International Solidarity Movement

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Template:Short description Template:Pp-extended Template:Multiple issues Template:Infobox organization

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM; Template:Langx) is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of nonviolent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The ISM participates in the Free Gaza Movement.<ref name="Haaretz 2008-07-28">Template:Cite web</ref>

History

It was founded in 2001 by Ghassan Andoni, a Palestinian activist; Neta Golan, a third generation 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The group has been spied on by the British state with a Special Demonstration Squad member 'Rob Harrison' infiltrating the movement from 2004 till 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Volunteer costs

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 the Gaza Strip. It has 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.Template:Citation needed

ISM's position on violence

The ISM's website describes the organization as a "Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles". It emphasizes international volunteers are not there to "teach nonviolent resistance" but to support resistance through nonviolent direct action, emergency mobilization and documentation.<ref>About ISM on ISM website.</ref>

An article in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph called ISM "the 'peace' group that embraces violence" because its mission statement recognises "armed struggle" as the "right" of Palestinians.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The statement in question is taken from the ISM Mission Statement:

As enshrined in international law and UN resolutions, we recognize 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.

ISM further explains on its website:

The ISM does not support or condone any acts of terrorism – which is not legitimate armed struggle. The ISM does not associate, support, or have anything to do with armed or violent resistance to the occupation. The ISM does not assist or engage in any kind of armed resistance, no matter what form it may take.

This right to resist occupation applies not only to the Palestinian people, but to all peoples who are faced with a military occupation. The ISM regards all people as equals with equal rights under international law. We believe that nonviolent action is a powerful weapon in fighting oppression and are committed to the principles of nonviolent resistance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

During a CNN interview, Paula Zahn with Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf asked about an article they had co-authored which stated: "Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both violent and nonviolent. But most importantly, it must develop a strategy involving both aspects. Nonviolent resistance is no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation." She noted that "some people could lead to the conclusion that you were promoting suicide bombing." 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.<ref>Interview with Adam Shapiro, Huwaida Arraf, Activists (May 10, 2002) CNN</ref>

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 Defense Forces (IDF) when searching Palestinian neighborhoods. They argue that the IDF is far more likely to shoot the darker skinned Palestinian civilians than white western looking activists, given the difference in international response. This tactic is colloquially referred to as the "white-face defense".
  • Accompanying Palestinians to minimize harassment perpetuated 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.Template:Citation needed
  • 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 political graffiti on the wall.
  • 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 break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip by supporting and participating in initiatives to send vessels through the naval blockade to Gaza.

Noteworthy ISM events

ISM member casualties in Palestine and Israel

ISM member casualties timeline

19-year-old Swedish ISM volunteer wounded by Israeli settlers in Hebron in November 2006.

Killings

Rachel Corrie

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Rachel Corrie stands before Israeli IDF Caterpillar D9 bulldozers

ISM volunteer Rachel Corrie was killed as she attempted to block an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bulldozer conducting military operations in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on March 16, 2003. An internal IDF investigation concluded that Corrie's death was an accident but ISM eyewitnesses dispute this account, contending that the bulldozer driver deliberately struck Corrie as she was protesting in plain view. The IDF says that tapes of the event show Corrie below the driver's eye level, and also say that the noise level was too loud for 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 the house but was removing shrubbery covering a structure that could be used as an arms smuggling tunnel or to cover terrorists shooting at the IDF.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="motherjones">Hammer, Joshua. "The Death of Rachel Corrie." Mother Jones. September/October 2003.</ref>

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."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Corrie's parents brought lawsuits in the United States and in Israel, but in both cases, they lost the suit. In Israel, in August 2012, the court said that Corrie could have avoided danger. The court ruled that Israel was not at fault for Corrie's death, and there was neither intent nor negligence involved in her death.<ref name="Haifa verdict">Template:Cite web</ref> The judge also said that Israel's investigation was appropriate and did not contain mistakes. The judge also criticized the U.S. for failing to send a diplomatic representative to observe Corrie's autopsy.<ref name="JPost Court verdict">Template:Cite web</ref>

