Budrus Village in the West Bank has a long history of nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation and to the construction of the Apartheid Wall on its land.
This video was made by Israeli activists. It documents a typical nonviolent demonstration and the violent response from Israeli soldiers.
By ISM volunteers in Hebron
I visited Hebron between the dates of September 13th and 20th 2004, part of a group of 10 ISM activists which included 5 Buddhists from the UK. Tariq was our local coordinator. He is 24 years old, a student of engineering. I learnt that his father had been detained without trial by the Israeli army for the past 2.5 years, the rest of his family had emigrated to Jordan but that he was refused exit from Israel because of his father – who he is not allowed to visit.
His top two projects for us were first to help local villages resist the Israeli Apartheid Wall that was being built on their land, and second to help the situation in the Old City, now almost a ghost town because of the great number of soldiers there and the difficulty of living so close to the aggressive Israeli settlers. This report focuses on the Old City not the Wall. Topics:
Closure of Shuhadda Street to Palestinians Checkpoints and Soldiers patrols – Freedom of movement
Army closure of shops Continuous curfew for 3 years Death of the Old City market Settlers’ harassment Process of colonization, extension of illegal settlements Tit-for-Tat violence Collective punishment Water rights – Economic warfare Settlers’ propaganda / Media blackout
Hebron is presently unique in the West Bank because it has a substantial illegal Israeli settlement (Beit Hadassah) right in the very centre of the Old City, creating a situation where the lives of some 60,000 Palestinians are systematically disrupted by some 4,000 soldiers for the sake of some 400 settlers. It is a ludicrous situation and would almost be funny if it was not so real and the cause of so much suffering for so many people. It is also a part of a much larger process of gradual illegal invasion and colonization.
During the time we were in Hebron the situation was relatively quiet and there was little for us to do except walk about the Old City meeting people and speaking with them. Most people were very friendly as soon as we said “Salaam Al-e-Qum” and smiled, however there was clearly a lot of tension in the air and some suspicion – probably because the settlers are in the habit of walking up and down ‘their’ city and there is a real fear of them extending their territory.
We were staying for a night in one of the further suburbs of Hebron, and when leaving in the morning, passed a little girl who started crying violently – we learnt later that she thought we were settlers! In general though we were made very welcome indeed – very few friendly foreigners find their way to Hebron these days.
Quiet it might have been, but I should emphasize very strongly that ‘quiet’ does not mean ‘all right’. Once or twice in the silent streets I found myself thinking “this seems all right” and had to remind myself of the facts of the matter.
Closure of Shuhadda Street to Palestinians
Despite Hebron being a part of Palestine and not Israel, the main street of the town (Shuhadda Street) is now completely closed to Palestinians, except for the very few who live there. This means the town is effectively cut into two halves, to cross those few yards means a detour of several kilometers. The town’s graveyard is on the wrong side of the road, this means local people are unable to visit their family tombs.
Shuhadda Street has become a sort of mid-Western film set – hot, dusty, and empty, with guns never very far away. The only people who walk up and down it now are the settlers, who generally carry machine guns, even the young teenagers, strange to see them toting machine guns and their Jewish kippa caps on. This is quite scary to see, even for me, who was less likely to be shot at.
We were not able to speak to any settlers although we could probably have arranged it if we had wished, being Internationals. It was clear however that there is absolutely no communication between locals and settlers. The soldiers are supposed to be there to keep the peace between the two sides but this seems to mean keeping the locals firmly to the edges and allowing the settlers to walk where they please. Certainly the Palestinians do not see the soldiers there to keep the peace, rather to dominate them.
Checkpoints and Soldiers patrols
Behind the main street are a maze of smaller streets leading up to the Old City. These can only be reached by passing an army checkpoint continuously manned by soldiers with machine guns, making passage into the Old City a nerve-wracking affair.
Most days however, what is in a way worse than the machine guns is the arbitrariness of the soldiers: they can detain any Palestinian at any time for any or no reason, and often do, making them sit at the side of the road in the hot sun for many hours at a time.
Not surprisingly people have chosen to avoid the area, and the town’s main market has moved about 1km away.
In addition to the checkpoints, in the narrow streets of the Old City there are frequent 6-man soldiers’ patrols, before they enter you can hear them lifting their machine guns into firing position and cocking the trigger. No doubt they are afraid themselves but it is very intimidating to hear.
Hebron is well-known among international aid agencies, we met CPT (the Christian Peacemaker Team) and TIPH (the Temporary International Presence in Hebron) while there. TIPH’s job is to monitor and report on the situation, CPT intervenes more actively if local people are being harassed.
Army closure of shops
As well as the checkpoints and the patrols, about 200 of the Old City shops have been summarily closed by military order, and many houses have had their front doors welded closed by the army. This means that in some cases the owners can only enter and leave their homes through a window at the rear of the house, or over the rooftops.
Continuous curfew for 3 years
In addition to the checkpoints, the patrols, and the closed shops, the Old City has suffered from a strict curfew for three of the past four years. An Israeli army curfew generally means that the soldiers have orders to shoot to kill on sight, it creates an extremely dangerous situation for any person to go anywhere at any time, even outside the official curfew hours. This includes delivery of basic supplies of food and medicine, and also the movement of children, who are as likely to be shot as adults under a curfew.
Who can blame the shopkeepers and market stallholders for moving?
Although the curfew is not presently in force, evidence of the effects of Army violence and repression is everywhere – bullet holes in shopfronts, cobwebs on the fronts of shops…
Although things were quiet, the Army has retained all its observation and sniper positions around the city – many of the most strategic buildings have camouflage netting draped over the top balcony or steel observation posts perched on the roof. We were told that in reality sniper positions are often concealed, but occupied or not, the visible ones create a constant and frightening reminder that the city is under armed occupation and that curfew can be reimposed at any time.
Settlers harassment
In addition to the checkpoints, the patrols, the closed shops and the curfew, we heard a great many reports of vandalism and verbal abuse by the settlers.
In many cases the houses of the settlers directly overhang the streets of the Old City, and here the locals have had to fit thick metal mesh across the streets to catch the rubbish that has been thrown out of the settler’s windows onto the street – and the Palestinians – below. In several cases the metal mesh was sagging due to the weight of debris above. It is of course impossible for me to say what motives the settlers may have for throwing rubbish in this way – had they wished to continue being malicious t hey could have thrown foul water, but I did not hear of this being done. Nonetheless they must have known full well that the streets below their windows were Palestinian streets. A lot of Palestinian windows were smashed, apparently by stones often thrown by settlers’ children.
These all combined – together with the real violence of recent years – have made the whole of the Old City into a ghost town. The reason given by the Army is always “security”, but one feels the real aim is colonization, certainly the effect is depopulation of the Old City through fear and strangulation.
