On the anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s martyrdom today, the rain fell in quiet tears that watered Palestine in a confusing emotion of remorse and yet optimism—the same optimism we hear in the voice of Rachel’s diaries and actions.
It rained on Kufr Qaddoum where attack dogs clenched in their jaws the peaceful freedom fighters of Palestine, an image reminiscent of a segregated America.
It drizzled as the folks of Al Ma’sara demanded the wall to fall, an echoing cry humanity heard from Germany.
Puddles formed along Shuhada Street in Al Khalil where Apartheid still lurked despite South Africa’s continued victories.
And it watered on Gaza, where the dust never seems to settle between the murderous attacks of the Zionist military.
While Palestine is indeed special, it is obvious that it shares much with what the world has struggled for, and International Solidarity Movement threads the humanization of the world as the fabric of solidarity work with Palestinians.
Today Palestine and earth, the earth that has inherited the great sacrifices of Rachel Corrie, quietly wept and yet persisted with her memory for the very ideals she died for: freedom and justice.
Peaceful resistance against oppression never dies, and this reassures the international community that despite the images of Rachel facing the Israeli Goliath of colonialism, that she is still alive and with us in ISM, in Palestine, and in the world, as a spirit that will continue to inspire us.
In a letter she sent nearly a decade ago to her family, when she first left her hometown of Olympia, Washington in the US, she said:
We are all born and someday we’ll all die. Most likely to some degree alone. What if our aloneness isn’t a tragedy? What if our aloneness is what allows us to speak the truth without being afraid?
While the struggle against occupation feels isolating at times, it is these words that reassure us that we are not alone, that Rachel is not alone, that the voiceless victims of Zionism are not taken for granted. This is not a tragedy which we mark, but the greatness of a peace activist. Nothing can crush the spirit of Rachel Corrie, one of thousands who sacrificed for the humanization and liberation of the Palestinian people.
Murdered in 2003 by an Israeli driven, military Caterpillar bulldozer, Rachel and seven other ISM activists in Rafah, Gaza, were trying to prevent the raising of Palestinian property and livelihood by Zionists. Dropping debris on her and then proceeding towards her is the exact lack of concern Israel has towards life that we see as Gaza faces continued collective punishment today.
She ended her letter in humble realization of her role that would later translate into the sacrifices of a peaceful revolutionary.
I can’t cool boiling waters in Russia. I can’t be Picasso. I can’t be Jesus. I can’t save the planet single-handedly.
She is with us now, from Susiya to Dora, Jabalia and Beit Hanoun, back down to Rafah and across to Jerusalem.
Rachel speaks truth. And so long as a grain of injustice exists in Palestine and this world, this truth will not settle for what is today’s reality of a violent, arrogant Israel that continues to demolish and kill.
It is in your memory, Rachel, that ISM continues towards justice, in memory of Tom and Vittorio, in memory of this week’s martyrs, in memory of the thousands of Palestinians who resisted.
9 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Two international activists were assaulted late this morning by extreme Zionist settlers in Al Khalil (Hebron). A female activist was assaulted by a male settler, after being punched in the face and having her camera stolen by this male settler.
Today’s attack comes following weeks of warning and aggression towards photojournalists and activists with cameras by Israeli military and police, which have stated to internationals that Israeli law forbids the photography of their operations, or rather, their breach of international law and human rights.
Activists have received these warnings for weeks now, and today’s attack comes parallel to the deliberate targeting by Israeli military of journalists and activists with cameras, by shooting tear gas canisters and bullets directly at them at most West Bank demonstrations.
About a month ago, Reporters without Borders published this statement regarding these warnings and threats.
While today’s attack is an escalation against internationals in the region, and while it is evident that the Israeli military and illegal settlers are collaborating in attacking Palestinians and internationals, International Solidarity Movement will not desist from bringing proof of Israeli aggression through pictures, videos, and our continued reporting.
We thank the international solidarity community for its continued support in the face of Israeli Zionism, colonialism, discrimination, and militarization of Palestine.
We, the Advisory Board of the Global March to Jerusalem, are alarmed and deeply troubled by the continuing repression of Palestinians in Jerusalem and by the deliberate and systematic attempts to expel and reduce the Christian and Muslim Palestinian population of the city as part of the policy called “Judaisation,” which is being applied to every part of historic Palestine.
