Explore a small sample of the visual resistance for Palestinian rights going on this summer.
Bil'in, a small (international) village at the centre of non-violent direct-action.
Over the last few years, the intensity and breadth of the solidarity actions for Palestinian rights dramatically increased.
The second Intifada was followed by a campaign of non-violent direct-action, popularized in the West Bank by a joint Palestinian-Israeli organization, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Based on the Freedom Summer campaign of the U.S. civil rights movement, the ISM (see http://palsolidarity.org/ ) has brought waves of internationals into the West Bank and Gaza to accompany Palestinians in their resistance. The overwhelming majority of Palestinian resistance is creative non-violence.
Inside Israel, a new generation of Jewish activists join Palestinians to fight the occupation.
Globally, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign has grown more in its first five years than the anti-South African apartheid boycott campaign grew in its first twenty, according the National Boycott Coordinator, Hind Awwad. October 22-24, Montreal is hosting a global BDS conference (see http://www.bdsquebec.org/ ).
ISM co-founders Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf launched the Gaza Freedom Flotillas – ships carrying Pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. There is now a Canada Boat to Gaza being organized (see http://canadaboatgaza.org ).
For Jews, solidarity with Palestinians is also a platform for our own growing resistance against the Jewish right and the extremist politics of Zionism, just as the U.S. civil rights movement became a springboard for new feminism, gay rights, the anti-Vietnam war movement, etc..
After the Friday noon prayers, villages throughout the West Bank dramatically and theatrically confront the occupation. Bil’in with the help of Israeli lawyers, just won a legal case pushing back the Wall that was expropriating their land for the nearby Jewish settlement. Invited by the Bil’in Popular Committee (see http://www.bilin-ffj.org/ ), The Independent Jewish Voices Canada joined this June demonstration in solidarity with the boycott of the Israeli diamond trade, which accounts for 1/3rd of the Israel’s export economy.
His colleague, Abdallah Abu Rahman’s imprisoned last December, was convicted in August by the Israelis for weapon’s possession (he had spent tear gas canisters), incitement and organizing illegal marches. An international campaign is mobilizing for his release. (see http://www.popularstruggle.org/freeabdallah )
Boycott & Resistance from Within
The most critical resistance against the occupation now is taking place inside Jerusalem. Israeli government and settlers are attempting to take over the Palestinian sections of East Jerusalem, and this has ignited outrage from Israeli anti-occupation activists.
Scott Weinstein has volunteered as a health care worker in Palestine, post Katrina New Orleans and post-earthquake Haiti. He is involved in human rights issues and is an amateur photographer.