These processes of displacement and harassment have not ended yet.
Process of colonization, extension of illegal settlements
On the outskirts of Hebron is the much larger illegal Israeli settlement of Qiryat Arba. For those interested, this means ‘Town of the Four’, referring to the four biblical couples reported to be buried here in the Cave of Machpelah under the Ibrahami Mosque – Adam and Eve (!), Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah. This biblical fame explains a good deal of why the city has become such a battleground and focus for extremist Israeli settlers – it is the no.2 site in Palestine for both Jews and Muslims. The locals probably wish it had never been mentioned! It was a women from Qiryat Arba who in 1979 illegally occupied the old Jewish hospital of Beit Hadassah in Hebron’s Old City, leading directly to its present death-like state.
Walking up to Qiryat Arba, and along the road which marks the border between Israeli and Palestinian areas, one sees graffiti which has been sprayed on the doors of many Palestinian homes – Stars of David and angry writing in Hebrew (which I have not yet been able to translate but will). The feeling I get is that the graffiti is saying “you’re next…” and I can imagine that it is extremely intimidating to receive. It is in fact eerily similar to tactics used by the Nazis in Germany, not a happy thought.
Of course you can dismiss provocative graffiti as being ‘only’ spray paint, more concretely there are plans afoot for a new Israelis-only road to link Qiryat Arba with the Cave of Machpelah and one can be sure that it will not be long before it is extended a few yards further to the illegal settlement in the heart of the city. Up on the border road, there are plans to construct a new Jewish synagogue on the Muslim side immediately adjacent to Muslim homes. This is presently being blocked by the Israeli authorities – but it is probably only a matter of time until they arrange the necessary military cover – ie a new Army checkpoint or base – and it goes ahead!
Hebron has a long history with ownership moving between Jews and Muslims many times over the centuries. For this reason, since the Jews started their illegal settlements in the area there have been major propaganda efforts to justify their right to be here, an Internet search looking for ‘Hebron’ or ‘Beit Hadassah’ will quickly lead you to some of these.
They consider their occupation of Hebron to be legitimate because there were Jews living there in the past, most recently in 1929 and most anciently when Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah for his burial site sometime around 1,800 B.C! Their desire to live here would not be so bad if it was based on a desire to peacefully co-exist. Instead the settlers have gone on record as aiming to completely expel the Palestinians from Hebron or at least from its Old City. This is no idle threat as the 4,000 soldiers based here constantly remind one.
Tit-for-Tat violence
Over the years there has been a great deal of violence in Hebron, not least in 1994 when Baruch Goldstein, a settler, entered the mosque and massacred 29 Muslims while they were at prayer, wounding a further 200. According to my guidebook, there is now a shrine to him in the adjacent illegal Israeli settlement of Qiryat Arba. The guidebook (Lonely Planet) describes him as “a popular settler hero”. Not surprisingly there has been a good deal of tit-for-tat violence over the years, but with the massive army presence in town it is mostly Palestinian civilians who are injured or killed.
Palestinian suicide bombers have certainly killed settlers over the years, and this led to an Israeli Army invasion of whole district & city in 2002 – after similar invasions of Jenin, Tulkarm, etc. We were told that the Israeli Army becomes nervous if it is not able to operate inside a city. The invasion is partly a tactic to expose & kill – to ‘flush out’ – the most active resistance fighters.
Collective punishment
As well as being in the Old City, we spent some time in other areas of Hebron, and it was here that it was most obvious that what is happening on Hebron’s Old City is part of a much larger violent occupation of the whole country. The reality of the situation is not immediately apparent to the naked eye, you have to have things explained by a local. For instance, there are many gaps or piles of rubble between the houses. Why?
Collective punishment has been very much used by the Army, this usually takes the form of blowing up or bulldozing the family home of anyone who has been discovered to be a suicide bomber or other form of fighter. To give an example, we stayed in a house in the suburbs, next door there was an empty space with a big pile of rubble. On asking, we were told that this house was blown up by the Israeli Army some three months ago, the explosion was so violent that it blew in all the doors and windows on that side of our host’s house. The family were living in a makeshift tent in one corner of the space. Across the small valley we could see a bulldozer working, we were told that was a house which had been blown up only last week. On the corner of the street was a small corrugated iron shop, the owner used to occupy a five-storey house on the site before that was blown up some years ago.
These are examples of collective punishment, which is specifically outlawed under international law and the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the punishment of innocent people who may be connected with a ‘guilty’ party. Israel and her Supreme Court have consistently refused to uphold the Geneva Conventions and the illegality of its collective punishment, using a variety of reasons but notably that the Occupied Palestinian Territories (ie the West Bank) never constituted a sovereign state so Israel’s invasion and occupation of Palestine do not count as the invasion and occupation of another country – and so international humanitarian law does not apply!
Water rights – Economic warfare
Besides collective punishment, there is lower-level but on-going economic warfare being waged by Israel against the Palestinians. An example of this is water – Hebron has many natural springs, but local people are not allowed to use them. Instead they have to buy water at considerable cost, often delivered by tankers, while Israel helps itself to 80% of the water in the underground aquifers for intensive agriculture and ‘modern’ plumbing. .
Conclusion
We went to Hebron at Tariq’s invitation, inspired by his vision of bringing life back into the Old City. He thought that our presence might give locals confidence to re-enter it in greater numbers. Maybe we had some effect, it is hard to be sure. One idea he had was to organize a daily ‘boy’s march’ through the checkpoint (children below a certain age do not need ID) to generate momentum and confidence in entering the Old City, followed by us or others putting on a concert or other entertainment to draw in the locals.
One thing we realized while there was just how hard it is to actually DO anything faced with such overwhelming odds and where people have more-or-less got used to the wrongness of the situation. We felt very strongly Tariq’s – and I am sure, thousands of others’) acute frustration and yet puzzlement what to do.
ISM has now established a flat for volunteers in the centre of the Old City, as we left five others arrived, and hopefully they will build on what we have done so far. One day, Palestine will be free …
By Anne Petter
Originally published in The Nation
The International Court of Justice has ruled Israel’s “Separation Wall” illegal and has called on Israel to dismantle the wall. Nineteen days ago I came to Israel to protest that wall and to bear witness to its devastating effects on the Palestinian population. Instead I was detained by Israel police upon arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport and have since been held in immigration detention awaiting deportation. I have been labeled a threat to “security,” and the judge has called my camera a weapon. It seems to me the only threat I pose to Israel is a public relations one.
I have been asked, Why did I come from outside Israel to participate in political activity here? The first and simplest answer is because it is the right thing to do. The international community needs to insist on justice for all, for the sake of all. Secondly, I came from outside Israel to engage in political activity here because my country, the United States, bears the greatest responsibility for perpetuating the violence here.
