Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Concerned citizens should join the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine

By Matt Kennard

During the December-January Israeli attack on Gaza the sickness many people felt about the massacre was compounded by a feeling of helplessness. But there is a way to help out and attenuate the crimes of the occupation – what you realize in Palestine is that just having a foreign passport instantly civilizes the IDF when they are in your presence

By on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 - 1,106 words.

Tom Hurndall, ISM activist killed by the IDF in 2003

Tom Hurndall, ISM activist killed by the IDF in 2003

I have just spent two weeks volunteering in Palestine and what I saw over there pressed home to me how important it is concerned citizens make the journey to the Occupied Territories to make their presence felt. During the December-January Israeli attack on Gaza the sickness many people felt about the massacre was compounded by a feeling of helplessness. But there is a way to help out and attenuate the crimes of the occupation – what you realize in Palestine is that just having a foreign passport instantly civilizes the IDF when they are in your presence.

I was working with the International Solidarity Movement, which was set up in 2002 by Huwaida Arraf and her boyfriend Adam Shapiro to bring internationals sympathetic to the Palestinian cause to witness and combat Israeli repression during the Second Intifada. Since then it has achieved a fair degree of infamy – like any organization which tries to protect Palestinians it has been traduced as terrorist-supporting, anti-Semitic and all the rest.

There are even a couple of organizations online set-up exclusively to libel and destroy the ISM – Stoptheism.com tries to expose its activists and says the ISM represents “Hamas, and other terrorists under Yassir Arafat”. And the Committee for Accuracy in Middle Eeast Reporting in America states that “ISM encourages members to place themselves in dangerous situations to protect terrorists or their homes.”

But after spending about an hour with the ISM in the West Bank you realize all these calumnies are basless propaganda. From the start of my time there I was impressed by the integrity and professionalism of the organization. The ISM run a two-day training weekend in London, which instills in prospective volunteers the ethos of non-violence and the Palestinian-led modus operandi (i.e. everything we do has to be ratified by a Palestinian council). When you arrive in Palestine you have another two days of training which take your through the history of non-violent resistance in Palestine and the specifics of how to deal with violence from the IDF.

When I was there I met inspirational activists from Scotland and the Czech Republic who had spent months living with families in East Jerusalem who were being illegally evicted by an Israeli settler company. This was not glamorous stuff; it was staying up all night and sleeping on a thin mattress in a single room together day after day, month after month. I met activists from Sweden who were manning checkpoints to make sure that no Palestinians were physically abused. I had my own experience of this on the way out of Nil’in, for the Friday demonstration against the annexation wall. I saw an IDF soldier kicking a Palestinian man at a checkpoint at the edge of this Palestinian village. I got the taxi to stop and got out and just watched. I don’t know what effect it had, but you could see a change in the eyes of the soldiers when they saw my camera pointing their way.

There was a group of activists from Italy who lived in Hebron, which is a particularly disturbing example of the occupation in the West Bank because settlers have occupied the downtown market which is now closed down because of the harassment the settlers gave the Palestinians living there. When you walk down the now defunct market there is grating overhead and caught in are all sorts of projectiles, bricks and debris. The settlers in Hebron are famous for their extremism. They celebrate the anniversary of the 1994 Hebron massacre by Baruch Goldstein, and the presence of the 500 of them in Hebron makes downtown a militarized zone. In Hebron, ISM volunteers escort Palestinian kids to school, to protect them from the settlers who have been known to shoot at them wildly from their rooftops.

The courageous 22-year-old ISM activist Tom Hurndall was killed doing work like this in Gaza in April 2003. He was moving Palestinian children out of the line of fire of IDF snipers and was shot in the head, despite having international signs. Hurndall’s death shone the media spotlight on the conduct of the IDF in the Occupied Territories only because he was British – Palestinians are shot with appalling regularity. And that is why the ISM activists are so brave: they are putting their lives on the line solely because they know they know are worth more in the eyes of the IDF. It is also why the Israeli authorities try to keep out the ISM – by blacklisting anyone they suspect of being involved. Many ISMers have been slapped with a 10-year ban from entering Israel even though the ISM is a completely legal organization in Israel.

I went to the non-violent Friday demonstrations in Bil’in and the nearby Nil’in on alternate weeks. Again the local villagers say that even though their ranks have been killed at an alarming rate in the past year – two in Bil’in, five in Nil’in including a 10-year-old with a live shot to the head – it would be much worse if the internationals didn’t turn up. Recently US-citizen and ISM activist Tristan Anderson was made a vegetable by a high velocity tear-gas canister. When I was in Nil’in the IDF were aiming right for us as we stood on the side of the verge. The only thing the IDF are up against at these demonstrations is stones in slingshots, more a symbolic act than anything else. On Friday, a Palestinian man was killed with a live round. “We always ask internationals to please come because they are even more brutal when it is just us Palestinians,” said the leader of the demonstration.

