volunteering in solidarity with the Palestinian cause then you cannot miss this!

This training will include, amongst others, nonviolence strategies and philosophy, group decision making and cultural considerations for living and working in Palestine. In the course of this training, both you and the trainers will ensure that this is the kind of work you are prepared and ready for.

If at any point during the training you or the trainers realize that this is not what you want to or can do, we’ll be happy to help you find an opportunity in Palestine better suitable to your needs, skills and abilities. This is why it’s so important that you’re in contact with a support group first, in order to know what to expect. The training prepares volunteers for the solidarity work ISM is doing in Palestine against the ongoing Israeli occupation.

Manchester – time: 10.30 – 17.00 – date: Saturday 4th August 2018

Ireland – time: TBC – date: July 2018 (TBC)

Please contact training.ismlondon@riseup.net (stating which city you would like to attend training in) for details including specific locations, and give a brief outline of why you wish to work with us.

International Solidarity Movement training day London

Welcome to Palestine, International Solidarity Movement London support group will be holding a training day. If you are considering volunteering in solidarity with the Palestinian cause then you cannot miss this!

Training in UK will take place:

Time: 10.00AM-17.00PM

Date: 19 May 2018

Venue : London Action Resource Centre
62,Fieldgate Street
EI IES

Google Maps Location: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Larc/@51.5170177,-0.0639671,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x16bd60e9c2acb988!8m2!3d51.5170177!4d-0.0639671

ISM Tours USA : Bring the Palestinian resistance to speak to your community

Are you ready to take your activism for Palestine to the next level?

In 2002, the International Solidarity Movement grabbed world attention by bringing volunteers from around the world to defend Palestine through nonviolent resistance. They stayed with resistance fighters in the Nativity Church in Bethlehem. They brought medical supplies to the besieged Palestinians in the ancient Nablus Casbah. They documented and filmed the destruction and mass killing of Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp. In 2002 and 2003, thousands participated at their own expense.

One was Rachel Corrie, who was killed trying to prevent demolition of a home in Gaza. Another was Tom Hurndall, killed by a shot to the head. ISM has operated continuously since then, serving at the request of the Palestinian community through participation in Palestinian nonviolent resistance. In 2009, 2012 and 2014, ISM volunteers were with the Palestinian people in Gaza, reporting the Israeli invasion and helping in the hospitals, clinics and schools that were attacked even as they served the refugees.

But ISM is today unable to fill the demand from the Palestinian popular movement. We need to recruit more volunteers, so we have brought the ISM to North America to talk to interested groups. The speaking team consists of one of our Palestinian coordinators and an experienced international volunteer.

The presentation includes a screening of an abridged version of Radiance of Resistance, a film produced by three ISM volunteers serving in Nabi Salih and featuring Ahed Tamimi and her cousin, Janna Jihad.

The first of two Palestinian ISM coordinators to join the tour, Rana Nazzal has trained and provided orientation to ISM volunteers in Palestine. In 2013, she and the Nariman Tamimi, the mother of Ahed were arrested in Nabi Saleh. We have chosen to withhold the identity of the second Palestinian ISM coordinator until later, so as not to prejudice that person’s ability to come. Both are heroes with compelling stories that they would like to share with you.

The ISM volunteer for part of the tour will be Katie Miranda , who served as an ISM activist, coordinator and trainer in the West Bank. Katie Miranda is a jewelry and apparel designer, calligrapher, and contributing cartoonist to Mondoweiss and Middle East Eye. She is the founder of Palbox, a quarterly subscription box featuring products from Palestine and Arabic calligraphy.

As an ISM volunteer, Joe Catron reported from Gaza during several major Israeli attacks, especially from al-Shifa Hospital, as the Israelis threatened to bombard it. He is now an independent reporter on Palestine and the Middle East, and an organizer of many public actions in New York, as well as a widely followed commentator on social media.

The total length of the presentation, including the film and the two speakers, is 50-60 minutes not including Q&A. In order to make the tour affordable to student groups, we are asking only for $250 per event plus local meals, lodging and transportation. Homestays with local families in the community are an inexpensive and welcome way to meet the lodging and meal requirements. The actual cost to ISM is around $1000 per event, including international and domestic airfares as well as speaker compensation for otherwise lost income. A small group of donors has already pledged to match your donations in order to raise the estimated $25,000 to cover the rest of the costs. Please be as generous as you can.

Schedule of events (subject to change):

Mar 1-4 Attending conference & Al-Awda rally & march in DC
March 5 Alabama U, Birmingham, AL
March 6 Emory University, Atlanta, GA
March 7 Decatur, GA
March 8 U of Georgia, Athens, GA
March 12 Chattanooga, TN
March 16 New Orleans, LA
March 19 Brooklyn, NY
March 20 Albany, NY
March 21 Syracuse, NY
Mar 22-24 Available
March 25 Boston, MA
Mar 26-30 Available esp. Canada
Mar 26-Apr 6 2 teams available for US & Canada
April 3 OPIRG Carleston, Ottawa, Canada
April 4 Montreal
April 5 Available for Toronto area
April 6-7 Available US only
April 8-10 Madison, WI
April 12 Northfield, MN
Apr 13-15 Available US only
April 16 Poughkeepsie, NY
Apr 17-25 Available US only

To reserve a date for your event:

Reply to this email or call 510-236-4250.

To help with your donation:

Send your donation by check or on line to the Northern California ISM chapter by following the instructions here:

http://www.ism-norcal.org/donate/

Thank you for helping to defend Palestine.