The United States gives more foreign aid to Israel than to all African countries combined and crucial political support for nearly all of its policies concerning Palestinians, even those that violate international law, as does construction of the wall. I came to Israel because my tax money pays for Apache helicopters and tank shells like the ones recently shot at a peaceful protest in Gaza, and because the labels on the tear-gas containers we pick up in demonstrations say “Made in Pennsylvania.” My taxes are sent to Israel in violation of US laws. The US Foreign Military Assistance Act prohibits military assistance to any country that has a pattern of consistently violating human rights.
During a visit to the West Bank a year ago I saw that the wall is being built primarily inside the West Bank on Palestinian land, cutting off thousands of Palestinians from their farmland, trapping many in enclaves and devastating the Palestinian economy. With that knowledge, I returned here to say the exact same thing that the ICJ has now declared.
I intended to join a march organized by the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led movement working for Palestinian self-determination and to end the Israeli occupation. Through nonviolent actions, the ISM volunteers bear witness to the effects of military occupation. We act where our governments fail to act. We report what the international media fail to report.
For daring to witness and report the brutal effects the wall is taking on the Palestinian population, I have been deemed a “security threat” by the State of Israel, denied entry to both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and threatened with expulsion. My first appeal to challenge my deportation was denied yesterday. However, because I know that my efforts to stand against human rights violations like the construction of the wall are supported by international law, I am appealing this decision to the Israeli Supreme Court and will remain in prison until my case is reviewed there.
From Ben Gurion’s detention center I have experienced first-hand a scaled-down version of the system of injustice experienced daily by Palestinians, who call on us to pay attention to the prison walls being built around them. In light of the decision made by the International Court of Justice, and in light of America’s ongoing support of Israel’s defiance of international law, I urge people to answer the call and participate in bringing to the world the Palestinian voices calling for freedom and justice.
By Tala A. Rahmeh
Originally published by MIFTAH
“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
– Robert F. Kennedy
In such a time, when the world is crashing from every direction and political and humanitarian corrections vary in definition, activism remains one of the few core-shaking features in the histories of different struggles. In many opinions, the power of people is the only path for salvation and the establishment of peace.
The case of the Palestinian struggle is extraordinary: Palestinians, with their bare hands, have stood in the face of one of the most powerful countries, which exceeded in its practices all inhumane measures history has known.
Activism, here in Palestine, is exercised in various ways, and the power of the people has grown and evolved unconditionally, making astonishing achievements along the way.
One of the new and powerful activism movements in Palestine and internationally is the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Growing by day and making a significant change in the core of the Palestinian struggle, by viewing the real face of the conflict, and ISM is changing the lives of a lot of people on the other side of the world.
Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall are just a few names from the stream of Palestinian and international activists who work and subject themselves to daily danger under the wing of the ISM. These volunteers, who could have simply turned their heads and walked away from Palestinian suffering, instead made the choice of devoting themselves to ending the occupation and giving Palestinian people freedom and rights that have been stolen from them for so long.
ISM is a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinians and internationals who work together to raise awareness about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They endeavor to end the occupation and force Israel to abide by UN resolutions and international law using nonviolent direct action methods of resistance to challenge Israel’s illegal measures and acts.
The first campaign that started this movement took place in August 2001, when 50 foreign civilians, mainly from the United Kingdom and the United States, came to Palestine to witness the brutal acts practiced against Palestinian civilians by the state of Israel. After the campaign, all those eye-witnesses went back to their home countries and talked about that overwhelming experience.
The second campaign took place in December of that year, when 70 foreigners joined an anti-occupation call, in which they visited Palestinian villages and towns, where non-violent resistance was already gaining ground. Also, those internationals paid solidarity visits to Palestinian areas that were severely hit by Israel’s continuous tank and F16 raids.
When the third campaign was announced on March 29, 2002, the Israeli forces were reoccupying Ramallah and carrying out a military operation that was to include all Palestinian West Bank cities. This prolonged reoccupation operation, along with the imposition of unending curfews, drove hundreds of civilian foreigners to Palestine with the desire to participate in human aid, from delivering food and medical supplies to acting as human shields, in Palestinian cities, towns and refugee camps.
ISMers were the first to break the Israeli curfew and stand in the face of brutal acts and also document the abuse of human rights and international laws in addition to the violence the Palestinians were subjected to.
“A campaign against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and for a just and viable peace.”
In their mission statement, the cofounders of ISM explain briefly the Palestinian problem, listing all the UN resolutions and international laws that illegalize the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, in addition to explaining American foreign policies towards the Palestinians and their traditional support for Israel.
As you read through, the ISMers describe the form of resistance here in Palestine, from demonstrations at checkpoints and road blocks, to being a human shield in Palestinian towns and refugee camps.
Lastly, ISM list their non-violence ground rules, including not using or carrying weapons to respecting all agreements concerning their actions.
ISMers believe in the significant role individuals can play to end the occupation, or at least bring attention to the world of the brutality being practiced against Palestinians.
“Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere… and remember also that there is a cause to which many people have committed themselves, difficulties and terrible obstacles notwithstanding. Why? Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest for equality and human rights.”
– Edward W. Said
There are two kinds of ideas, the kind that floats in people’s minds but does not shake their different struggles and remains silent, and the one that creates wings for itself and wanders around the universe of thoughts and make a tangible difference. Without the bravery of people like Huwaida Arraf, one of the cofounders of ISM, windows of hope would have never been opened.
To be able to touch the countless aspects of the ISM, I met with Huwaida Arraf, who introduced me generously to this group. While hearing her morals, ideas and thoughts, I understood a side of the ISM that I never even saw before in spite of my reading and observation.
In my mind, as well as many others, the first question that occurred was how ISM was first created and formed, what steps the cofounders took to leave such a large impact on the international scene, and how they motivated people from all around the world to take action.
Huwaida, with her simplicity and kind features, told me that at the beginning they were only four people who thought this whole issue through: two Palestinians, an American who later became her husband, Adam Shapiro, and herself, a Palestinian American, who believed that a significant change must be made on the dynamics and means of the Palestinian resistance.
“We were a small group of people who believed that we need to change the dynamics and means of Palestinians resistance.”
Arraf clarified a very important point regarding this aspect, which is the fact that Palestinians need a resource; ISMers knew the resources the Israeli military had, provided by international governments and their foreign policies, also the neglect Palestinians suffered from these same resources, so this small team faced their doubts and decided to go to the people.
“Let’s go to the people, lets get international civilians actively involved in the Palestinian’s struggle. We didn’t know if it’s going to really work at first, but it was an idea, it was an invitation, come join us! Come join us in directly resisting the occupation.”