There are definitely dangers to volunteering in occupied Palestine, but it is a highly effective way of helping the Palestinians resist oppression, and because of our passports those risks are a smidgen of those faced by any Palestinian who raises so much as a finger of resistance. My stay was short and I did nothing compared to the brilliant and inspirational activists – who range from teenagers to pensioners – who have spent far longer and risked far more. But it is clear that through the solidarity of internationals, Israelis and Palestinians the occupation can be fought. There are more losses than gains, and ISM and Palestinian activists will continue to be lost, but as George Orwell concluded in his Looking Back on the Spanish Civil War, where he had fought against General Franco’s fascists, “I believe that it is better even from the point of view of survival to fight and be conquered than to surrender without fighting.”

21 Comments

  1. Muntasir says:
    June 30, 2009 at 07:28

    Brilliant article Matt. Loved the "instantly civilizes the IDF" line. Your description of the day to day suffering was vivid, and the mention of "Stoptheism.com" was a reminder of what kind of a powerful and dedicated force one has to deal with when trying to get the simplest truths about Palestine out to the rest of the world.
    Keep up the valiant work.

    Reply
    • BOB says:
      June 30, 2009 at 14:49

      Good to hear from you Muntasir,
      You were silent as your Mullah friends murdered Iranian civilians in the name of upholding the Islamic republic. The first chance you get to spew your hatred on Israel you reappear. Now, while i have no problem with the article above, I do have a problem with one sided bigots.

      Reply
      • Muntasir says:
        July 2, 2009 at 10:58

        "Mullah friends" :D , you kill me man. Thanks BOB, there you go giving me another headache. The very act of trying to draw any meaning from your senseless rhetoric is a task suited for far more intelligent beings than me. I haven't been at the comment factory lately, but I'm pretty sure there have been a good deal of articles in criticism of the Israeli atrocities during that time.

        So only you know what you mean by "first chance". Then again from the looks of things you probably spend more time on CF than Matt himself, so you'd know better I guess.

        Unlike you I'm not here 24/7 and I don't shout out like an idiot about everything and anything. Especially when I don't have a clear idea about the issue. But if you're dying for my views on what happened in Iran, here's the gist.
        I would have like to seen Ahmadinejad lose as much as the next guy. In spite of all his gutsy bravado in standing up to the west, he's nonetheless the last person we need as a figurehead against western imperialism and zionism. I don't get what the guy's saying half the time at conferences. And his lack of eloquence is damaging to a lot of people.

        Reply
        • Muntasir says:
          July 2, 2009 at 11:01

          But that doesn't mean I have much if any sympathies for Mousavi himself. People forget he was a hardliner and one of those people who helped shut down universities during the Cultural Revolution. The guy was a hardliner who's trying to ride the reformist wave cause it's in, and cause there's no chance of winning the rural and lower class demographic that Ahmadinejad is very strong with. It was like John McCain talking about going green.

          The killing and assault of civilians was of course horrible, and utterly asinine considering the current Iranian order came to power through protests and a revolution. I have no sympathies towards the undemocratic guardian council either who's leader has made his bias very clear.

          Regarding the election I think Ahmadinejad probably did win, but greatly exagerated margin by which he did. He was his usual idiotic self when he totally ignored the existence a good portion of the population (i.e. people who didn't vote for him) in his speech. And he's made a mess of things now as all this has ultimately weakened Iran, exactly the thing the guardian council thought they were averting.

          Reply
          • BOB says:
            July 2, 2009 at 15:03

            Unlike you, I like to keep a broad base of knowledge on conflicts and see what other people reflections are on a broad view of topics. I don't focus on a particular subject.

            In regard to your comment. The fact that you say "I'm sure there have been a good deal of articles relating to Israeli atrocities" goes to show you are nothing more than a racist. You focus on jews which you refer to as "zionists".
            I find it interesting that a devout muslim as yourself doesn't take time to reflect on one of the only countries in the world that imposes a Sharia law hierarchy. But then again it's much easier to spew hatred against Jews, woops i mispoke i meant zionists, than self reflect.

  2. MattK says:
    June 30, 2009 at 08:33

    Thanks Muntasir, appreciate that…

    Reply
  3. Reza says:
    June 30, 2009 at 12:45

    I bet you wouldn't have the guts to volunteer in the Islamic Republic of Iran. They kill ordinary Iranians there, just for asking for the vote.

    Meanwhile, Hamas uses Iranian money to murder both Palestinian and Israeli civilians, while you do their PR.

    ISM = Cheap Holidays In Other People's Misery.