This policy is inconsistent with all relevant United Nations resolutions on Jerusalem and contrary to the most basic principles of international law. Its purpose is plainly to ethnically cleanse Jerusalem of its non-Jewish population and transform a once proud symbol of international tolerance and religious and cultural diversity into an exclusionary and racist enclave.
Jerusalem is our common universal heritage. It is the centre of spirituality and ideological significance for all of the monotheistic religions, and a beacon of emancipation and hope for the downtrodden. This historic city is venerated across the world for enhancing the spiritual heritage of all humanity; it has been a symbol of unity and equality, with a message of love, mercy and compassion.
However the entire world is now witnessing a threat to the sovereignty, sanctity and inviolability of Jerusalem. The plan is not only to destroy the Muslim and Christian presence, but also to change and dismantle the social structure of Jerusalem, obliterating its indigenous Arab identity and changing the character of the city.
The people of the world have therefore taken it upon themselves to prevent this abomination, by mobilizing themselves in every part of the world and representing all religious, humanitarian, and cultural backgrounds in a global march to Jerusalem (GMJ) aimed at guarding the City of Peace from becoming a wasteland of intolerance. We therefore lend our names to support the convergence of people from all countries and continents of the world to Jerusalem, and to the nearest points to which they are able to approach, both inside Palestine and at the Palestinian borders with Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, as well as in their own countries, in a peaceful march towards Jerusalem.
We therefore support this effort, and encourage all of humanity to support it, by making the pledge set forth below, that all participants in the Global March to Jerusalem have agreed to accept.
We assert the importance of Jerusalem politically, culturally and religiously to the Palestinian people and humanity as a whole. We call for the protection of the Holy Places and all archeological sites and consider all the efforts done to change its Arabic & cultural identity as a crime against humanity. We call on all international institutions to do their duties towards the city.
The defense of Jerusalem and its liberation are a duty of all free people around the world and we call on all institutions, organizations, and individuals to participate in this duty.
We condemn the Zionist campaign of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine including all ongoing policies intended to change the demographic and geographic situation in the city and aimed at its Judaisation. We also condemn the continuation of the Zionist occupation forces in building the apartheid wall that aims to expropriate more Palestinian lands and convert the occupied areas into shrinking cantons isolated from each other.
We support the right of the Palestinian People to self-determination, to liberate their lands and to live on them in freedom and dignity like all other people on earth.
We support the non-negotiable & inalienable rights of the Palestinian People, including their families, to return to their homes and lands from which they were uprooted.
We reject all racist laws that distinguish between people based on ethnicity or religion and call for their cancellation and criminalization.
The Global March to Jerusalem does not represent any one faction or political party, but we call for participation of all social forces, political factions, and ideologies.
The Global March to Jerusalem is a global peaceful movement, which does not use violence to achieve its goals.
Signed,
The Advisory Board of the Global March to Jerusalem (partial listing of names)
Shaikh Dr. Abdul Ghani al-Tamimi, poet and preacher; chairman of the Palestine Scholars Abroad
Abdullatif Arabiyyat, Former Speaker of the Jordanian Parliament
Swami Agnivesh, Founder, Bonded Labour Liberation Front and World Council of Arya Samaj, former member of the Indian parliament and former chairperson of the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
Ahmad Obeidat, Former Jordanian Prime Minister & Head of the National Front for Reform
Dr. Ahmed Mohammed attia Bahar, Vice President, Palestinian Legislative Council
Tan Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes, Malaysian entrepreneur; founder and CEO, Air Asia
Dr. Anton Shuhaiber, Gaza Christian Association
Arnold Hottinger,Swiss journalist and publicist; former Middle East correspondent for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
H.E. Atallah Hanna, Archbishop of Sebastia, Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Bouguerra Soltani, Algerian Government Minister and party leader for the Movement of the Society for Peace
Dr. Cornel West, Professor of African American studies. Princeton University; philosopher, writer and civil rights activist
Datuk Yasmin Yusoff, Malaysian actress and television host
David Hartsough, Director, Peaceworkers, San Francisco
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate
HE Dr. Dzukelly Ahmad, member of the Malaysian parliament
Evelyn Hecht-Galinski, Jewish German author, activist and publicist
Dr. Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law, University of Illinois
Dr. Franco Cavalli, oncologist and former leader of the Swiss Social Democrat Party parliamentary group