Overall, the small group that first established this movement believed that an international presence is vital for the Palestinian struggle citing four main reasons.
Firstly, providing some kind of protective accompaniment for Palestinian people, whether resisting or simply living under this unbearable situation. According to Huwaida, an international presence raises the stakes “at least PR wise and diplomatically for Israel to use lethal forms of violence against internationals demonstrating,” because Israelis cannot ignore the rights of internationals similarly to the way they disregard Palestinian rights, since they have their respective governments protecting and looking out for them. This aspect basically provides a level of comfort for Palestinian civilians.
Secondly, reaching the mainstream media that has been broadcasting a very negative image of the Palestinian struggle through different international individuals.
“An Italian joining us can talk to his own media resources about the situation, a Brit can reach BBC, which gives more support to the voice of Palestinian people that we want freedom, and we need to change the context in which the Palestinian struggle is viewed.”
Huwaida stressed the very important point that the form in which ISM cofounders viewed the conflict “was not from a Palestinian-Israeli conflict context or Muslims against Jews. It shouldn’t even be viewed as absence of peace, it should be viewed as the absence of freedom of the people, and occupation should be ended to restore freedom, and that’s what we aim to have people understand.”
The third aspect is advocacy, which is basically broadcasting eyewitnesses’ information and reports to the biggest circle of people in order to deliver the truth and raise more awareness and involvement.
The fourth and most crucial is the morale of the Palestinian people, who are isolated by the occupation and abandoned by the international community. In this aspect the international role is showing those people that they are not alone in this conflict, but surrounded by people who understand and value the truth and come all the way to Palestine to try to make the change their governments failed to make. In that sense, ISM retains the hope in the souls of the Palestinian people and gives them the will to go on with their struggle.
“I always say that ISM open windows of hope for people to continue to believe in the power of people to change things, and I think that is very important, because some people reached a very desperate point, for some think we are going to die anyway.”
Of course, these four points seem to hold the ability to make a real change, but where is the impact of ISM on the international community, which is becoming weaker and more helpless towards our case by day? When I asked about the impact of the ISM on the ground, Huwaida helped me look at the big picture. A change cannot be made in a day, but takes time and effort to become tangible.
The ISM seem to focus on the individual power and capacity to change .When internationals leave Palestine they are equipped with eyewitness reports and every volunteer that comes here has a whole community and network behind her/him. Talking to those people is one of the most effective methods in which information about the situation here is transmitted and those same individuals try to gather people from all walks of life and organize gatherings to share their experience. For example, nowadays, there are ISMers touring around the United States, traveling from state to state raising awareness about Iraq in addition to the Palestinian issue.
Since the ISM is so diverse in its membership, whether politically, economically or socio-economically, it gives the ability to reach all sorts of people, from school students to high ranked politicians in the American Democratic Party, which includes a very active ISM member who was beaten by Israeli settlers.
In Huwaida’s opinion, this kind of activism is very important because it helps fix the bad image the media is producing in this conflict and struggle.
”This kind of activism is very important because even if the mainstream media isn’t viewing the picture we want it to view, there are no better reporters than those people and activists who lived through the experience itself and are reporting back to their communities and leaders.”
More importantly, ISMers are constantly trying to create novel methods to gain the public’s attention, which for the most part are unaware on a political level, as opposed to presenting them with dry political facts, which might not be intriguing or endearing enough for them to want to take action.
“In order for an average American to know how hard the situation is for Palestinians, we want them to know, but we also need them to act. Therefore, you need to handle the issue from another perspective. Like telling them the amount of money that the U.S. government gives the Israeli government in order to buy weapons, and why this money isn’t being used to provide Americans with better health care or better education and class rooms for their children?”
Regarding those members, I asked Huwaida about the process of selection, and whether there were any preferences or preservations .The answer was easier than I thought: ISM welcomes any individual regardless of their different backgrounds, ethnicities, religion or race, as long as they are willing to work under the ISM wing, including working for the same purpose and goal.
The ISM goal is focused on one basic point, establishing freedom for Palestinian people under the UN resolutions and international law, including UN Resolution 194 that guarantees the right of return.
Concerning the means in which this goal is reached, ISM is considered a non-violent direct action movement, this follows from one of its main beliefs that non-violent action is one of the most effective forms of resisting the occupier or oppressor.
Yet this method of struggle is not new for Palestinian people, it has been practiced in Palestinian cities and towns since the beginning of the Israeli occupation.
“They did not invent the idea; they didn’t bring it to Palestine. It has been there all along, the thing is, they showed effectively how it can work.” Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a prominent Palestinian politician, said in an article about the International Solidarity Movement.
Regarding Israeli activists, Arraf said that ISM opens the door for any participation within their principles and does not discriminate at all, but Israeli participation might not be acceptable to communities that suffered heavy losses from the Israeli occupation. It might be too much to take for some, so basically this involvement depends on the targeted community.
Since the ISM is considered an international resistance movement, I couldn’t help but wonder about the depth of its impact on Palestinian society. A lot of its members already belong to resistance movements, and Palestinian people have always been involved in defying the Israeli occupation by all means and ways, still, the ISM received lots of attention from Palestinians.
When I asked Arraf this question, her instant answer was “it’s a Palestinian lead movement of Palestinians and internationals working together to end the occupation.”
In that form, ISM members work directly with representatives and coordinators from every local community in creating effective means of resistance.
Creating effective means of resistance is one of the many projects ISM focuses on in their attempt to restore freedom and human rights back to the Palestinian people.
Although ISM is a Palestinian movement, it grew internationally much faster than it grew locally in Palestine.
“Because of a lot of historical, psychological and other problems that we have as a result of the occupation and the fact that people lost much faith in media.”
Despite these reasons, Huwaida blamed ISM.
“It’s also our fault because we are the activists who started it and we were not interested much in the logistics. We are not even an organization, we are a movement and in fact we did not focus on the organizational aspects. So, we did not spend a lot of time talking or distributing brochures or even doing local media interviews.”
The knowledge of this movement started to grow in Palestine, as it got struck with major events like deportations, arrests and assaults of ISM members. Palestinian people started thinking about the reason that drives these foreigners to come here and fight for a cause that is not relevant to their backgrounds or home countries.
Huwaida vividly recalls that when ISM members broke into the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s compound in Ramallah and the church of Nativity in Bethlehem during Israel’s “Defensive Shield Operation” in 2002, a lot of Palestinian people learned more about this movement through international news and broadcasting channels and started seeking more information.
ISMers are trying now to fix their previous mistakes by doing more public exposure, meeting with leaders and taking the opportunities to speak in the media. As a result, Palestinian participation increased, and now widely known members of Palestinian political factions and community leaders are taking part in this movement.