    Reply
  4. oldish_crank says:
    June 30, 2009 at 13:32

    Well said young man. Watch out for those Israeli bulldozers. Well and the helicopter gunships and the Israeli tanks and the IDF and the settlers and you can catch my drift. Also, if it starts raining white phosphorus, duck cover and run like hell.

    Reply
    • Reza says:
      July 1, 2009 at 10:35

      There are only bulldozers because Iran is sending weapons into Gaza to shoot at civilians.

      Of course, you couldn't get into Iran to protest for democracy there. But I doubt you can be bothered to.

      Reply
      • Reza says:
        July 1, 2009 at 11:22

        I'd be interested to hear about your protest against Hamas' coup, and its murder of opposition political activists and suppression of trade unionists.

        Did you do any of that when you were in Palestine?

        If so, how did it go?

        Reply
        • BOB says:
          July 1, 2009 at 12:42

          I think this describes Matt –
          " But there is a minority of intellectuals whose real though unadmitted motive appears to be hatred of western democracy and admiration of totalitarianism."
          "They do not as a rule condemn violence as such, but only violence used in defence of western countries."
          Orwell

          Reply
          • MattK says:
            July 1, 2009 at 15:39

            Yeah I hate democracy and love dictators, at the moment I can't decide when to wear my Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-Il tee-shirts as they are both so cool!!

            If you like democracy so much look at what happened in Iran in 1953 and how it was democratic powers that bought down democracy — then read about how they did the same thing all over the world… From the Hashemites to Pinochet, from General Franco to Suharto

          • BOB says:
            July 1, 2009 at 16:35

            You seem to miss the point. I'm not here to advocate for every democratic countries follies in the past BUT I can say that a I prefer the "regime" in D.C. and in London to that of Hamas, Ayatollahs and hizbolla.
            Your motives are "unadmitted", as Orwell says, but can be taken as nothing but support for these regimes. Now, I know how you will answer. You'll say I have never supported Hamas, Hizbolla or the Ayatollahs. But your lack of criticism can be taken as nothing but support. One sided and insistent criticism of a certain party IS support of the contrary party.

            Below you show your support for Hamas and justification of their actions. I guess under these guidelines Indians, Iranians and other countries the British colonized have the right to blow up England in its entirety. It was England who pushed the coup in 1953 not the US. The US initially rejected the notion.
            Finally, you don't seem to realize the most important fundamentals of any democracy. That parties that are undemocratic such as Hamas, Hizbolla and the Ayatollahs. Such parties once in power will never relinquish that power and thus should not be allowed in the democratic process in the first place. The Nazis were also democratically elected, you support them too?

          • Reza says:
            July 1, 2009 at 17:52

            The BNP were also "democratically elected" at the last Euro elections. They're still utter scum, and so are their members and supporters.

            Hamas, who make the BNP look like the LibDems. But all you can say is "well, I don't care for their political programme".

            What exactly did you do to protest against them? Did you share with your ISM hosts your opposition to Hamas? Did you reach out to democrats and secularists in Palestine at all? Anything like that?

        • MattK says:
          July 1, 2009 at 15:37

          What coup was that? I thought Hamas won a democratic election and the US and Israel tried to help Fatah launch a coup, read this:

          http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/…

          I don't care for Hamas's political program and don't have to defend it's actions, but their ascent didn't occur in a vacuum…

          Yeah I killed a few trade unionists, was pretty fun actually, suppress a few opposition people too, wasn't quite as good, but you can't have everything

          Reply
          • Reza says:
            July 1, 2009 at 17:32

            No, Hamas won the elections for the Parliament, but not the Presidency. Then Hamas couped and massacred its opponents.

            But of course, this is all fine, as is the proxy war being fought against Palestinians AND Israelis by Iran via Hamas and Hezbollah, because of Britain's position on Iran 50 years ago.

            You'd never go to Iran to protest for democracy, because you know you'd be carted off to Evin prison if you did. Neither would you go to Darfur. Neither would you go to the Congo where millions are dying in a senseless civil war.

            You want to go somewhere safe, where you can twat around "helping the Palestinians" before coming back to write an article or two for the New Statesman, while chatting up dozy chicks at parties by saying:

            "Yaaah, I'm like basically a human rights activist and a radical journalist. I also write poetry. Can I touch your heart?"

  5. Reza says:
    July 2, 2009 at 09:01

    The truth is, there are some conflicts that "count" for a particular sort of fashionable campaigning progressive.

    So, when Syria massacred 20,000 or more Muslim Brotherhood members in Hama in the 1980s – well, nobody really knows or cares about that. But of course, if it is Israel that is doing the killing of the Muslim Brotherhood militia – well, that is hugely significant.