Tom Hurndall

Template:Main On April 11, 2003 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier Sergeant Taysir Hayb shot International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer Tom Hurndall in the head. Hurndall, who had been aiding Palestinians in Gaza, died of his wound in January 2004. Hurndall was unarmed, dressed in the bright orange jacket of the ISM, and steering two Palestinian children away from an Israeli tank-mounted machine gun shooting in their direction.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="TH_Statement"/><ref>"As IDF rifle fire hit the mound, the children fled. But three, aged between four and seven, were paralysed by fear". The Guardian Obituary, January 22, 2004.</ref><ref name="BBC">Soldier jailed for activist death, BBC News, August 11, 2005.</ref><ref name=Atkinson>Simon Atkinson, British peace activist was 'intentionally killed', The Guardian, April 10, 2006.</ref>

Hayb claimed he had shot at a man in military fatigues who was firing at the soldiers with a pistol, in the no-go security zone. This was at odds with the ISM's account, confirmed by photographic evidence.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Subsequently, Hayb admitted to fabricating his account of events. On 10 May 2004, 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 behavior. Hurndall's family pressed for a murder charge through the Israeli courts.<ref name=Atkinson/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="TH_Statement">Template:Cite web</ref> In August 2005, Taysir Hayb 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.<ref>BBC: Soldier jailed for activist death (11 August 2005)</ref>

Aysenur Eygi

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On 6 September 2024, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old American-Turkish woman was attending a weekly protest held near the Israeli settlement of Evyatar, and allegedly was shot and killed by IDF snipers. The protest was against the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and had attracted violence prior to the incident. Witnesses reported that IDF forces had confronted the activists and shot at them with tear gas and live ammunition to force them to disperse. About thirty minutes after the confrontation, protestors reported that two IDF snipers on a roof about 200 yards away opened fire, killing Eygi and wounding a Palestinian teenager in the leg.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Injuries

Kate Edwards

Australian ISM volunteer Kate Edwards sustained internal injuries from a bullet in Beit Jala. She and other volunteers marched on Israeli lines. After the event, Kate Edwards was quoted as stating "We were walking up the hill from Bethlehem when a tank came down the hill towards us. I could see a man in the tank and he was shouting at us to go back. We carried on going."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Caoimhe Butterly

Template:Main Irish ISM volunteer and human rights activist Caoimhe Butterly was shot in the thigh by an Israeli soldier during the Battle of Jenin.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Brian Avery

Template:Main On April 5, 2003, Israeli Defense Force soldiers on a military convoy shot Brian Avery (born 1979) in the face, seriously disfiguring him, while he was volunteering for the ISM in the West Bank city of Jenin. He was wearing red reflector vests with the word "doctor" in English and Arabic. The IDF refused to order an investigation, saying there was no proof its soldiers had shot at anyone that day.<ref>"Wounded activist testifies against IDF" Template:Webarchive. Jerusalem Post, Sept 20, 2007.</ref><ref name="settlement">Dan Izenberg, State to compensate wounded ISM activistTemplate:Dead link, Jerusalem Post, November 19, 2008.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Avery sued and in November 2008 accepted a $150,000 settlement from the Israeli government in exchange for dropping the lawsuit.<ref name="settlement" />

Tristan Anderson

On March 13, 2009, American ISM volunteer Tristan Anderson was critically injured after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops attempting to disperse a demonstration. Anderson was taken to a hospital in Israel, where he underwent brain surgery, and had to have a portion of his frontal lobe and fragments of shattered bone removed.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="insidebayarea.com"/><ref name="sfgate.com"/><ref name="mercurynews.com"/><ref name="dailycal.org"/><ref name="google.com"/><ref name="democracynow.org"/> ISM volunteer and Tristan's girlfriend Gabrielle Silverman (Israeli-American), who witnessed to his injury:

"We were at a demonstration against the wall, against the Israeli apartheid wall in the West Bank village of Ni'lin, 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."<ref>Democracy Now! | US Consul General Says Awaiting Israeli Report on IDF Shooting of American Citizen, Democracy Now!, March 16, 2009.</ref>

Bianca Zammit

On April 24, 2010, Bianca Zammit, a 28 year old activist from Malta, was shot in the thigh with live ammunition by IDF soldiers during a demonstration in the so-called "buffer zone" inside Gaza Strip. Two Palestinian demonstrators were also shot during the same demonstration in Al Maghazi Refugee Camp.