On another level, before reading in depth about this movement, I had this notion that ISM was a humanitarian movement because of the part it was taking in aiding the Palestinian communities, but Huwaida clarified this point for me.
ISM is a political movement that focuses on changing the political context. It is not involved in humanitarian aid, such as distributing food, but that does not eliminate the role it played in alleviating the humanitarian crisis.
“We do not consider ourselves a humanitarian organization. That doesn’t mean we don’t work on humanitarian issues. We certainly do, and the occupation is a humanitarian issue.”
That role was portrayed clearly in the humanitarian crisis of the Israeli invasion and reoccupation of the West Bank in April 2002, when the ISM shifted its political role to a humanitarian one to help end this catastrophe. Also, ISM members see it as a message to the world that basic human needs are being cut off from Palestinian cities and towns.
“When you take a step against the occupation you have to speak up and report on what’s happening especially on the humanitarian crisis the occupation has created.”
ISMers worked closely with different medical teams in Palestine that were trying to respond to the humanitarian problem, but were being attacked. ISM joined them in resisting these attacks. In addition they defied the Israeli occupation and refused to leave areas that the Israel army was attacking (which were declared “closed military zones” to prevent the media from reporting what was happening).
“Its easier for people to relate to a humanitarian situation rather than cut and dry political positions, but the position of the Palestinian struggle is humanitarian in itself and it’s about people who have been denied freedom for so long. In that sense we work, but its important to know that we are a political movement.”
In a bounce back to the Palestinian harsh reality on the ground, and the fact that regardless of the movement or means of action, making a tangible difference on the ground remains quite hard. I asked Huwaida whether these activists are aware of the extent in which they can make a change or contribute.
“At least we are showing them that we are not silent, we are showing those soldiers that we will not stand still. Now, how do the internationals fit into that? Internationals help us in delivering our message to the world and show the globe the illegality and viciousness of Israeli acts.”
Arraf related this issue to the actions taken by Palestinians regarding the Wall. Different people and communities try to prove to the world that this Israeli measure is not for the sake of “security” as they claim, so internationals help reveal the truth to their communities.
Peace under fire; Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall
In a series of attacks that shocked the world, Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and Brain Avery, three ISM activists, where targeted by the Israeli army while fighting for justice using nothing but their bare hands.
Rachel Corrie, 23, was a student at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She died Sunday, March 16, 2003, in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, while trying to stop an Israeli bulldozer from tearing down a Palestinian physician’s home. She fell in front of the machine, which ran over her and then backed up, witnesses said.
Tom Hurndall, 22, died in January having spent nine months in a coma after being shot in the head while trying to help Palestinian children at a military checkpoint in Gaza.
On April 5th, 2003, Israeli troops shot activist Brian Avery in Jenin. The 24-year-old American citizen from Albuquerque, New Mexico, experienced serious wounds to his face after Israeli troops shot at him with heavy machine gunfire from an armored personnel carrier.
After these tragic killings, I personally wondered if doom was the fate of this blooming movement, especially after being obviously targeted by the Israeli military. Surprisingly, knowledge about this movement grew larger and wider and people became more interested in seeking ways to participate.
“Actually there was much more interest in the movement at that point and the inquiries of people asking how to come and how to get involved increased. These events did not affect the numbers negatively; at least that’s what we saw.”
Yet these killings imposed a series of vital questions. Can they go on or not? Were these killings really targeted and what was their purpose?
“Killing ISM members was the most serious measure Israel practiced against our movement, but not the first effort made by Israel to try to de-legitimize or break this phenomenon of solidarity movement.”
According to Huwaida’s testimony, Israel’s first attempt to wreck this movement was through talking negatively about them in the media, describing them as “naïve people seeking trouble.” These attempts evolved to reach deporting internationals, arresting them then escalated to firing at them directly.
“Like in one incident in Jenin, a soldier shot one of our members in the leg. It wasn’t a fatal injury, but it was definitely to scare her off, so they started pushing it, until an Israeli tank drove over Rachel, killing her.”
Although the reason behind these attempts is obvious, Arraf confirms that they are not sure if Rachel’s killing was deliberate, or a direct order given to the tank driver.
“In the testimonies of the ISMers who were there, they confirmed that the tank saw Rachel. Now, we are not sure if it was a direct order telling the driver to go ahead and kill her, but there was a complete Israeli denial to this murder and attempts to blame it on Rachel by labeling her as a naïve troublemaker.”
Israeli allegations evoked part of the international community to pose questions such as , what was Rachel doing in Gaza, or in an area where a house was being demolished, especially since Israel always presents explanations for its illegal actions against Palestinians?
“I don’t think Israel suffered much PR wise, the tank driver was not punished and he was back to work in two days, and this sent a message to the Israeli soldiers that’s it ok if your finger is loose on the trigger. You’re not going to face any repercussions and blames and claims can always be presented even if the victims were internationals.”
Three weeks later, Brian Avery, was shot in the face by a burst of machine gunfire from an Israeli armored personnel carrier.
When he was shot, Brian was wearing a fluorescent red vest with a reflective white cross on its back and front, identifying him as an international medic.
”He was visible, unarmed, wearing a bright florescent jacket, had his hands up in the air, certainly identified as an international.”
Six days later, Tom Hurndall was shot dead! He too was wearing a florescent jacket and clearly identified as an international.
“I think this was at the very least negligence on behalf of the Israeli army, and as part of an over all impunity by how the Israeli army operates and endangers civilians. Not only internationals, but Palestinians and this infuriates people, obviously ISM members.”
At that point, the ISM had to reevaluate their work, especially regarding the amount of protection they can offer to those internationals, and if this kind of protective accompaniment should be replaced with a safer method. According to Huwaida, more inquires were being submitted and larger groups of people started learning more and coming to Palestine.
“These killings opened the eyes of many people to what is really going on, and I don’t feel we suffered in numbers. It was infuriating, but numbers kept increasing.”
Regardless of these facts, Huwaida says she was overwhelmed and felt partly responsible.
“But still with every injury and death you feel a personal responsibility for it. You did not pull the trigger or drive that tank, but these are people you motivated to take action who are paying their lives.”
Although Huwaida stressed that people are never guaranteed that this form of resistance is safer than resisting violently, internationals might be privileged, but they are still in a war zone.
“Maybe it’s even more dangerous because in a sense you are depending on the rational and the humane side of the Israeli soldiers as well as the humane side of the international community.”
Despite all these negative images and feelings, Huwaida as well as ISM activists were strongly persistent as well as ISM activists to continue their fight for freedom.
“Personally, obviously it’s a tremendous loss, at the same time, this will not stop us and we will continue to take action and they will not scare us off, they can’t.”
Being an ISM activist and coming to Palestine means an inevitable life change. Reading about the Palestinian struggle and plight or looking at it from the outside can never convey the real picture on the ground, and the amount of Israeli brutality practiced against Palestinians.
