International Solidarity Movement

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The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led organization focused on assisting the Palestinian side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict using protest activities aimed at an international audience. It was founded in 2001 by Ghassan Andoni, a Palestinian activist; Neta Golan, an Israeli activist; Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American; and George N. Rishmawi, a Palestinian activist. Adam Shapiro, an American, joined the movement shortly after its founding and is also often considered one of the founders.

The organization calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of non-violent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and previously the Gaza Strip. It has recently been criticised for working alongside other groups to pressure Palestinian artists to boycott the One Voice Peace Summit and for helping to undermine the Summit by creating a competing event. ISM and affiliated groups critical of the Summit say that One Voice fails to fully support Palestinian rights guaranteed under international law.

Contents

[edit] Foundation

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led organization focused on assisting the Palestinian side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict using protest activities aimed at an international audience, which was founded in 2001 by Palestinian activists Ghassan Andoniand George N. Rishmawi, Palestinian-American Neta Golan and Israeli activist Huwaida Arraf. American citizen Adam Shapiro joined the movement shortly after its founding and is also often considered one of the founders.[citation needed]

[edit] Philosophy

The organization calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of non-violent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and previously the Gaza Strip. It has recently been criticised for working alongside other groups to pressure Palestinian artists to boycott the One Voice Peace Summit and for helping to undermine the Summit by creating a competing event. ISM and affiliated groups critical of the Summit say that One Voice fails to fully support Palestinian rights guaranteed under international law.[citation needed]

[edit] ISM's position on violence

The ISM's website describes the organization as a "non-violent movement". The website also says "As enshrined in international law and UN resolutions, we recognise the Palestinian right to resist Israeli violence and occupation via legitimate armed struggle. However, we believe that nonviolence can be a powerful weapon in fighting oppression and we are committed to the principles of nonviolent resistance." This has led some to question the organisation's commitment to non-violence. For example an article in the UK's Telegraph newspaper asserts that ISM is "the 'peace' group that embraces violence".[1] ISM disputes the accusations (see ISM links below).

According to a 2003 profile of ISM co-founder Adam Shapiro in the Jordan Star, Shapiro "justifies the Palestinian armed resistance against Israel as long as it is targeting Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Otherwise, he is not in favor of suicide bombings."

ISM co-founder George Rishmawi has stated his position as to why some resort to violence:

You are mistaken my friend. I am sorry to tell you this but you are. Well, When did the suicide bombing start? When did the occupation of the west Bank and Gaza started? When did the aggression against the Palestinian started?

You need to know the source of the conflict and the source of the suffering that pushes people to kill themselves and others.

I do not want to see anybody killed but we need to say that taking people's rights and freedom is the source of the problem and when this stops there should be not need for anymore killing. This is what we should advocate for it right now.[2][3]

Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada]", in which Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro state:

The Geneva Conventions accept that armed resistance is legitimate for an occupied people, and there is no doubt that this right cannot be denied. But that does not mean that this right must be utilized... Hamas claims it has many men ready to be suicide bombers – we advocate that these men offer themselves as martyrs by standing on a settler road and blocking it from traffic. This is no less of a jihad. This is no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation...

The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both non-violent and violent. But most importantly it must develop a strategy involving both aspects. No other successful nonviolent movement was able to achieve what it did without a concurrent violent movement – in India militants attacked British outposts and interests while Gandhi conducted his campaign, while the Black Panther Movement and its earlier incarnations existed side-by-side with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

Responding to Paula Zahn's question on CNN,[4] "...some people could lead to the conclusion that you were promoting suicide bombing. Would they be wrong?", Shapiro and Arraf replied:

The article that we wrote was actually in response to another article written by a Palestinian, who said the Palestinians could not be nonviolent. And so we were addressing within the context of the debate over whether the Palestinians could use violence or could not use nonviolence or could use nonviolence. So it was, first of all, within that context...

There already is violence. We’re not advocating it. It’s already there. It’s on the ground. We’re working with people and with Palestinians who want to promote nonviolence, and that was the context of the whole article.

