Category: Press Releases

The Ceasefire Continues

by ISM Nablus

On Tuesday 7th June, Electronic Intifada reported the extra-judicial killing of Muraweh Khaled Ekmayel in Jenin by Israeli forces, under the headline “Israel Resumes Assassinations of Palestinians”. Al Jazeera news reported six deaths on the same day. The violence has continued, with the attempted assassination of four Hamas members in Gaza on 8th June.

Residents of Nablus would be surprised to hear that this killing marks the departure from Israel’s commitment at Sharm to end the assassinations. Three residents have been shot dead by Israeli forces in the area of Balata camp since the “ceasefire” heralded by the Sharm talks.

On 16th April Israeli forces shot and killed Brahim Al Smere on Al Quds Street just outside Balata Refugee Camp near Nablus. When the army handed Brahim’s body over to Palestinian medics, he had been shot multiple times in the limbs and body. Witnesses to his killing are sure that Israeli special forces came in to assassinate Brahim and made no attempt to arrest him. At the time the witnesses told us that he seemed to be lured in to the road and compelled to identify himself by someone he was speaking with on the phone. He was shot, but not fatally, first from one direction and then from a second location by a gunman in a car. Nobody made any attempt to arrest him or to take him away alive.

We spoke with the driver who saw Brahim on the morning he was killed.

“I picked him up and he asked me to drive slowly into Al Quds Street. When I asked why, he said he was meeting a friend he knew by telephone. I said “Forget him. You don’t know him. You’re wanted now. Meeting someone like that is a risk for you.” but Brahim said “No, he’s a good guy, he talked nicely to me on the phone.” Then he asked me to wait for him to meet this person so I could take them back, but I said no. It’s a sensitive street. I have to think about my family and so on. So I took him to the place he asked to go to.

The man called him again. I heard Brahim describe what he was wearing and the man said it would be good if he wore a hat too. I told him then “It’s an Israeli. Leave.” but Brahim didn’t believe me.

I left. On my way to Nablus I heard they shot him.”

The arrests and killings continue. Israel cannot claim to be maintaining a ceasefire. And yet the outside world has not acknowledged that the Sharm talks have not brought a resolution to the conflict in the region instead It is pretending that the killings are not happening and that talks are progressing.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights issues a report detailing Israel’s contraventions of international law each week. Despite the ceasefire the violations reported every week continue to include killings, tens of arrests and injuries, incursions into Palestinian towns and villages, raids and demolitions of homes, curfews and closures amounting to siege, settler attacks and denial of the legitimate right to non-violent protest.

Each one of those figures represents a violation of an individual’s right to liberty or life or a community’s right to access education and health services, employment or the land which they farmed to support themselves for generations.

The violent military occupation is not over. It is not time to stop campaigning for human rights and Justice in Palestine.

Four International Solidarity Movement Workers Arrested

[Arrabony, Jenin Region, Occupied Palestine] Four international volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement were arrested today while maintaining a presence at the peace camp set up by Arrabony villagers and the ISM to protest the confiscation of Palestinian land for the Apartheid Wall. The four arrested are:

Tobias Karlsson from Sweden
Tariq Loubani from Canada
Bill Capowski from New York, USA
Fredrick Lind from Denmark

Full details are not yet known and none of the peace activists are answering their phones, however we just received the following text message: “at Salem abused and beaten”. This seems to indicate that the four are being held at the Salem Military Base, north of Jenin.

Since the peace camp was set up on Monday, July 7, 2003, activists have faced threats and harassment from the Israeli Military, from heavily armed security guards working for the Israeli company building that section of the Wall, and from Israeli settlers.

Activists have been threatened with violence, removal, and arrest. The response of international activists was that they were there at the request of the people of the village, and didn’t recognize Israeli military authority over the area. On Monday, soldiers came to the area of the camp to photograph international activists and local villagers and yesterday armed guards threatened to destroy the camp.

Despite the harassment there has been steady and enthusiastic support from the people of the village of Arrabony. Men, women, and children have been a twenty-four-hour presence at the camp, and are coming every day in greater numbers. Activities at the camp have included games and sports, music, and more.