April 2012

On April 14, a group of at least 200 pro-Palestinian activists were travelling on bicycles,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and several buses<ref name="y4216424">Template:Cite news</ref> in a silentTemplate:Citation needed protest. They were stopped by Israeli soldiers before entering onto Highway 90,<ref name="jpost1">They had meant to travel down Route 90 in the Jordan Valley but the IDF blocked their path. Template:Webarchive, Jpost</ref><ref name="cbn">Template:Cite web</ref> and asked not to continue for their own safety. The legality of the protesters action is unclear as some news agencies state the cyclists got permission to protest<ref name="y4216424"/> but others state no permit was given.<ref name="Occupation_magazine_news_report">Occupation Magazine, 2012, http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=52608</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During the ensuing hour, the activists refused and blocked an entrance to a highway,<ref name="cbn"/> a "scuffle" broke out. In an interview given by one of the members he stated "בשלב מסויים החלטנו לאתגר את החיילים ולנסות להמשיך בנסיעה" ("... at some point we decided to test the soldiers and continue to move")<ref name="Occupation_magazine_news_report"/><ref name="walla_interview">בצבא הכיבוש כל אלימות מוצדקת, walla news 16 April 2012</ref> and after a few moments they had been assaulted.<ref name="walla_interview"/> In an interview for JPost "After about half-an-hour, he said, the cyclists decided to push past the IDF, and that is when the violence began."<ref name="jpost1"/> Four activists sustained face and back injuries and had to be evacuated to a hospital in Jericho, West Bank. The next day, ISM posted a video showing an IDF officer hitting a Danish protester in the face with his assault rifle. The IDF officer said that he was attacked by one of the activists in the incident with a stick, breaking two fingers. The IDF said it was a "grave incident" and was suspending the officer and investigating the incident. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz all condemned the incident. NGO Monitor said that ISM "has a long record of encouraging activists to take 'direct action' that often places them in danger and in direct confrontations with the IDF."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Fred Ekblad

On July 25, 2014, Swedish activist Fred Ekblad had a moderate injury in his head from an Israeli tank shelling Beit Hanoun hospital in the Gaza Strip.

ISM casualties by Palestinian militants

Deaths

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 Palestinian city of Jenin. Akram was buried in the Jenin refugee camp graveyard.<ref>ISM-Member Akram killed during clashes in Jenin, ISM website, September 7, 2007.</ref><ref>Salamat Sahbi Akram, ISM website, September 11, 2007.</ref>

Vittorio Arrigoni

On April 14, 2011, Italian ISM activist Vittorio Arrigoni was abducted, tortured<ref name="theweek.co.uk"/> and executed by hanging by a Salafist group in the Gaza Strip.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

ISM member casualties in Syria

Kayla Mueller

Mueller was a native of Prescott, Arizona, where she graduated from Tri-city College Prep High School. She attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff in 2007. She volunteered for three years with the Save Darfur Coalition. Her human rights activism included working in India and with Tibetan refugees. Her work in the Middle East included working for Palestinian rights with the International Solidarity Movement and helping African refugees in Israel with the African Refugee Development Center.<ref name="haaretz">Template:Cite news</ref>

Mueller started working in southern Turkey in December 2012, where she was assisting Syrian refugees. On August 3, 2013, she drove to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo with a coworker/friend who was traveling to the Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo to work for a day.<ref name="nytimes.com">Template:Cite news</ref> She worked with international aid agency Support to Life.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On her departure from Aleppo to return to Turkey, militants abducted her.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

According to anonymous sources of Catherine Herridge, the location of Mueller and other US hostages was known by the White House in May 2014, but a decision on a rescue mission was not made for seven weeks. By that time, the hostages had been dispersed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A media account affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) released a statement on February 6, 2015, claiming that a female American hostage held by the group was killed by one of around a dozen Jordanian airstrikes in Raqqa, Syria. The statement came just days after the release of a video showing the murder of Jordanian fighter pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh by the militant group and the subsequent execution of Sajida al-Rishawi and other prisoners of Jordan. The statement was later translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, identifying the hostage as Mueller.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On February 6, 2015, ISIL published a photo of a damaged building, named Mueller and her home town and alleged she had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike in the building where she was left alone with no guards, but no proof of death was provided. The Pentagon agreed the building was one hit in the bombings, but disputed that Mueller, or any civilian, was inside. The site had been bombed by the coalition twice before, and was targeted again because ISIS soldiers sometimes return to bombed sites, thinking the coalition won't return, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. After this, Mueller's name was released by American and other media with the family's consent.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

On February 10, 2015, Mueller's family announced ISIS had confirmed her death to them in an e-mail, with three photographs of her dead body, bruised on the face and wearing a black hijab.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said this message was authenticated by the intelligence community. President Barack Obama offered his condolences to Mueller's family.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On October 26–27, 2019, U.S. Joint Special Operations Command members found the hideout of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Idlib Governorate, northern Syria, before he died from suicide vest blast. The operation was named Operation Kayla Mueller by President Donald J. Trump.