George Galloway, former Member of British Parliament and Founder of Viva Palestina
Dr. Ghada Karmi, Writer and Co-Director, Centre for Palestine Studies, University of Exeter
Gretta Duisenberg, Founder and Chair, “Stop the Occupation” (Netherlands), Free Gaza Movement Board Member
Dr. Hammam Said, Head of the Jordanian Consultative Council of the Muslim Brothers
Hilarion Capucci, Archbishop of Caesarea, Greek Melkite Church
Ibrahim Nasrallah, Jordanian-Palestinian Poet & Novelist
Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Pastor Emeritus, Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Prof. Judith Butler, writer and philosopher, University of California, Berkeley
Laith Shubeilat, Former Jordanian Parliamentarian
Lalita Ramdas, Chair, Greenpeace International
Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, Magsaysay Peace Award Recipient and anti-nuclear advocate
Dr. Leo Gabriel, Austrian socioanthropologist, journalist and documentary filmmaker; member, World Social Forum International Council
Fr. Louis Vitale, Order of Franciscan Monks; Pace e Bene; nonviolent resistor
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Jewish Renewal Movement
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, former Prime Minister of Malaysia
Mairead McGuire, Nobel Peace Laureate
Marzuki Alie, Speaker, Indonesian House of Representatives
Marwah Daud Ibrahim, Indonesian feminist, writer and Member of Parliament
Medha Patkar, Leader, National Alliance of People’s Movements; Recipient, Right Livelihood Award, Goldman Environment Prize & Amnesty International Human Rights Defenders Award
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General, Palestinian National Initiative and President, Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees
Neta Golan, Co-Founder, International Solidarity Movement
Dr. Norman Paech, former Member of the German Parliament; professor of law, emeritus, University of Hamburg
Sheikh Raed Salah, President of the Islamic movement within the 1949 Ceasefire Line
Justice Rajinder Sachar, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court, Member, UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. Senior Advisor & Counsel, People’s Union for Civil Liberties
Ronnie Kasrils, South African national liberation leader and former cabinet minister
Seema Mustafa, Syndicated columnist & former political editor, Asian Age
Prof Siddique Hassan, Director, Vision 2016 and Assistant Amir of the Jamat-e-Islami, Hind)
Subhi Ghosheh, Chairman, Jordanian Beitul-Maqdes Forum
Syeda Hameed, Columnist, The Indian Express, and Member, Indian National Planning Commission
HE Tony Pua Kiam Wee, member of the Malaysian parliament
Tujan Faysal, First elected woman Jordanian Parliamentarian
Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, Former Chief of the Naval Staff of India
Mrs. Wardina Safiyyah, Malaysian actress and television host
Dr. Yacoub Zaiadeen, Former Jerusalem Representative to the Jordanian parliament
Sheikh Yousuf Jumaa, former Palestinian Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs; former preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Dr. Zakaria Agha, M.D., member, Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee; former chair, Gaza Strip Medical Association
Dr. Zeenat Shaukat Ali, Author; Vice Chairman and Founder Trustee of SAGE Foundation; Professor of Islamic Studies, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai
20 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Beginning this week local organizers in Al Khalil (Hebron) and supporters have organized a series of events to commemorate the Baruch Goldstein Massacre and demand the re-opening of Shuhada Street, once the commercial heart of Al Khalil, now off limits to locals, Palestinians in general, and even international supporters following the massacre that claimed 29 Palestinian lives.
While one street may seem insignificant or small, the segregation, economic strangulation, violence, and oppression that Shuhada Street suffers is a microcosm of Zionist policy. As extremist settlers continue to harass and violently attack Palestinians and internationals, and the Golani Brigade continues to show no accountability or concern for international law, it is all the more essential that this street be the symbolic avenue of freedom for Palestinians.
An illegal Zionist settlement pollutes the very heart of a historic piece of Al Khalil now overtaken with settler violence, racial epithets, and sadly, pure hatred for Palestinians and their supporters.
The residents of Al Khalil, Palestinian activists, and International Solidarity Movement call on the international community to display their support in a project that will showcase international solidarity for the opening of Shuhada Street.
As such we ask that the international community submits a photo of solidarity to International Solidarity Movement. This photo will be of a major street or landmark of your hometown with a display or sign of solidarity for Shuhada Street. Diversity in support for human rights can humanize the victims of Zionist oppression in Al Khalil and elsewhere.
Get creative with your slogans and locations! Please note that multiple photos from the same location will not all be published, so local organizing in deciding a location in your community is suggested, or the ISM media team will select 1 photo from each location.
