International Solidarity Movement

Based on Wikipedia: International Solidarity Movement

When Foreigners Become Human Shields

There's a grim calculation at the heart of the International Solidarity Movement, and its founders have never been shy about stating it plainly. George Rishmawi, one of the organization's co-founders, told the San Francisco Chronicle: "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."

This is not cynicism. It's strategy.

The International Solidarity Movement, known by its initials ISM, operates on a simple if uncomfortable premise: that the life of a white Western activist carries more international political weight than the life of a Palestinian civilian. They call this the "white-face defense." Volunteers from Europe, America, and Australia travel to the occupied territories to stand between Israeli military operations and Palestinian communities, betting that soldiers will hesitate before pulling the trigger on someone whose death might make headlines in London or New York.

Sometimes that bet pays off. Sometimes it doesn't.

The Founders and Their Vision

The movement emerged in 2001, during the Second Intifada, when violence between Israelis and Palestinians had escalated dramatically. Four people brought it into existence: Ghassan Andoni, a Palestinian activist; Neta Golan, an Israeli whose family had lived in the region for three generations; Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American lawyer; and George Rishmawi, another Palestinian organizer. Shortly after, Adam Shapiro, an American, joined and is often counted among the founders.

This was an unusual coalition. Having an Israeli among the leadership of a Palestinian-led movement was notable, though Golan represented a small but persistent strain of Israeli activism that opposed the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The ISM describes itself as committed to nonviolent resistance. But the organization's relationship with violence has always been more complicated than that simple statement suggests, and critics have never let them forget it.

The Violence Question

The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph once called the ISM "the 'peace' group that embraces violence." This wasn't entirely fair, but it wasn't entirely unfair either.

The controversy centers on the organization's mission statement, which contains a sentence that has caused them no end of trouble:

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.

The ISM insists there's no contradiction here. They're acknowledging a legal principle, not endorsing terrorism. Their clarification states explicitly that they do not support terrorism, do not associate with armed resistance groups, and do not assist in any form of violent action. The right to resist occupation, they argue, is recognized under international law for all occupied peoples, not just Palestinians.

But the nuance was lost on many critics, especially after a 2002 article co-authored by Shapiro and Arraf surfaced. In it, they wrote that "Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both violent and nonviolent" and that "nonviolent resistance is no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation."

When CNN's Paula Zahn confronted them about this passage, noting that "some people could lead to the conclusion that you were promoting suicide bombing," they explained the context. The article, they said, was a response to another Palestinian writer who had argued that Palestinians were incapable of nonviolent resistance. They were making a tactical argument, not a moral endorsement of suicide bombing.

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.

This distinction, between acknowledging violence and advocating for it, has never satisfied the organization's critics.

What the Volunteers Actually Do

The ISM operates on a shoestring. International volunteers who join are responsible for paying their own way to Palestine and covering all their expenses while there. There's no salary, no per diem, no reimbursement. This is activism for those committed enough to fund it themselves.

Once on the ground, volunteers engage in a variety of activities designed to create friction with Israeli military operations while documenting what happens.

Some volunteers accompany Palestinians to Israeli checkpoints. These checkpoints, scattered throughout the West Bank, can turn a fifteen-minute journey into a multi-hour ordeal. Palestinians report being harassed, delayed, or turned back arbitrarily. The presence of foreign witnesses, the theory goes, encourages soldiers to process people more efficiently and professionally.

Others help during the annual olive harvest, a crucial economic activity for many Palestinian villages. Israeli settlers have been known to attack Palestinians during harvest season, sometimes destroying trees or stealing olives. Having international observers present doesn't prevent all violence, but it provides documentation and sometimes deterrence.

ISM volunteers remove roadblocks. The Israeli Defense Forces, known as the IDF, frequently place large mounds of earth and concrete at the entrances to Palestinian villages, preventing vehicles from entering or leaving. These barriers can isolate communities for days or weeks. Volunteers work to clear them, though the IDF often rebuilds them shortly after.