    Why the difference? Because Syria's actions can't be situated within the great Left wing analysis, where Islamists are resisting Imperialism, and Zionism is hugely more pernicious than any other form of nationalism, because it is all about Imperialism, or the United States, or International Jewry, or what have you.

    Somewhere like Darfur is more tricky. The problem with picking that as your Big Cause is that (a) Bashir is supported by most Islamists and therefore (b) there's a suspicion that taking the genocide there seriously is to fall for a Zionist trick. Fair enough.

    Places like the Congo – well, that doesn't figure at all. Just foreigners killing each other, isn't it. Nobody worth blaming to blame. Nobody is interested, despite the huge huge huge numbers of dead. Plus it is very dangerous – if you were to go there as a solidarity worker, you'd be killed.

    It isn't the numbers of dead that counts: it is the ideological context that counts. That is why one dead Hamas gunman counts for so much more than a Darfuri or a Congolese person.

    Here's another example. Probably about 100,000 people died in the Sri Lankan-Tamil conflict. In the final offensive, there were war crime aplenty on both sides. In particular, the Sri Lankan government bombed UN hospitals and the like. Civilians were particularly hard hit, and Sri Lanka did absolutely nothing to try to minimise civilian casualties.

    Yet there was almost no agitation around this issue on the Left. I went to see the Tamil demonstrations – there were ONLY Tamils on that demonstration. Cool kids doing journalism courses at US Ivy League schools don't go off to show solidarity with the Tamils not only because they fear being killed but because, fundamentally, they don't give a fuck.

    Why?

    Because the superpower that is backing the Sri Lankan government is China, and nobody demonstrates against the Great Chinese Imperialist Hegemon, do they?

    Reply
  6. Peacemonger says:
    July 3, 2009 at 02:44

    Matt, good work. For Reza, are you really surprised that some issues are more fashionable than others? Stop whining and start organizing. As for Israel-Palestine, the reason we should care is that our tax dollars are paying for Israeli settlements and colonization and slow ethnic cleasing of Palestinians to the tune of $3 billion per annum. ITS THE OCCUPATION, STUPID! Seems you are more interested in flaming people than actually discussing how to make peace. Demonizing Hamas is easy, getting all the parties to talk to each other instead of shooting at each other is a little harder, but where there's a will, there's a way… which is why Carter has moved into the breach and is doing the real heavy lifting for peace.

    Reply
    • BOB says:
      July 3, 2009 at 15:18

      Demonizing Hamas is easy because they make it easy with their anti semitism, suicide bombers, treatment of women and suicide bomber camps. Even in Iran which has almost no direct connection to Israel Ahmedinijad said there would be 50,000 suicide bomber willing to give their lives. ITS THE CULTURE STUPID.

      Why is the left angry? The crucial thing for most of the left, currently, is what goes under the term anti-globalization or anti-capitalism. If that is your main concern it is obvious that the US is your main enemy. If the US is your enemy any enemy of the US is a potential friend. That is why Matt is willing to advocate for the democracy of Hamas and deride the fascism of Israel.
      That is why Israel, which is the closest country to a socialist democracy in the middle east is constantly attacked by leftists who have aligned themselves with muslim nationalists that care nothing about the disparity of wealth in the classes. They care about power. About a middle east the is ruled by muslims throughout.

      There is also an amazing hypocrisy with many of the people that write here in the sense that they feel an amazing amount of guilt for being born in a rich country. They feel they are responsible for the cheap labor that globalization cause. Yet none of them are willing to forego any of there wealth or standard of living. That is why you see Bill Ayers living next to Obama's million dollar house and Chomsky's net worth is around 2 million.

      Reply
  7. Reza says:
    July 3, 2009 at 08:05

    Yeah, now. Not too long ago, when I used to believe all this crap, I'd also come across people who'd raise arguments like the ones I'm sharing with you now. I'd also say things like "Its the occupation stupid" as if that was an answer to all the ills in the Middle East. I'd also happily parrot the stuff about there being a 'slow genocide'. When people pointed out the flaws in Palestinian and Arab political leadership, or the fact that the Palestinian population has increased during the supposed 'genocide', or raised the comparatively low death tolls in Israel/Palestine versus pretty much any other conflict in the region, I'd mutter some crap about imperialism and standing up for the helpless, and that.

    But actually, you know it is crap, don't you.

    It took me about 10 years to start admitting that I'd got it wrong.

    How long will it take you, Matt?

    Reply

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Matt Kennard
United Kingdom

Matt Kennard graduated from the Journalism School at Columbia University as a Toni Stabile Investigative scholar in 2008. He has written for the Guardian, Salon and the Chicago Tribune, amongst others. In 2006 he won the Guardian Student Feature Writer of the Year Award.

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