In order to participate, please submit a photo to palreportskhalil@gmail.com and keep in mind the following guidelines:
In the subject line of your email please be sure to write “Open Shuhada Street Photo Campaign”
Photos should not be a maximum of 1 MB
A poster, sign, clothing or any other visual statement supporting the opening of Shuhada Street should be visible in the photo along with the landmark or major street
It is not necessary for individuals to be a part of the picture, as your privacy is honored, however if individuals can please indicate their names (if they wish to be identified)
Please include a location of the photo (example: Hollywood sign, Hollywood, California) in the email
Include the date when the photograph was taken in the email
If the visual is written in a language other than English, please write the statement in the body of the email in order to be translated.
Photos are original and not edited or borrowed from another entity
Please submit photos no later than April 2nd
ISM Palestine looks forward to receiving your photographs. Stay tuned for a publication on April 4th on palsolidarity.org.
“I hereby assert that I am confronting the occupiers not for my own sake as an individual, but for the sake of thousands of prisoners who are being deprived of their simplest human rights while the world and international community look on,” Sheikh Khader Adnan wrote from the bed that Israeli soldiers chained him to in the Ramleh prison hospital on 11 February.
“It is time the international community and the UN support prisoners and force the State of Israel to respect international human rights and stop treating prisoners as if they were not humans.” (Ma’an News Agency, “Hunger-striking prisoner not backing down,” 11 February 2012)
As we mark the 65th day of an ongoing hunger strike by Sheikh Khader Adnan, whose struggle has inspired millions and infused the Palestinian national and solidarity movements with new energy, we must reflect on his call to the world and prepare a meaningful international strategy to support Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.
Khader Adnan is fighting for rights that should be guaranteed to all prisoners, including due process, fair and equal treatment, and freedom from torture and other coercive methods. Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank face a military justice system that is entirely separate from that for Jewish Israelis, including settlers, who are instead part of the Israeli civil justice system; this military justice system for Palestinian political prisoners includes systematic and arbitrary detention without charge, the acceptance of torture, an almost complete lack of due process, vague charges, very low standards of evidence including the use of secret evidence, and widely disparate and harsher sentencing than the civil justice system.In Israel’s domestic criminal justice system exists a system of apartheid Palestinian citizens of Israel charged with political offenses are deemed ‘security prisoners’ and treated very differently from Jewish citizens. Palestinians are subject to unjust and unequal trials using secret evidence, gag orders, and evidence obtained through torture. (Please see this comprehensive analysis by Addameer for further details.)
As of January 2012, 4,417 Palestinian political prisoners are held in jails in Israel, including 170 children and 6 women. Just like Khader, 310 prisoners are held – without charge or trial – under administrative detention including over 20 lawmakers. In solidarity with them, and to broaden Khader’s struggle, we will actively oppose their imprisonment and any detentions without fair trials.
We demand the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. They have been targeted by an unfair and unequal legal system. Their imprisonment reflects Israel’s inherent system of injustice and racism. In addition, Israel must immediately halt its practices of:
Administrative detention.
Torture and ill-treatment of detainees.
Solitary confinement and isolation.
The use of military courts in the occupied Palestinian territory that illegally try civilians.
Undermining a fair trial by using secret evidence against the accused.
Arresting vulnerable groups, such as children, disabled, elderly and ill people.
On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Tuesday, April 17, we ask that all supporters of the Palestinian political prisoners’ movement bring Khader Adnan’s spirit of resistance to the doorsteps of his captors and would-be killers:
Organize a protest in front of your local Israeli embassy, consulate or mission.
Write letters to protest the violations of rights of Palestinian political prisoners and to call for an intervention to the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and your government or parliamentarians.
Raise awareness on your University campus or in your community about Palestinian political prisoners
Picket and protest G4S, Motorola, the Volvo Group, and the Israeli Medical Association – all providing services to Israel’s prisons – as well as other targets of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which challenges the Israeli policies of occupation, colonization and apartheid these repressive institutions maintain.
Write letters to Palestinian prisoners expressing your support.
We must not allow Khader’s struggle to pass, like so many before his, as one more brave stand crushed by the armed might of the Israeli apartheid regime, unremarkable and inconsequential. Rather let this historic moment mark the beginning of a revitalized global movement for Palestinian prisoners, their rights, their families, and their struggle. Together, we can make it so.