Perhaps most dramatically, volunteers attempt to physically block military vehicles. They stand in front of tanks and bulldozers, betting that operators won't run them over. This is where the "human shield" label comes from, though ISM volunteers object to the term. In Palestinian context, they argue, "human shield" more typically refers to the IDF's practice of forcing Palestinian civilians to accompany soldiers during raids, using them as cover.

Volunteers also violate curfews. When the IDF imposes curfew on Palestinian areas, essentially locking everyone in their homes, ISM members walk the streets delivering food and medicine, monitoring military actions, and accompanying medical personnel who need to reach patients.

They paint graffiti on the West Bank barrier, the massive wall and fence system that Israel began constructing in 2002, and interfere with its ongoing construction.

Many of these activities take place in areas the IDF designates as "closed military zones," a legal status the Israeli military can impose at will. Entering such zones as a civilian is illegal under Israeli military law. The ISM considers this law illegitimate and violates it routinely.

The Dead and the Wounded

The ISM's strategy of putting foreign bodies in harm's way has produced exactly what you might expect: foreign bodies in harm's way getting harmed.

Rachel Corrie became the most famous case. On March 16, 2003, the 23-year-old American from Olympia, Washington stood in front of an IDF armored bulldozer in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip. She was trying to prevent what ISM claimed was the demolition of a Palestinian pharmacist's home. The IDF said the bulldozer was clearing shrubbery that might conceal smuggling tunnels or provide cover for militants shooting at soldiers.

The bulldozer didn't stop.

An internal IDF investigation concluded that Corrie's death was an accident, that the driver couldn't see her. ISM eyewitnesses insist she was in plain view and that the driver deliberately struck her. The IDF points to recordings showing Corrie below the driver's sightline and notes the noise level would have made it impossible to hear her.

Corrie's parents sued, both in the United States and Israel. They lost both cases. In 2012, an Israeli court ruled that Corrie could have avoided the danger, that Israel bore no fault, and that neither intent nor negligence was involved. The judge also criticized the American government for failing to send a diplomatic representative to observe Corrie's autopsy.

Less than a month after Corrie's death, Tom Hurndall became the second ISM volunteer killed in as many weeks. On April 11, 2003, the British photography student was in Gaza, wearing the bright orange jacket that marked him as an ISM volunteer. He was steering two Palestinian children away from an Israeli tank-mounted machine gun that was shooting in their direction.

An IDF soldier named Taysir Hayb shot him in the head.

Hurndall didn't die immediately. He was left clinically brain dead and lingered until January 2004. Initially, Hayb claimed he had shot at a man in military fatigues who was firing a pistol at Israeli soldiers. This was an obvious lie, contradicted by photographs showing Hurndall in his orange jacket, unarmed.

Hayb eventually admitted fabricating his account. He was tried for manslaughter, obstruction of justice, and submitting false testimony. The Hurndall family pushed for murder charges but didn't get them. In 2005, Hayb was convicted and sentenced to eight years, seven for manslaughter and one for obstruction. In 2009, the family accepted a settlement of 1.5 million pounds, which they described as "the nearest they could get to an admission of guilt from Israel."

The list of casualties extends well beyond these two famous cases.

In April 2002, Australian volunteer Kate Edwards was shot in Beit Jala while marching toward Israeli lines with other activists. A tank rolled down the hill toward them, and an Israeli soldier shouted at them to go back. They didn't. She survived with severe internal injuries.

In November 2002, Irish volunteer Caoimhe Butterly was shot in the thigh during the Battle of Jenin, minutes before a British relief worker for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency was killed nearby.

In April 2003, American Brian Avery was shot in the face by machine gun fire from an IDF armored personnel carrier while escorting Palestinian medical personnel. He was wearing a red reflector vest marked "doctor" in English and Arabic. The disfigurement was permanent. The IDF refused to investigate, saying there was no proof its soldiers had fired at anyone that day. Avery sued and eventually accepted a $150,000 settlement.