[edit] Activism tactics

Past ISM campaigns have used the following tactics:

  • Acting to deter military operations. Some ISM volunteers object to the use of the term human shield to describe their work because, they argue, in a Palestinian context the expression more usually refers to forced use of captive Palestinians by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) when searching Palestinian neighbourhoods.
  • Accompanying Palestinians to minimize alleged harassment by Israeli settlers or soldiers, for example ensuring that queues at Israeli checkpoints are processed efficiently and providing witnesses and intermediaries during annual olive harvests, which are often disrupted by settlers and police [5][6][7][8].
  • Removing roadblocks. These are large unmanned mounds of earth and concrete on roads throughout the West Bank, and sometimes placed at the entrances of Palestinian villages by the IDF, thereby isolating those villages' inhabitants by preventing traffic in or out.
  • Attempting to block military vehicles such as tanks and bulldozers.
  • Violating Israeli curfew orders enforced on Palestinian areas in order to monitor Israeli military actions, deliver food and medicine to Palestinian homes, or escort medical personnel to help facilitate their work.
  • Interfering with the construction of the West Bank barrier and placing politically motivated graffiti on the barrier.
  • Entering areas designated as "closed military zones" by the Israeli military. This is not really a 'strategy' as such, but is a prerequisite for ISM being able to conduct many of the above activities as areas in which the ISM is active are often summarily designated as "closed military zones" by the IDF.
  • Attempting to lift the Israeli blockade of Hamas-led Gaza with the Free Gaza initiative to send boats to Gaza in August 2008.
  • Confronting Israeli soldiers.

[edit] Noteworthy ISM events

[edit] Nobel Peace Prize nominations

[edit] Funding

According to the ISM's website, "International volunteers who join the ISM are responsible for paying their own way and covering all their expenses in Palestine. The ISM does not receive any funding from any state, government or association. We rely on donations from average people all over the world that support peace and the Palestinian struggle for freedom."[15] The ISM does regularly send out speakers on fund-raising trips and encourages funding drives.

[edit] ISM member casualties in Palestine and Israel

[edit] ISM member casualties timeline

  • On 2 April 2002, Australian ISM volunteer Kate Edwards sustained severe internal injuries from rounds fired by Israeli forces during a protest in Beit Jala.[citation needed] The incident was captured on film and appears in the documentary by Palestinian film-maker Leila Sansour, Jeremy Hardy vs the Israeli Army.[16]
  • On November 22, 2002 Caoimhe Butterly, an Irish ISM volunteer was shot and injured by IDF in Jenin [17].
  • On 16 March 2003, ISM volunteer Rachel Corrie was killed while trying to block an IDF armoured bulldozer. See below.
  • On 5 April 2003, ISM volunteer Brian Avery was shot in the face by machine gun fire from an IDF armoured personnel carrier while he was outside in the street escorting Palestinian medical personnel.
  • On 11 April 2003, ISM volunteer Thomas Hurndall was left clinically brain dead after he was shot in the head by an IDF soldier. Initially the soldier claimed the shooting occurred during an armed firefight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants. Later the soldier admitted firing a shot at him as a deterrent.[citation needed] Hurndall died on 13 January 2004.
  • On September 6, 2007, ISM activist Akram Ibrahim Abu Sba’ was killed by members of Islamic Jihad in the north Palestinian city of Jenin.[18]
  • On March 13 2009, An American demonstrator Tristan Anderson was critically wounded near Nil'in, during a clash between protesters and IDF troops over the West Bank security barrier. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]

[edit] Rachel Corrie

Main article: Rachel Corrie

Controversy surrounds the circumstances of ISM volunteer Rachel Corrie's death. She was killed as she attempted to block an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bulldozer conducting military operations in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on 16 March 2003. An internal IDF investigation concluded that Corrie's death was an accident but ISM eyewitnesses vehemently dispute this account, contending that the bulldozer driver deliberately struck Corrie as she was protesting in plain view. The IDF claims that tapes of the event show Corrie below the driver's eye level, and also contend that the noise level was too loud to Ms. Corrie to be heard. The activities of the bulldozer she was blocking are also subject to disagreement - ISM claim it was preparing to demolish the home of a Palestinian pharmacist. Other accounts backed by the film footage claim that the bulldozer was not near a house but was removing shrubbery covering an arms smuggling tunnel - according to an article in Mother Jones magazine,[27] hotly disputed by the ISM, Israeli authorities claimed that the crew's assignment was to sweep the area for booby traps planted by militants. The IDF itself has never explicitly claimed that the house contained a tunnel and two tunnels were found when the home was eventually demolished 9 months later.

[edit] ISM and related statements about the death of Rachel Corrie

George Rishmawi of the ISM told the San Francisco Chronicle that:

"When Palestinians get shot by Israeli soldiers, no one is interested anymore. But if some of these foreign volunteers get shot or even killed, then the international media will sit up and take notice."[28]

ISM activist Joseph Smith, who was present when Corrie died, said,

"The spirit that she died for is worth a life. This idea of resistance, this spirit of resisting this brutal occupying force, is worth anything. And many, many, many Palestinians give their lives for it all the time. So the life of one international, I feel, is more than worth the spirit of resisting oppression."[29]

Almost exactly 6 years after Rachel's death on March 13, 2009 American Tristan Anderson was critically injured.

