International Solidarity Movement
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'Nonviolent, direct action' is mantra of new
pro-Palestinian group

Published in: Ha'aretz Daily

by Orly Halpern
Saturday, February 02, 2002

RAMALLAH - The striking American girl with the blue eyes and the wavy black hair, wearing a knitted cap bearing a Palestinian-flag patch, is kicking away at a dirt roadblock with muddied high-heeled boots. The army tank nearby trains its barrel at her and other members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), but Huwaida Arraf - or "Heidi" as her brother and sisters call her at home - is unperturbed.

"We are aware that it is dangerous standing before tanks and armed soldiers, but we believe that nonviolent, direct action is the best strategy to end the occupation," she explains.

Huwaida, 25, born in Roseville, Michigan to Palestinian parents, is the co-founder and co-director of the recently formed ISM, an unofficial cluster of young foreigners living in Ramallah, who organize "actions with local Palestinians to strengthen resistance to the occupation."
Her father, an Israeli citizen from the northern village of Ma'aliya (after which the town of Ma'alot was named) married her mother, a nurse from Beit Sahur near Bethlehem, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1975.

"In the beginning of `96, I knew I wanted to build the future of Palestine. I wanted to be part of bettering relations between both sides," Huwaida says. "So, I came here to get a better understanding of Israeli society." She spent her year abroad studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and working for two months on a kibbutz. She eventually completed a major in political science, Hebrew, and Judaic and Arabic studies at the University of Michigan.

Upon her return to the Middle East, she got a job with an apolitical American nongovernment organization that worked toward conflict resolution, but became disillusioned: "After seven years of Oslo, the occupation still had not ended, and I felt there was too much emphasis on conflict resolution and peace," she explains. "The worst thing about the Oslo period is that more land was being taken from them. There were more roadblocks, more house demolitions and more settlers."

While still working for the NGO, Huwaida got involved in various nonviolent actions organized by Israelis and foreigners in the West Bank. "But, because I couldn't be linked to the NGO, I wore sunglasses and held a sign in front of my face," she explains with a smile. But, her face was noticed - and she got arrested.

Huwaida resigned from her job and decided to devote her time solely to individual actions with Palestinians until the idea arose to create the ISM. "Two days after the F-16 bombings in Ramallah on May 1st last year, some of us `internationals' pitched a tent near [Palestininian Authority Chairman Yasser] Arafat's office to prevent them from bombing it. Neta Golan, an Israeli-Canadian human rights activist, also participated and we decided to join forces and formed the ISM. We realized that the international presence here helped both the morale of the locals and their personal security because it prevented the Israeli military from using violence against them."

ISM advocates returning to the 1967 borders to end the occupation. Huwaida says: "This is a compromise that the PLO made and it took a long time, but Palestinians have accepted Israel. We can't ask them to forget their homes in Haifa and Acre. But, people can make practical decisions." On the right of return for refugees, Huwaida says: "I think acknowledgment of suffering and injustices, and compensation for losses is understandable."

The type and scope of ISM's actions vary. At one point, members of the group divided themselves up among Palestinian homes in Beit Jala, just outside of Jerusalem, to act as human shields against shelling by Israeli tanks in Gilo. They also organized massive two-week actions, in August and December 2001. Activists were recruited from abroad to help dismantle dirt roadblocks, observe soldiers' behavior at IDF checkpoints, and to demonstrate in front of army tanks.

Role-playing exercises

Before each action, activists discuss what to expect and how to remain nonviolent. They learn about tear gas, grenades and rubber bullets, how to react when soldiers try to arrest a Palestinian demonstrator, and engage in various role-play activities.

ISM members sometimes use unconventional slogans to convey their point. A `Return to Sender' sign was pasted to the side of a tank blocking the road to a Palestinian village near Nablus. Another sign read: `It's the Occupation, Stupid.'

One of the major goals of ISM is to attract media attention, according to Huwaida: "We have limited experience with the Israeli media and it has been basically negative. They always describe us as anti-Israel, as `clashing with soldiers.' We never clash with soldiers; the army can attack us, we never respond. Nothing we do is meant as a threat to Israel," she says firmly. "Nevertheless, as long as the Israeli government portrays the Palestinians as angry monsters looking for revenge, I don't think there can ever be peace."

Today ISM is composed of five hard-core activists: Huwaida and three other Americans who live together, and Neta Golan, who lives in another part of Ramallah. In her spacious apartment, Huwaida sits with a laptop on her knees, surrounded by shelves of books such as "Martin Luther King, Jr.," "Kosovo - A Short History," "The Art of Negotiating" and "Harry Potter," and boxes of newspaper clippings and photographs. She is reading the latest updates from www.PalestineMonitor.org on the Web in the room that serves as the ISM office.

Adam Shapiro, 29, sits at her side. A handsome young man with a navy-blue bandana tied around his head and a ring in each ear, New York-born Shapiro is both her colleague and fiance; he claims he is not affiliated with any religion. He came to the Middle East two-and-a-half years ago to work for the same NGO where Huwaida was employed, becoming her boss - and left for the same reasons.

Their wedding is scheduled for May in Michigan. In the living room, a copy of "Wedding Gowns" magazine lies on the coffee table next to a couple of B'Tselem [human rights organization] booklets in English.

Despite her commitment, Huwaida says her parents constantly tell her to come home - especially when they see her on TV, lying in front of an Israeli tank. "No one goes out there wanting to die or to get injured," she explains. "But we have a stronger belief that the power of the people will overcome injustice."

When asked what would be her "utopian" vision of a nonviolent direct action, Huwaida describes an enormous march: "Every city, every village, man woman and child, sheep and donkeys, if you want," she says laughing, all come "out of their homes, walking together, arm in arm, past soldiers, past roadblocks. A march for liberation. Marching, ignoring and overcoming armed soldiers at roadblocks, with the power of the people and your beliefs in your rights ... exercising your right to walk in freedom on your land and not stop at a checkpoint."

Huwaida has applied to law school and Adam has applied to do his Ph.D. in international relations. Asked where they want to live in the future, she says, "That depends: If Palestine is freed then we'll look for another conflict."