International Solidarity Movement Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was founded in 2001 by Adam Shapiro, a New York Jew, and his wife Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian Christian along with the Israeli peace activist Neta Golan. The organisation recruits civilians from Western countries to participate in accompaniment and acts of non-violent resistance against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. The group has attracted a great deal of criticism and controversy, as well as praise for its non-violent methods, some of which is explored below.
Goals
The International Solidarity Movement considers the main obstacle to peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be what they describe as the "Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory." To expose and counter Israeli activities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the ISM pursues four goals:
- To dramatize the conditions under which Palestinians live and to protect them from physical violence by Israeli soldiers and settlers in alliance with Palestinian peace activists and through efforts at "creative resistance".
- To pressure the international news media to provide coverage of "the illegality and brutality of the Occupation" in an effort to change public opinion regarding Israel's compliance with international law and U.S. foreign aid to Israel.
- To recruit volunteers from other nations to participate in non-violent resistance to the Israeli military activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
- To establish divestment campaigns in the U.S. and Europe to put economic pressure on Israel in a the same manner that international sanctions were applied against South Africa during the apartheid era.
Strategies
Past ISM campaigns have used the following strategies:
- Acting as human shields to deter Israeli military operations. Note: 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 when searching Palestinian neighbourhoods.
- Accompanying Palestinians to minimise harassment by Israeli settlers or soldiers, for example ensuring that queues at Israeli checkpoints are processed efficiently and providing witnesses and human shields during olive harvests which are often disrupted by settlers.
- Removing roadblocks. These are large unmanned mounds of earth and concrete on roads in the West Bank, sometimes at the entrances of Palestinian villages by the Israel Defence Forces, thereby isolating those villages' inhabitants.
- Attempting to block military vehicles such as tanks and bulldozers.
- Violating Israeli curfew orders enforced on Palestinian areas.
- Interfering with the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier and damaging the barrier.
- Entering areas which have been designated 'closed military zones' by the Israeli military. NB this is not really a 'strategy', but a prerequisite for ISM being able to conduct many of the above activities, since areas in which the ISM are active are often summarily declared 'closed military zones'.
Noteworthy ISM events
- The ISM received extensive media coverage of its presence in Yasir Arafat's compound in Ramallah and at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
- On April 2, 2002, Australian ISM volunteer Kate Edwards sustained severe internal injuries from shrapnel from rounds fired by Israeli forces during a peaceful protest in Beit Jala.
- On March 16, 2003, ISM volunteer Rachel Corrie was killed while trying to block an IDF armoured bulldozer she believed was preparing to demolish the home of a Palestinian doctor. See below.
- On April 5, 2003, ISM volunteer Brian Avery suffered severe facial injuries from debris kicked up by machine gun fire from an IDF armoured personnel carrier while he was outside in the street investigating the source of gunfire heard during an IDF enforced curfew.
- On April 11, 2003, ISM member Thomas Hurndall was left clinically brain dead after he was shot in the head by an IDF soldier whilst protecting children from Israeli gunfire during a protest at a roadblock in the Gaza Strip. He died on January 13, 2004.
- ISM has been nominated for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize by Svend J Robinson, a New Democratic Party of Canada member of the House of Commons of Canada. [1].
Controversies regarding the ISM
ISM's position on violence
The ISM's website describes the organization as a "non-violent movement"; however the same website carries a statement that says "As enshrined in international law and UN resolutions, we recognise the Palestinian right to resist Israeli violence and occupation via legitimate armed struggle"[1]. 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]. It has been claimed that ISM actions have themselves involved violence, and that the ISM has deliberately colluded with Palestinian terrorists. These claims are rejected by the ISM.
In an article entitled "Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada", the movement's co-founders Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf stated: "The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both non-violent and violent."
The 'ISM suicide bombers'
ISM has been accused of harbouring and providing transportation for the suicide bombers that attacked the Mike's Place bar in Israel on April 30, 2003, killing three people.