[edit] Tristan Anderson

American ISM volunteer critically injured by a tear gas canister fired by the Israeli Army's upon observers after ISM demonstration. Fellow ISM volunteer and Tristan's girlfriend Gabrielle Silverman (Israeli-American), who witnessed to his injury, argued:

"We were at a demonstration against the wall, against the Israeli apartheid wall in the West Bank village of N’alin, which is about twenty-six kilometers west of Ramallah. I was very close to him when he was shot. I was only a few feet away. The demonstration had been going for several hours. It was wrapping up; it was almost over. Most people had already gone home. We were standing on some grass nearby a village mosque, and Tristan was taking pictures [when] he was shot in the head with the extended range tear gas canister". [30]

[edit] Tom Hurndall

Main articles: Tom Hurndall and Taysir Hayb

After the shooting of ISM volunteer Tom Hurndall by an IDF soldier, IDF sources initially claimed that "at the time of his injury, Tom Hurndall was armed, wearing tiger fatigues, and shooting at an Israeli Defense Force outpost, taking cover behind a nearby building between shots."[31] This was considerably at odds with the ISM's account, confirmed by photographic evidence, [32] in which Hurndall was unarmed, dressed in the bright orange jacket of the International Solidarity Movement, and steering two Palestinian children away from a firing Israeli tank-mounted machine gun.[33][34]

Subsequently IDF Sergeant Idier Wahid Taysir, a Bedouin scout, admitted to fabricating his account of events. On 10 May 2004, Taysir Hayb's trial commenced on one charge of manslaughter in the death of Tom Hurndall, two counts of obstruction of justice, one count each of submitting false testimony, obtaining false testimony, and unbecoming behaviour. Hurndall's family pressed for a murder charge through the Israeli courts.[35][36][37]

In August 2005, Sgt. Taysir was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a total of eight years imprisonment, seven years for the manslaughter of Hurndall and one year for obstruction of justice.[38]

[edit] Akram Ibrahim Abu Sba’

On September 6, 2007, ISM Jenin regional committee member and "co-founder of one of ISM’s first permanent presences" Akram Ibrahim Abu Sba’ was killed on duty by Islamic Jihad militants, while trying to smooth tensions between Palestinian security forces and Islamic Jihad members, in the north Palestinian city of Jenin. Akram was buried on Jenin refugee camp graveyard at 3.30 pm.[18]

Palestinian police officers and members of the security forces reported:

At approximately 10 pm Palestinian security forces stopped a car on Mustashfa street, near Jenin’s governmental hospital. The car driver, member of Islamic Jihads Al-Quds Brigade couldn’t show any valid registration papers for the car and so verbal clashes erupted between the people in the car and the security forces. When Akram, also member of the security forces joined the scene in order to smooth the clashes, he was shot twice in the chest by one of the men, sitting in the car. He was brought to Jenin’s governmental hospital and passed away as a consequence of his injuries.[18]

[edit] Criticism

The ISM has been criticized for their alleged relationships with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants.

[edit] Hamas and Islamic Jihad connection allegations

Seattle Post-Intelligencer claimed, ISM activist Susan Barclay "knowingly worked with representatives" from Hamas and Islamic Jihad that "sponsor suicide bombings and exist, according to their charters, to demolish the Jewish state entirely." [39]

[edit] Shadi Sukiya case

On March 27, 2003, Palestinian Shadi Sukiya was arrested in by the Israel Defense Forces in ISM Jenin. The Israeli government claimed, Sukiya was a senior Islamic Jihad and he was aided by two ISM activists.[40][41]

Both parties stated that Sukiya arrived at the ISM's office as he was being pursued through the streets of Jenin by IDF soldiers during an Israeli-imposed curfew. According to the ISM's account, he had being going door to door looking for a place to go, arrived at the building (which is also used by the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres) cold and wet, and was offered a chance to dry and warm up by an ISM volunteer.

The IDF originally suggested that two Kalashnikov assault rifles and a handgun were found on the premises, but subsequently backtracked on the allegation (it appears the weapons were found during the operation, but not in the ISM's building).