In March 2009, American Tristan Anderson took a tear gas canister to the head during a demonstration near the village of Ni'lin. Tear gas canisters are not supposed to be lethal, but they can be when fired directly at someone's skull. Anderson required brain surgery and lost a portion of his frontal lobe.

In May 2010, Emily Henochowicz, a 21-year-old art student from Maryland, lost her left eye to a tear gas canister at a checkpoint protest. Another ISM volunteer present claimed Israeli soldiers had aimed deliberately at her face.

Not all the violence came from Israelis. In September 2007, ISM activist Akram Ibrahim Abu Sba was killed by members of Islamic Jihad in northern Jenin. And in April 2011, Italian volunteer Vittorio Arrigoni was abducted, tortured, and murdered in Gaza by a Palestinian Salafist group. Various Palestinian factions condemned the killing.

The Intelligence Connection

The British government, it turned out, was watching the ISM closely.

The Special Demonstration Squad, a secretive unit within London's Metropolitan Police, infiltrated the movement using an undercover officer who went by the name "Rob Harrison." He operated within the ISM from 2004 to 2007, reporting back on the organization's activities and membership.

The Special Demonstration Squad had a long history of infiltrating activist groups, often using officers who maintained their covers for years, forming relationships and gathering intelligence. The revelation that the ISM had been targeted suggested British authorities considered the organization a potential security concern, though the movement's activities were entirely focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than anything happening in Britain.

High-Profile Moments

The ISM achieved its greatest visibility during several dramatic standoffs in 2002.

When the IDF surrounded Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah, ISM volunteers were inside. Their presence generated international media coverage and complicated Israel's options, since any assault on the compound would now risk harming foreign civilians.

Similarly, when Israeli forces surrounded the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Palestinian militants had taken refuge in one of Christianity's holiest sites, ISM volunteers entered to serve as witnesses and, they hoped, as deterrents against military action.

In 2006, after war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Adam Shapiro announced that ISM activists were traveling to southern Lebanon to deliver aid and show solidarity with civilians caught in the crossfire.

The organization also became involved in efforts to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. After Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza's borders following Hamas's takeover in 2007, various groups organized flotillas to sail supplies directly to the territory's coast. ISM participated in and supported these maritime initiatives.

In 2004, the organization received a Nobel Peace Prize nomination from Svend Robinson, a Canadian member of parliament. Two years later, co-founder Ghassan Andoni was nominated again, alongside Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, by the American Friends Service Committee, the Quaker social justice organization.

Neither nomination resulted in a prize.

The September 2024 Shooting

The violence hasn't stopped. On September 6, 2024, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old American-Turkish woman, was attending a weekly protest near the Israeli settlement of Evyatar in the West Bank. The demonstrations there had become routine, protesting the continued expansion of Israeli settlements, and had attracted violence before.

According to witnesses, IDF forces confronted the activists with tear gas and live ammunition. About thirty minutes after the initial confrontation, as the situation seemed to be calming, two IDF snipers on a rooftop approximately 200 yards away opened fire. Eygi was killed. A Palestinian teenager was shot in the leg.

The killing drew renewed attention to ISM activities and the risks faced by international volunteers in the occupied territories.

The Moral Calculus

The International Solidarity Movement operates in territory that most people will never visit, engaging in activities that most people will never attempt, based on moral calculations that most people will never have to make.

Is it noble to put your body between a bulldozer and a house? Or is it reckless to the point of suicidal, placing your death on the conscience of some nineteen-year-old conscript operating heavy machinery?

Is it principled to acknowledge that occupied peoples have a legal right to armed resistance while refusing to participate in it yourself? Or is it weasel words, lending moral support to violence while keeping your own hands clean?

Does the presence of foreign witnesses restrain military behavior? Or does it simply create more casualties without changing anything fundamental?

The volunteers who join the ISM have answered these questions for themselves, at least well enough to buy a plane ticket and stand in front of a tank. The soldiers who have shot at them, sometimes accidentally and sometimes not, have answered them differently.

What remains is a list of the dead and the maimed, a movement that continues two decades after its founding, and a conflict that shows no sign of ending.