Criticism and controversies

Position of Israeli Foreign Ministry

The Israeli Foreign Ministry reported that two terrorists involved in the Mike's Place suicide bombing forged "links with foreign left wing activists and members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM)." The MFA also says that "ISM members take an active part in illegal and violent actions against IDF soldiers. At times, their activity in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip is under the auspices of Palestinian terrorist organizations, and that sometimes, "ISM members, who seek entry into Israel, often do so under false pretenses, via cover stories – entry for matrimonial, tourist, religious and other purposes – which they coordinate prior to arriving in Israel."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, ISM reports that visitors at the border who identify as ISM volunteers, almost always will be denied entry by the Israeli border control.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 that Sukiya was a senior Islamic Jihad member, and that he was aided by two ISM activists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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 been 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.

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.

Ties with Palestinian militants

The Israeli government asserted ISM activist Susan Barclay had "ties with Palestinian terrorist groups". She stated she worked with representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in organising a nonviolent protest.<ref>Sam Skolnik, Activist's death focuses spotlight on Mideast struggle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 20, 2003</ref>

According to Israeli sources, ISM activists maintain ties with "Palestinian terrorists", aiding them, disrupting IDF activities and in some instance even attacked IDF soldiers.<ref>Amit Cohen, ממערב תיפתח הרעה, nrg Maariv, June 10, 2010 (Hebrew)</ref>

"Israel says that the connection between ISM activists to Palestinian terrorists is not merely sleeping in terrorists' houses. According to Israel Security Service (Shin-Bet), some of the activists maintain connections with terrorists, and act to disrupt IDF operations in the territories. In one case ISM activists exposed an ambush set by the IDF after lighting on it with flashlights. In July, two ISM activists attacked soldiers in Beit-Pourik checkpoint. IDF officer tells that in several cases ISM activists opened routes to Palestinians by going first to check if there is a military checkpoint in the way."<ref>The Hebrew source: בישראל אומרים שהקשר בין אנשי ה-ISM לגורמי טרור פלשתיניים אינו מסתכם בלינה בבתי מחבלים. לטענת השב"כ, חלק מאנשי הארגון מקיימים קשרים עם פעילי טרור, ופועלים לשיבוש פעילות צה"ל בשטחים. באחד המקרים חשפו פעילי ISM מארב של צה"ל, לאחר שהאירו עליו בפנסים. בחודש יולי תקפו שני פעילים חיילים של צה"ל במחסום בית-פוריק. קצין צה"ל מספר שבמספר מקרים פעילי ISM "פתחו ציר" בשביל הפלשתינים, כלומר: הלכו ראשונים ובדקו אם יש מחסומי צבא בהמשך הדרך. ממערב תיפתח הרעה, Maariv 2010</ref>

Richard David Hupper, an ISM activist, was convicted in a US court of illegally funding Hamas while working with the ISM. Hupper donated money which he intended to be used to aid the families of Palestinians who had been detained or killed.<ref>Pennsylvania Man Sentenced for Aiding Hamas Template:Webarchive, August 22, 2008</ref>

Israeli court ruling

In 2012, Israeli judge Oded Gershon ruled about the ISM that "In fact, the organization abuses human rights and morals discourse to blur the severity of its actions which manifested de facto as violence."<ref>Hebrew source (Ynet, 28.8.2012): "למעשה, הארגון מנצל לרעה את השימוש בשיח זכויות האדם והמוסריות כדי לטשטש את חומרת מעשיו המתבטאים באלימות בפועל".</ref> He also ruled that ISM activists provided financial, logistic and moral aid to terrorists.<ref>Report in Ynet (in Hebrew), 28.8.2012</ref><ref>Report in Ynet (in English), 28.8.2012</ref>

See also

References

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Further reading

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