International Solidarity Movement - Page 87 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Support ISM long-term volunteers in Palestine

5th October 2017 | International Solidarity Movement

Since 2001 the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) has operated on the occupied Palestinian West Bank and in the Gaza Strip – since the second Intifada of 2001.

As a Palestinian-led movement in solidarity with the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, we have facilitated the deployment of thousands of volunteers to serve as international observers and activists.

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ISM opposes the illegal occupation of the West Bank and the siege of Gaza by Israel, through non-violent resistance and civil disobedience actions such as daily school patrols to escort children crossing through military checkpoints in Hebron. ISM participates in weekly demonstrations against the occupation to de-escalate violence committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinians with the use of cameras and documentation, and if need be by the bodies of the international activists.

ISM also operates a media office that seeks to direct the attention of the world to the human rights situation in Palestine, and which publishes daily reports and documentation of attacks upon the population in the West Bank and Gaza. ISM contributes significantly to assist the Palestinians struggle for their rights, on their own terms and through non-violent means.

Every summer the number of volunteers rise, and the ISM is able to cover several cities at once, and assist in the olive harvest before the coming winter.

However with the fall in temperature the number of volunteers likewise dwindle and often only a handful of activists maintain an ISM presence in Palestine.
This not only diminishes our ability to effectively document the human rights abuses committed in the West Bank but also weakens the organisation since new members are not given the opportunity to interact with and learn from experienced volunteers staying over longer periods and familiarising themselves with the locals, the Arabic language and the level of oppression.

As a rule we never fund expenses for volunteers, but recognize that three months without an income and covering travel expenses is more than most people can afford.

Therefore, we would like to facilitate the deployment of two or three long-term volunteers on the West Bank for a minimum of three months starting in the late autumn and again from December to spring. We see this as an investment and not as a way to pay people for volunteering.

The money collected would be used to cover their travel expenses, and most of the living costs for the volunteers deprived of an income during their stay. We see this as a valuable investment to not only strengthen the presence of active international volunteers, but also as a way to pass on valuable experience.

Once the money has been raised we will announce a call for applicants committing to a minimum three months of volunteering, one of the conditions being earlier volunteers experience with the ISM.

Any remaining funds will be donated to the International Solidarity Movement to fund media work, legal aid and basic logistics necessary to run the organisation.

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When buildings break bones

1st October 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Urif, Einabus & Huwara, occupied Palestine

It was a somber trip through the villages of Urif, Einabus, and Huwara yesterday. Their peripheries continue to be threatened by the illegal settlement of Yitzar, which sits strategically on a hill above them, allowing for fast and terrifying raids on the Palestinians’ homes and cash crops below.

The mayor of Urif shows ISM activists where settler attacks have come from

In Urif we met the mayor, who walked us by the village school and within view of the illegal settlement houses perched above a hillside rich with olives. Finally, he took us to see a man named Munir al-Nuri, the subject of a tragic story about an April day that would change his life forever. It surely began like any other – with the handful of chores that keep his house up and running. On this day however, heavily armed settlers – in the company of Israeli soldiers, no less – would march into his village, enter his home, beat him, break his legs, terrorize his family in the process, destroy the family car, and as a final measure, slice his foot open with a knife, robbing him of any hope of working his land for the next year, possibly longer. Needless to say, the soldiers did nothing to protect Munir, discourage the settler from carrying out more attacks like it in the future, or provide justice or reparations to Munir’s family. It was a gut punch for us listening, and frankly we didn’t know whether to cry or scream at the injustice of it all.

Munir al-Nuri keeps printed photos of the extremist settler who attacked him in his home.

In Einabus, we sat in the office of a local council member, who again walked us through the terrors of the same settlers in his village. He began with the chemical poisoning of the Palestinians’ olive trees – a break from the settlers’ more commonly used tactic of simply burning them. Finally, he came to the story of a shepherd who encountered an invading settler out in the fields. The settler, heavily armed and primed for violence, stripped him of his clothes and sent him naked back to his village – an obvious form of cultural and psychological warfare in a modest society, and even further, one that conjures up remembrances of Abu Ghraib. The man had a heart attack and died a week after the event.

As we sat in his office, I felt a similar thought passing through all of us: ”How could I possibly convey the gravity of what I was hearing to people – particularly Zionists – back home?”. With the hill perfectly framed by the window behind him, the stories carried a certain resonance.