“I think when internationals get here their whole image of the situation changes, mostly because of the human contacts they establish with local people here and the impact these contacts leave in their lives afterwards.”
“They managed to help in mobilization and in diverting tactics from armed or military struggle to more popular non-violent struggle. They have been very effective in that sense.”
– Hanan Ashrawi
Regardless of the pace in which ISM spread, they have managed to draw a different map for the struggle, and they succeeded in opening the eyes of the world to the necessity of peace in Palestine, to save more Palestinians from a doomed future.
Apart from all political statements and goals, one has to realize that the Palestinian struggle at its core a just cause. Otherwise, these internationals that could have simply walked away would not be seen here today, putting their lives on the line in order to establish freedom.
Such a movement is evidence of the strength and humanity of all Palestinian people, who are winning simply by staying on this land and digging life out the shadow of death that the Israelis are spreading every day.
By Tala A. Rahmeh, for MIFTAH
“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
– Robert F. Kennedy
In such a time, when the world is crashing from every direction and political and humanitarian corrections vary in definition, activism remains one of the few core-shaking features in the histories of different struggles. In many opinions, the power of people is the only path for salvation and the establishment of peace.
The case of the Palestinian struggle is extraordinary: Palestinians, with their bare hands, have stood in the face of one of the most powerful countries, which exceeded in its practices all inhumane measures history has known.
Activism, here in Palestine, is exercised in various ways, and the power of the people has grown and evolved unconditionally, making astonishing achievements along the way.
One of the new and powerful activism movements in Palestine and internationally is the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).Growing by day and making a significant change in the core of the Palestinian struggle, by viewing the real face of the conflict, and ISM is changing the lives of a lot of people on the other side of the world.
Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall are just a few names from the stream of Palestinian and international activists who work and subject themselves to daily danger under the wing of the ISM. These volunteers, who could have simply turned their heads and walked away from Palestinian suffering, instead made the choice of devoting themselves to ending the occupation and giving Palestinian people freedom and rights that have been stolen from them for so long.
ISM is a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinians and internationals who work together to raise awareness about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They endeavor to end the occupation and force Israel to abide by UN resolutions and international law using nonviolent direct action methods of resistance to challenge Israel’s illegal measures and acts.
The first campaign that started this movement took place in August 2001, when 50 foreign civilians, mainly from the United Kingdom and the United States, came to Palestine to witness the brutal acts practiced against Palestinian civilians by the state of Israel. After the campaign, all those eye-witnesses went back to their home countries and talked about that overwhelming experience.
The second campaign took place in December of that year, when 70 foreigners joined an anti-occupation call, in which they visited Palestinian villages and towns, where non-violent resistance was already gaining ground. Also, those internationals paid solidarity visits to Palestinian areas that were severely hit by Israel’s continuous tank and F16 raids.
When the third campaign was announced on March 29, 2002, the Israeli forces were reoccupying Ramallah and carrying out a military operation that was to include all Palestinian West Bank cities. This prolonged reoccupation operation, along with the imposition of unending curfews, drove hundreds of civilian foreigners to Palestine with the desire to participate in human aid, from delivering food and medical supplies to acting as human shields, in Palestinian cities, towns and refugee camps.
ISMers were the first to break the Israeli curfew and stand in the face of brutal acts and also document the abuse of human rights and international laws in addition to the violence the Palestinians were subjected to.
“A campaign against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and for a just and viable peace”
In their mission statement, the cofounders of ISM explain briefly the Palestinian problem, listing all the UN resolutions and international laws that illegalize the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, in addition to explaining American foreign policies towards the Palestinians and their traditional support for Israel.
As you read through, the ISMers describe the form of resistance here in Palestine, from demonstrations at checkpoints and road blocks, to being a human shield in Palestinian towns and refugee camps.
Lastly, ISM list their non-violence ground rules, including not using or carrying weapons to respecting all agreements concerning their actions.
ISMers believe in the significant role individuals can play to end the occupation, or at least bring attention to the world of the brutality being practiced against Palestinians.
“Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere… and remember also that there is a cause to which many people have committed themselves, difficulties and terrible obstacles notwithstanding. Why? Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest for equality and human rights.”
– Edward W. Said
There are two kinds of ideas, the kind that floats in people’s minds but does not shake their different struggles and remains silent, and the one that creates wings for itself and wanders around the universe of thoughts and make a tangible difference. Without the bravery of people like Huwaida Arraf, one of the cofounders of ISM, windows of hope would have never been opened.
To be able to touch the countless aspects of the ISM, I met with Huwaida Arraf, who introduced me generously to this group. While hearing her morals, ideas and thoughts, I understood a side of the ISM that I never even saw before in spite of my reading and observation.
In my mind, as well as many others, the first question that occurred was how ISM was first created and formed, what steps the cofounders took to leave such a large impact on the international scene, and how they motivated people from all around the world to take action.
Huwaida, with her simplicity and kind features, told me that at the beginning they were only four people who thought this whole issue through: two Palestinians, an American who later became her husband, Adam Shapiro, and herself, a Palestinian American, who believed that a significant change must be made on the dynamics and means of the Palestinian resistance.
“We were a small group of people who believed that we need to change the dynamics and means of Palestinians resistance.”
Arraf clarified a very important point regarding this aspect, which is the fact that Palestinians need a resource; ISMers knew the resources the Israeli military had, provided by international governments and their foreign policies, also the neglect Palestinians suffered from these same resources, so this small team faced their doubts and decided to go to the people.
“Let’s go to the people, lets get international civilians actively involved in the Palestinian’s struggle. We didn’t know if it’s going to really work at first, but it was an idea, it was an invitation, come join us! Come join us in directly resisting the occupation.”
Overall, the small group that first established this movement believed that an international presence is vital for the Palestinian struggle citing four main reasons.
Firstly, providing some kind of protective accompaniment for Palestinian people, whether resisting or simply living under this unbearable situation. According to Huwaida, an international presence raises the stakes “at least PR wise and diplomatically for Israel to use lethal forms of violence against internationals demonstrating,” because Israelis cannot ignore the rights of internationals similarly to the way they disregard Palestinian rights, since they have their respective governments protecting and looking out for them. This aspect basically provides a level of comfort for Palestinian civilians.
Secondly, reaching the mainstream media that has been broadcasting a very negative image of the Palestinian struggle through different international individuals.
“An Italian joining us can talk to his own media resources about the situation, a Brit can reach BBC, which gives more support to the voice of Palestinian people that we want freedom, and we need to change the context in which the Palestinian struggle is viewed.”