For the past year the Israeli government has been building a massive wall that it claims is for purposes of “security”. The wall, however, is being built inside of the West Bank, destroying and confiscating from Palestinians their most fertile agricultural grounds and de facto annexing into Israeli illegal settlements and valuable underground water aquifers. Tens of thousands of Palestinian fruit and olive trees have already been destroyed and farmers are being prevented from working on land that they’ve lived off of for decades. The Palestinian people have been marching and protesting this land confiscation and destruction of livelihood but have been met with violence from the Israeli authorities and silence from the international community. The Arrabony peace camp is one of 4 similar protest camps in the West Bank.

For more information, please call:
ISM Office: 02-277-4602
Huwaida: 067-473-308
Jordan: 066-312-547

ISM recipient of Rachel Corrie Award

The Palestine Right to Return Coalition/ Al Awda

International Solidarity Movement is first recipient of PRRC/Al-Awda Rachel Corrie Award (given at the annual meeting in Toronto, June 20-22, 2003)

The first Rachel Corrie Award given to the International Solidarity Movement

About Rachel Corrie and the award in her honor

Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American college student, was the first non- Palestinian peace activist to be killed in the Occupied Territories by the Israeli Defense Forces. On March 16, 2003, Rachel was in the Al-Salam neighborhood of Rafah, in southern Gaza, where she had been for seven weeks as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement. In an effort to save the family home of a Palestinian pharmacist about to be razed, she interposed herself between the house and the Israeli military bulldozer. Photographs of the encounter, show her before the huge machine in a bright orange jacket, clearly visible. The massive machine rolled over her and then backed again. She thus shared the fate of some 2300 Palestinians (the vast majority of them civilians) who were murdered by Israeli troops or settlers since the onset of the Palestinian uprising for freedom (Intifada) in September, 2000.

PRRC (http://Al-Awda.org, Al-Awda is Arabic for “THE RETURN”) is a broad-based non-partisan global democratic association of thousands of grassroots activists and organizational representatives concerned for the Palestinian Refugees Right of Return. The purposes for which PRRC is formed are educational and charitable and relate to human rights of Palestinian Refugees. With active chapters and committees in over 20 countries and 30 states in the U.S., PRRC is the largest grass-root network for Palestinian rights.

The Palestine Right to Return Coalition instituted the Rachel Corrie award to honor non-Palestinian individuals or groups who demonstrated exceptional dedication to the cause of Palestinian rights especially the rights of refugees. It will be awarded yearly at our annual convention.

The 2003 Recipient of the Rachel Corrie Award

The Rachel Corrie Award for 2003 will be conferred upon the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) at the annual convention held in Toronto, June 20- 22. The ISM has organized Palestinian and international activists of all ages and faiths to use nonviolent direct action in protecting the human rights and lives of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Since its inception two years ago, hundreds of ISM volunteers like Rachel, acted as witnesses and shields. They have escorted thousands of Palestinian children to safety in streets rendered dangerous by Israel’s heavy military presence, protected many critically needed wells, and prevented the demolitions of numerous homes. The ISM also draws attention to the daily violence committed by the Israeli occupation forces. By attempting to mitigate the effects of the occupation, often at considerable personal risk, they fulfill an essential task which, in different circumstances, would be undertaken by more formal international bodies.

The surest sign of the efficacy of their work has been the response of the Israeli government, which has in the last year detained and deported many ISM members, hectored and harassed them, and attempted to sharply restrict their movements. After the death of Rachel Corrie, two more members have been shot, one lies in an apparently irreversible coma, while the other suffered severe facial trauma. The Israeli government has denounced the ISM as “interfering” with army operations, which, in the deepest sense, is precisely true, entirely consistent with their aims, and wholly in the spirit of Rachel Corrie, whose memory we honor with this award.

ISM Statement on British Suicide Bombers

ISM Media Office

[This statement is provided here for historical accuracy. For an updated statement on this incident, please see the Frequently Asked Questions page.]