Short of people sitting there with us, however, and looking at the hillside, where you’re actually able to picture the death squads walking down the hill into the villages, I remain unconvinced that it will translate. But perhaps a start, for those who don’t understand just what the illegal settlements mean for Palestinians, or who yet don’t care, would be to emphasize that the buildings themselves are not the source of such primal terror felt by the villagers. It’s the settlers – barbarically violent and insulated from recourse – that constitute the more immediate danger.

While the land itself is pregnant with meaning, as is the Palestinian memory it summons, the truth of these settlements is that no matter how inanimate they may seem, they’re ultimately tantamount to neatly paved, artfully constructed gore. When Netanyahu, Danny Danon, and the like talk about “strengthening the settlements”, what they’re really advocating for is bloodshed. Not hyperbolically, and not anything less. Brick by brick, Palestinians are attacked, they’re murdered, their farms and olive trees and their livelihoods set on fire. Next year their kids will grow weaker with hunger, life savings will be tapped into just to make ends meet, and the flame of bright futures will be extinguished in an instant. And all of this will happen because of mere buildings, for the settlers are the settlements – terrorizing, functionally above the law, and quite literally a threat to Palestinian survival.

Masked settlers in Urif the day Munir al-Nuri was attacked, with Israeli soldiers protecting them. Credit: Institute for Middle East Understanding

Israeli forces shoot three people and detain one in occupied Hebron

29th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Friday afternoon, the 29th of September, protests erupted in Al-Khalil near Bab al-Zawiya at approximately 2:00 PM. The military countered the protests with sound bombs and advanced into H1, shooting rubber-coated steel bullets, out of which at least three hit protesters, in the neck, in the stomach and respectively in the arm. During their first incursion into H1, the soldiers detained a young Palestinian.

During the rest of the afternoon, there were multiple confrontations between the Israeli Army and the protesters in intensely circulated areas of H1, lasting until approximately 7 PM.

Israeli Soldiers Invade Private Residences to Suppress Kafr Qaddum Protest

30th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine

Activists continued to protest in Kafr Qaddum today, despite heightened repression from the Israeli Army. Before the protest began, an Israeli Armed Personnel Carrier (APC) entered the village in a move to intimidate the residents before returning to the illegal settlement of Kadumim.

The protest itself was met with two APCs, which were unable to enter the village due to roadblocks that the residents set up. However, at least six soldiers invaded the village on foot, entering through the olive groves above and below the main road in an effort to isolate and arrest protesters. They also invaded the private properties of residents who were not involved in the protest.

Protesters at the closed off road in front of the illegal settlement of Kadumim

The Army fired live ammunition as well as rubber coated steel bullets at the protesters, many of which were children. No protesters were injured in the demonstration. The Army, which had set up a checkpoint shortly before the protest began, continued to check passing cars on the road out of Kafr Qaddum into the evening.

For six years, the villagers of Kafr Qaddum have held weekly marches toward the main road, which has been closed since 2003. The road has been closed to Palestinians due to the establishment of the illegal settlement of Kadumim, which has bisected a once-easy commute to Nablus, the economic and cultural hub in the area.

Kafr Qaddum Commemorates the Beginning of the Second Intifada

29th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine

Palestinian and international activists marched in Kafr Qaddum today to recognize two important events. September 28th marked 17 years to the day since the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, during which an estimated 3,000 Palestinians lost their lives, and the construction of the Apartheid Wall began. The march in Kafr Qaddum also celebrated the recent admission of the State of Palestine into INTERPOL, a step viewed by many as part of a larger push for statehood.

Israeli military forces entered Kafr Qaddum from the settlement of Kadumim. Foto: Dunia

The march was met with two Israeli Armed Personnel Carriers, from which soldiers fired rubber coated steel bullets into the crowd, which included roughly two dozen children. No activists were injured in the clashes.

Additionally, according to Palestinian community leaders, settlers have been stealing olives from trees in Kafr Qaddum – the livelihood of the farmers – for the past two days. The settlers have continued to harass the Palestinians with impunity despite protests to the Israeli Army by the District Coordination Office (DCO).

The smoke from the tires the protesters are burning meet the soldiers.

Since 2011, the villagers of Kafr Qaddum have had weekly marches toward the main road, which has been closed since 2003. The road is closed off due to the establishment of the illegal settlement of Kadumim, and has severe effects on the daily commute for the villagers of Kafr Qaddum.