Huwaida stressed the very important point that the form in which ISM cofounders viewed the conflict “was not from a Palestinian-Israeli conflict context or Muslims against Jews. It shouldn’t even be viewed as absence of peace, it should be viewed as the absence of freedom of the people, and occupation should be ended to restore freedom, and that’s what we aim to have people understand.”
The third aspect is advocacy, which is basically broadcasting eyewitnesses’ information and reports to the biggest circle of people in order to deliver the truth and raise more awareness and involvement.
The fourth and most crucial is the morale of the Palestinian people, who are isolated by the occupation and abandoned by the international community. In this aspect the international role is showing those people that they are not alone in this conflict, but surrounded by people who understand and value the truth and come all the way to Palestine to try to make the change their governments failed to make. In that sense, ISM retains the hope in the souls of the Palestinian people and gives them the will to go on with their struggle.
“I always say that ISM open windows of hope for people to continue to believe in the power of people to change things, and I think that is very important, because some people reached a very desperate point, for some think we are going to die anyway.”
Of course, these four points seem to hold the ability to make a real change, but where is the impact of ISM on the international community, which is becoming weaker and more helpless towards our case by day? When I asked about the impact of the ISM on the ground, Huwaida helped me look at the big picture. A change cannot be made in a day, but takes time and effort to become tangible.
The ISM seem to focus on the individual power and capacity to change .When internationals leave Palestine they are equipped with eyewitness reports and every volunteer that comes here has a whole community and network behind her/him. Talking to those people is one of the most effective methods in which information about the situation here is transmitted and those same individuals try to gather people from all walks of life and organize gatherings to share their experience. For example, nowadays, there are ISMers touring around the United States, traveling from state to state raising awareness about Iraq in addition to the Palestinian issue.
Since the ISM is so diverse in its membership, whether politically, economically or socio-economically, it gives the ability to reach all sorts of people, from school students to high ranked politicians in the American Democratic Party, which includes a very active ISM member who was beaten by Israeli settlers.
In Huwaida’s opinion, this kind of activism is very important because it helps fix the bad image the media is producing in this conflict and struggle.
”This kind of activism is very important because even if the mainstream media isn’t viewing the picture we want it to view, there are no better reporters than those people and activists who lived through the experience itself and are reporting back to their communities and leaders.”
More importantly, ISMers are constantly trying to create novel methods to gain the public’s attention, which for the most part are unaware on a political level, as opposed to presenting them with dry political facts, which might not be intriguing or endearing enough for them to want to take action.
“In order for an average American to know how hard the situation is for Palestinians, we want them to know, but we also need them to act. Therefore, you need to handle the issue from another perspective. Like telling them the amount of money that the U.S. government gives the Israeli government in order to buy weapons, and why this money isn’t being used to provide Americans with better health care or better education and class rooms for their children?”
Regarding those members, I asked Huwaida about the process of selection, and whether there were any preferences or preservations .The answer was easier than I thought: ISM welcomes any individual regardless of their different backgrounds, ethnicities, religion or race, as long as they are willing to work under the ISM wing, including working for the same purpose and goal.
The ISM goal is focused on one basic point, establishing freedom for Palestinian people under the UN resolutions and international law, including UN Resolution 194 that guarantees the right of return.
Concerning the means in which this goal is reached, ISM is considered a non-violent direct action movement, this follows from one of its main beliefs that non-violent action is one of the most effective forms of resisting the occupier or oppressor.
Yet this method of struggle is not new for Palestinian people, it has been practiced in Palestinian cities and towns since the beginning of the Israeli occupation.
“They did not invent the idea; they didn’t bring it to Palestine. It has been there all along, the thing is, they showed effectively how it can work.” Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a prominent Palestinian politician, said in an article about the International Solidarity Movement.
Regarding Israeli activists, Arraf said that ISM opens the door for any participation within their principles and does not discriminate at all, but Israeli participation might not be acceptable to communities that suffered heavy losses from the Israeli occupation. It might be too much to take for some, so basically this involvement depends on the targeted community.
Since the ISM is considered an international resistance movement, I couldn’t help but wonder about the depth of its impact on Palestinian society. A lot of its members already belong to resistance movements, and Palestinian people have always been involved in defying the Israeli occupation by all means and ways, still, the ISM received lots of attention from Palestinians.
When I asked Arraf this question, her instant answer was “it’s a Palestinian lead movement of Palestinians and internationals working together to end the occupation.”
In that form, ISM members work directly with representatives and coordinators from every local community in creating effective means of resistance.
Creating effective means of resistance is one of the many projects ISM focuses on in their attempt to restore freedom and human rights back to the Palestinian people.
Although ISM is a Palestinian movement, it grew internationally much faster than it grew locally in Palestine.
“Because of a lot of historical, psychological and other problems that we have as a result of the occupation and the fact that people lost much faith in media.”
Despite these reasons, Huwaida blamed ISM.
“It’s also our fault because we are the activists who started it and we were not interested much in the logistics. We are not even an organization, we are a movement and in fact we did not focus on the organizational aspects. So, we did not spend a lot of time talking or distributing brochures or even doing local media interviews.”
The knowledge of this movement started to grow in Palestine, as it got struck with major events like deportations, arrests and assaults of ISM members. Palestinian people started thinking about the reason that drives these foreigners to come here and fight for a cause that is not relevant to their backgrounds or home countries.
Huwaida vividly recalls that when ISM members broke into the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s compound in Ramallah and the church of Nativity in Bethlehem during Israel’s “Defensive Shield Operation” in 2002, a lot of Palestinian people learned more about this movement through international news and broadcasting channels and started seeking more information.
ISMers are trying now to fix their previous mistakes by doing more public exposure, meeting with leaders and taking the opportunities to speak in the media. As a result, Palestinian participation increased, and now widely known members of Palestinian political factions and community leaders are taking part in this movement.
On another level, before reading in depth about this movement, I had this notion that ISM was a humanitarian movement because of the part it was taking in aiding the Palestinian communities, but Huwaida clarified this point for me.
ISM is a political movement that focuses on changing the political context. It is not involved in humanitarian aid, such as distributing food, but that does not eliminate the role it played in alleviating the humanitarian crisis.
“We do not consider ourselves a humanitarian organization. That doesn’t mean we don’t work on humanitarian issues. We certainly do, and the occupation is a humanitarian issue.”
That role was portrayed clearly in the humanitarian crisis of the Israeli invasion and reoccupation of the West Bank in April 2002, when the ISM shifted its political role to a humanitarian one to help end this catastrophe. Also, ISM members see it as a message to the world that basic human needs are being cut off from Palestinian cities and towns.
“When you take a step against the occupation you have to speak up and report on what’s happening especially on the humanitarian crisis the occupation has created.”