The International Solidarity Movement supports non-violent resistance to the illegal and brutal occupation of Palestine. Palestinians have long been at risk of death, imprisonment and torture when they engage in acts of peaceful resistance. When internationals are present, that risk is somewhat reduced. But now the Israeli army is targeting international peace activists as well, violating international law and attempting to suppress all means of protest in the occupied territories.

On April 30, 2003 a suicide bomber and an accomplice tried to enter “Mike’s Place” bar in Tel Aviv. One murdered three people in addition to killing himself. The other escaped. They both held British passports. These activities are in complete contradiction to the purpose and commitment of ISM to non-violent resistance.

There have been media reports trying to connect these two men to ISM. There is no connection. They never tried to infiltrate ISM. They never contacted the ISM. They could have attended a memorial service for Rachel Corrie in Rafah that was open to anybody. As far as we know, the reports of them attending a demonstration sponsored by ISM are wrong. However, that too would have been open to the public.

As a policy, ISM requires two days of training for all of its activists. This functions as a screening in addition to training in non-violent peaceful resistance and orientation to the ISM guidelines. All of our groups function by consensus. This process discourages any individuals from acting impulsively. We know our activists, and none have engaged in or have been accused of engaging in, any aggressive, confrontational, or illegal activity.

General Yaalon of the Israeli Army gave an order on the eve of the Jewish festival of Passover to remove ISM from the West Bank and Gaza. This order long preceded the bombing in Tel Aviv. The Israeli army wants us to leave because we are providing witness to the atrocities committed by the Israeli army. Israel and the United States have gone to great Lengths to ensure that no International Observers would be sent to Palestine by The United Nations or any other objective International Organization. ISM activists have come to provide witness to the cruelty, the brutality and the truth about this occupation and its’ purpose.

ISM Rafah Statement on the Shooting of Thomas Hurndall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On 11 April 2003, 10 members of the International Solidarity Movement in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine, were planning to set up a tent in an area that an Israeli tank often uses to shoot into the houses and streets of a refugee camp called Yibna. Several Palestinian community members had initiated the project, gathered the supplies, and accompanied us to the area at around 4:30PM.

When we arrived to the area, the tank was already there and had been shooting into the street. A nearby Israeli security tower had also joined in and was firing repeated, single, sniper shots. An American international was accompanied by two Palestinians to go closer and get a better look at the area, and was wearing our trademarked fluorescent orange jacket with reflective stripes.

The tank and tower fired live rounds at the ground and buildings on both sides of her, making her movement difficult. She quickly returned to the rest of the group, that was positioned behind a large roadblock, but in view of the security tower. We made a consensus decision to call off the action and return the next day, as the Palestinians were uncomfortable with the gunfire.

At about 4:45PM, shots began to hit the buildings and street around us, and we became concerned for some children who were playing on the roadblock near us. Many had scattered, but a few were left. Thomas Hurndall, a 21-year-old activist from London, UK noticed that one small boy was still on the mound and under fire. He quickly lifted the boy and moved him behind the roadblock.

Tom was about to leave, when he noticed two small girls still in front of the roadblock and in the line of fire. He was moving to help them when an Israeli soldier in the tower, about 300 meters in front of him, shot a high calibre sniper bullet directly into his head. He was wearing an orange fluorescent jacket with reflective stripes, and was in full body view of the tower. The British Embassy had been informed of his presence, who had in turn informed the Israeli military.

Palestinians lifted his body and moved him to the pavement about 5 meters behind the roadblock. Two trained medics administered first-responder medical treatment, and used safety pads to try and stop the bleeding. Palestinians then lifted him into a nearby taxi and rushed him to Al-Najjar Hospital. On the way, they took care to try and stop the bleeding.

At around 5:15PM, he was transferred in an ambulance to Europa Hospital in Khanunis. It takes about 30 minutes for an ambulance to get there as there is an Israeli road block on the main road. Without this obstruction it would only take 7 minutes.

After much negotiation with the British Embassy and the Israeli military, Tom was taken to a nearby Israeli settlement from which he was taken by helicopter to Saroka Hospital in B’er Sheva, Israel. He is currently on full life support and in a head cast. Several of his friends have joined his bedside, and his parents are on the way.