There appear to be two primary sources behind this accusation. The first is an article that appeared in the British 'Guardian' newspaper under the heading "Bombers posed as peace activists" [1]. The article included snippets of an interview with ISM volunteer Raphael Cohen, who said that the two bombers had been among a group of tourists that attended Rachel Corrie's memorial service and briefly visited ISM's office in Rafah. Cohen said "As soon as I heard their names on the television my heart sank. I didn't need to see the pictures. When they showed their passports on the TV, it was them."
The second is a press release issued by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs [1] which states "The two terrorists were careful to establish their presence in Judea and Samaria by forging links with foreign left wing activists and members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM)". The release makes various other negative claims about ISM, but this is the only reference to the group in relation to the Mike's Place bombing.
It has also been claimed that the bombers had posed as ISM members in order to enter Israel from Britain. This seems improbable as it has been Israel's official policy to deny ISM activists entry to the country since Spring 2002, and was already unofficial policy prior to that.
After the fatal 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 a Israeli Defense Force outpost, taking cover behind a nearby building between shots." This was considerably at odds with the ISM's account, 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[1].
Subsequently IDF Sergeant Idier Wahid Taysir, a Bedouin scout, admitted to fabricating his account of events. On 10 May 2004, Taysir'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.
On March 27, 2003, Shadi Sukiya, claimed to be a Islamic Jihad member, was arrested in a building in Jenin where the ISM, the Red Cross, and Médecins Sans Frontières rent offices. See the Shadi Sukiya page for more details.
Access to Palestinian areas are controlled by Israel, and it is Israeli policy to deny access to ISM activists due to past events involving the ISM. ISM volunteers can only gain access to the occupied territories by deceiving Israeli border officials. ISM provides training to volunteers on how to do this, including travelling via Ben Gurion airport in Israel.
Great controversy surrounds the circumstances of Rachel Corrie's death. Rachel Corrie, an American citizen, was crushed to death by an IDF bulldozer in the Gaza Strip on March 16, 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 Rachel as she was protesting in plain view. 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 doctor. Israeli accounts claimed either that the house contained a tunnel for smuggling arms, drugs and other contraband from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, or that the bulldozer was simply clearing dirt, rubble and/or shrubbery which, in some accounts, was suspected of concealing a smuggling tunnel. According to an article in 'Mother Jones' magazine, Israeli authorities claimed that the crew's assignment was to sweep the area for booby traps planted by militants [1]. The house was eventually destroyed by the IDF more than nine months later, on January 10, 2004. The IDF itself never explicitly claimed that the house contained a tunnel.
The leader and co-founder, Huwaida Arraf, and French ISM activist Angela Coppin were charged with violating a court order barring them from the area of Bidou, near Jerusalem where the Israeli West Bank Security Barrier was under construction. According to reports in Israeli newspapers, Bidou and its environs have been the site of numerous violent attacks resulting in hospitalization of some workers constructing the barrier and some police personnel. Bidou is also the site of non-violent protests occurring either at the same time as the violent attacks or without violence. It is alleged that individuals engaged in the two activities freely intermix, resulting in claims that the non-violent protesters are deliberately providing safe haven to those engaged in violence. The two were arrested in April 2004 and ordered by the court at that time to distance themselves from the area of Bidou.
ISM media co-ordinator Kristin 'Flo' Rosovski has been widely quoted as saying " 'Israel' is an illegal entity that should not exist". This quotation originated from the public comments section of the indymedia website. Rosovski disowns the quote, claiming that at the time it was posted she was in an Israeli jail with no internet access[1].
(The ISM has no relationship with the Polish trade union, Solidarity.)
This is an Article on International Solidarity Movement. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About International Solidarity Movement The ISM 'masked gunman'
The 'terrorist' in the office
Deceiving Israeli border officials
The death of Rachel Corrie
Main article: Rachel CorrieLegal Action against ISM
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