ISMers worked closely with different medical teams in Palestine that were trying to respond to the humanitarian problem, but were being attacked. ISM joined them in resisting these attacks. In addition they defied the Israeli occupation and refused to leave areas that the Israel army was attacking (which were declared “closed military zones” to prevent the media from reporting what was happening).
“Its easier for people to relate to a humanitarian situation rather than cut and dry political positions, but the position of the Palestinian struggle is humanitarian in itself and it’s about people who have been denied freedom for so long. In that sense we work, but its important to know that we are a political movement.”
In a bounce back to the Palestinian harsh reality on the ground, and the fact that regardless of the movement or means of action, making a tangible difference on the ground remains quite hard. I asked Huwaida whether these activists are aware of the extent in which they can make a change or contribute.
“At least we are showing them that we are not silent, we are showing those soldiers that we will not stand still. Now, how do the internationals fit into that? Internationals help us in delivering our message to the world and show the globe the illegality and viciousness of Israeli acts.”
Arraf related this issue to the actions taken by Palestinians regarding the Wall. Different people and communities try to prove to the world that this Israeli measure is not for the sake of “security” as they claim, so internationals help reveal the truth to their communities.
Peace under fire; Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall
In a series of attacks that shocked the world, Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and Brain Avery, three ISM activists, where targeted by the Israeli army while fighting for justice using nothing but their bare hands.
Rachel Corrie, 23, was a student at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She died Sunday, March 16, 2003, in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, while trying to stop an Israeli bulldozer from tearing down a Palestinian physician’s home. She fell in front of the machine, which ran over her and then backed up, witnesses said.
Tom Hurndall, 22, died in January having spent nine months in a coma after being shot in the head while trying to help Palestinian children at a military checkpoint in Gaza.
On April 5th, 2003, Israeli troops shot activist Brian Avery in Jenin. The 24-year-old American citizen from Albuquerque, New Mexico, experienced serious wounds to his face after Israeli troops shot at him with heavy machine gunfire from an armored personnel carrier.
After these tragic killings, I personally wondered if doom was the fate of this blooming movement, especially after being obviously targeted by the Israeli military. Surprisingly, knowledge about this movement grew larger and wider and people became more interested in seeking ways to participate.
“Actually there was much more interest in the movement at that point and the inquiries of people asking how to come and how to get involved increased. These events did not affect the numbers negatively; at least that’s what we saw.”
Yet these killings imposed a series of vital questions. Can they go on or not? Were these killings really targeted and what was their purpose?
“Killing ISM members was the most serious measure Israel practiced against our movement, but not the first effort made by Israel to try to de-legitimize or break this phenomenon of solidarity movement.”
According to Huwaida’s testimony, Israel’s first attempt to wreck this movement was through talking negatively about them in the media, describing them as “naïve people seeking trouble.” These attempts evolved to reach deporting internationals, arresting them then escalated to firing at them directly.
“Like in one incident in Jenin, a soldier shot one of our members in the leg. It wasn’t a fatal injury, but it was definitely to scare her off, so they started pushing it, until an Israeli tank drove over Rachel, killing her.”
Although the reason behind these attempts is obvious, Arraf confirms that they are not sure if Rachel’s killing was deliberate, or a direct order given to the tank driver.
“In the testimonies of the ISMers who were there, they confirmed that the tank saw Rachel. Now, we are not sure if it was a direct order telling the driver to go ahead and kill her, but there was a complete Israeli denial to this murder and attempts to blame it on Rachel by labeling her as a naïve troublemaker.”
Israeli allegations evoked part of the international community to pose questions such as , what was Rachel doing in Gaza, or in an area where a house was being demolished, especially since Israel always presents explanations for its illegal actions against Palestinians?
“I don’t think Israel suffered much PR wise, the tank driver was not punished and he was back to work in two days, and this sent a message to the Israeli soldiers that’s it ok if your finger is loose on the trigger. You’re not going to face any repercussions and blames and claims can always be presented even if the victims were internationals.”
Three weeks later, Brian Avery, was shot in the face by a burst of machine gunfire from an Israeli armored personnel carrier.
When he was shot, Brian was wearing a fluorescent red vest with a reflective white cross on its back and front, identifying him as an international medic.
”He was visible, unarmed, wearing a bright florescent jacket, had his hands up in the air, certainly identified as an international.”
Six days later, Tom Hurndall was shot dead! He too was wearing a florescent jacket and clearly identified as an international.
“I think this was at the very least negligence on behalf of the Israeli army, and as part of an over all impunity by how the Israeli army operates and endangers civilians. Not only internationals, but Palestinians and this infuriates people, obviously ISM members.”
At that point, the ISM had to reevaluate their work, especially regarding the amount of protection they can offer to those internationals, and if this kind of protective accompaniment should be replaced with a safer method. According to Huwaida, more inquires were being submitted and larger groups of people started learning more and coming to Palestine.
“These killings opened the eyes of many people to what is really going on, and I don’t feel we suffered in numbers. It was infuriating, but numbers kept increasing.”
Regardless of these facts, Huwaida says she was overwhelmed and felt partly responsible.
“But still with every injury and death you feel a personal responsibility for it. You did not pull the trigger or drive that tank, but these are people you motivated to take action who are paying their lives.”
Although Huwaida stressed that people are never guaranteed that this form of resistance is safer than resisting violently, internationals might be privileged, but they are still in a war zone.
“Maybe it’s even more dangerous because in a sense you are depending on the rational and the humane side of the Israeli soldiers as well as the humane side of the international community.”
Despite all these negative images and feelings, Huwaida as well as ISM activists were strongly persistent as well as ISM activists to continue their fight for freedom.
“Personally, obviously it’s a tremendous loss, at the same time, this will not stop us and we will continue to take action and they will not scare us off, they can’t.”
Being an ISM activist and coming to Palestine means an inevitable life change. Reading about the Palestinian struggle and plight or looking at it from the outside can never convey the real picture on the ground, and the amount of Israeli brutality practiced against Palestinians.
“I think when internationals get here their whole image of the situation changes, mostly because of the human contacts they establish with local people here and the impact these contacts leave in their lives afterwards.”
“They managed to help in mobilization and in diverting tactics from armed or military struggle to more popular non-violent struggle. They have been very effective in that sense.”
– Hanan Ashrawi
Regardless of the pace in which ISM spread, they have managed to draw a different map for the struggle, and they succeeded in opening the eyes of the world to the necessity of peace in Palestine, to save more Palestinians from a doomed future.
Apart from all political statements and goals, one has to realize that the Palestinian struggle at its core a just cause. Otherwise, these internationals that could have simply walked away would not be seen here today, putting their lives on the line in order to establish freedom.
Such a movement is evidence of the strength and humanity of all Palestinian people, who are winning simply by staying on this land and digging life out the shadow of death that the Israelis are spreading every day.