In May 2003, Adam Shapiro from ISM stated that Sukiya was not named a "senior Islamic Jihad terrorist" by any official Israeli military or government source, and was being held in administrative detention in Israel without any charge. However, ISM members have admitted that they have worked on non-violent protests with members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. [42]

[edit] Omar Khan Sharif and Asif Mohammed Hanif case

On April 30, 2003, Britons Omar Khan Sharif and Asif Mohammed Hanif carried out a suicide bombing attack at a bar [43]. On April 25, 2003, they met for tea with Raphael Cohen, an ISM activist, then went with Cohen and others to lay flowers at the site of Rachel Corrie's death. [44]

[edit] Legal action against ISM members

Huwaida Arraf[45] and French ISM activist Angela Coppin were charged with violating a court order barring them from the area of Biddu, near Jerusalem where the Israeli West Bank barrier was under construction. The two were arrested in April 2004 and ordered by the court at that time to distance themselves from the area of Biddu.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The 'peace' group that embraces violence)
  2. ^ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/worldandmiddleeastforum/message/476
  3. ^ http://home.comcast.net/~jat.action/ISM_essay_ref11.htm
  4. ^ Interview with Adam Shapiro, Huwaida Arraf, Activists (May 10, 2002)
  5. ^ http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKLI659098
  6. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/settlers-gun-down-palestinian-farmer-in-the-olive-groves-613378.html
  7. ^ http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=16529
  8. ^ http://www.btvshalom.org/actionalerts/aa11-02.shtml
  9. ^ Activists trickle to Lebanon to protest Israel war (via Yahoo! News)
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ [2]
  12. ^ Full Letter
  13. ^ "Jeff Halper nominated for 2006 Nobel Peace Prize". Tikkun magazine. http://tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/news_item.2006-02-10.9950394421. Retrieved on 2008-04-20. 
  14. ^ American Friends Service Committee (15 February 2006). AFSC's nomination for 2006 Nobel Peace Prize: Ghassan Andoni and Jeff Halpern. Press release. http://www.afsc.org/news/2006/nobel-nomination.htm. Retrieved on 2008-04-20. "The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker social justice organization, has nominated two candidates for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize: Jeff Halper, an Israeli Jew and Ghassan Andoni, a Palestinian Christian from the Occupied Palestinian Territories." 
  15. ^ [3]
  16. ^ Jeremy Hardy vs the Israeli Army (documentary)
  17. ^ "She Took a Bullet for Peace" TIMEeurope Magazine | Heroes 2003 - Activists
  18. ^ a b c ISM-Member Akram killed during clashes in Jenin
  19. ^ US demonstrator critically injured at West Bank protest, Jerusalem Post, March 13, 2009
  20. ^ American citizen critically injured after being shot in the head by Israeli forces in Ni’lin
  21. ^ Oakland man critically wounded in clash with Israeli military
  22. ^ SF Gate: Ex-Cal tree-sitter hurt in West Bank protest
  23. ^ San Jose Mercury News: Rally planned for Berkeley tree-sitter injured in West Bank protest
  24. ^ The Daily Californian: Former UC Berkeley Tree-Sitter Injured in West Bank
  25. ^ AP: American wounded by Israeli troops has surgery
  26. ^ Democracy Now! | US Consul General Says Awaiting Israeli Report on IDF Shooting of American Citizen
  27. ^ The Death of Rachel Corrie
  28. ^ S.F. Jewish activist held as security threat in Israel (via San Francisco Chronicle)
  29. ^ Was This House Worth Her Life?[dead link]
  30. ^ Democracy Now! | US Consul General Says Awaiting Israeli Report on IDF Shooting of American Citizen
  31. ^ Solidarity With Terrorists (via Front Page Magazine)
  32. ^ "Parents fight to learn why Israeli sniper shot their son". The Guardian, 30 January 2005. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1401737,00.html. Retrieved on 27 May 2007. 
  33. ^ ISM: Israeli soldier shoots British ISM activist Tom Hurndall in Gaza (11 April 2003)
  34. ^ ISM Rafah: Statement on the shooting of Thomas Hurndall (12 April 2003)
  35. ^ Guardian: British peace activist was 'intentionally killed' (10 April, 2006)
  36. ^ ISM statement on the killing of Tom Hurndall
  37. ^ ISM Rafah Statement on the shooting of Tom Hurndall
  38. ^ BBC: Soldier jailed for activist death (11 August 2005)
  39. ^ [4] Seattle Post-Intelligencer March 20, 2003
  40. ^ [5] Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  41. ^ [6]
  42. ^ [7]
  43. ^ List_of_Hamas_suicide_attacks#2003
  44. ^ BBC May 5, 2003
  45. ^ Global Exchange Huwaida Arraf, Biography

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Solidarity_Movement"
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