International Peace Activists Fair Game for Israeli Troops

Since the outbreak of the second intifada, a wave of international volunteers has poured into the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to protest the Israeli occupation, protect innocent civilians, promote non-violent resistance to the occupation and document Israeli human rights abuses. Their presence and powerful voice has embarrassed the Sharon government on several occasions, most recently when one of the largest groups, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.

Over the last two months, Israel has begun a systematic campaign against international peace activists, which has included murder, beatings, arrests, deportations and other violations of human rights.

On March 16, Rachel Corrie, an American ISM volunteer, was killed when she was run over by an Israeli army bulldozer while protesting house demolitions in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Rachel was wearing bright reflective gear and talking through a loudspeaker when she was run over. The Israeli army has claimed the driver did not see her.

On April 5, Brian Avery, another American ISM activist, was shot in the head from 50 metres away by an Israeli army tank in Jenin. The city was under curfew, but Brian rushed outside when he heard tanks and gunfire. According to four eyewitnesses, when he saw the Israeli tank, Brian, who was wearing a red vest with a reflective white cross, raised his hands over his head and identified himself as an international volunteer. The tank driver responded by opening fire.

Tom Hurndall, an activist from England, was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers from a watch tower 100 metres away in Rafah. Tom, who was wearing a fluorescent orange vest, was ushering a woman and her child to safety when he was shot. He remains in a coma and is believed to have suffered permanent brain damage.

Despite these and other horrific attacks, the Israeli government has taken no measures to protect international peace volunteers serving in the Occupied Territories. Indeed, on the flimsiest of pretexts - two people who attended a memorial service for Rachel Corrie were implicated in an attempted suicide bombing - the Israeli government has declared the ISM a terrorist group. They used this excuse to raid the ISM press office in Beit Sahour on May 9, confiscating equipment and documents and arresting those in the office.

An ISM news release sent out after the raid on its office states: "The Israeli government has declared an open war on international peace and human rights workers. Israeli forces are doing everything in their power to specifically prevent the non-violent resistance to their military rule. The stepped-up harassment of internationals and journalists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is nothing short of a further attempt to shield from the international community the brutality of daily Israeli military actions against the Palestinian people."

The press release concludes by pledging that ISM activists will continue to work both in the Occupied Territories and abroad to ensure an end to the Israeli occupation.