Standing with the Oppressed: Solidarity Activists and the Palestinian Nonviolent Movement

On March 16, 2003, Rachel Corrie stood before the home of Samir Nasrallah, a pharmacist from Gaza, as an Israeli bulldozer approached his house. The bulldozer did not stop and, that day, 23-year-old Rachel lost her life. Despite overwhelming eye-witness testimony that the driver showed signs of having seen her, a 2003 Israeli military investigation absolved the driver and the Israeli military of any wrongdoing. Seven years later, the Corries have taken their case to an Israeli court, in the hopes of attaining some small measure of justice for the events of that day.

Rachel, a native of Olympia, Washington, was in Gaza as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The ISM and other organizations, such as the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), bring international volunteers to the occupied Palestinian territories to support the Palestinian nonviolence movement. Over the course of decades, solidarity work by international volunteers, in its many forms, has become a core component of the Palestinian movement. International participation in nonviolent direct actions, accompaniment of vulnerable populations and the education and advocacy work that volunteers undertake in their home countries upon their return complement the important work already being done by the nonviolent movement's capable Palestinian leadership.

Nonviolent action, such as standing in front of an Israeli bulldozer sent to destroy a Palestinian home, protesting the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem or demonstrating at the construction site where the Israeli military is building a wall on Palestinian land in the West Bank, are the most public aspects of the Palestinian nonviolence movement. These activities draw attention to the injustices experienced by Palestinians under occupation, in the hopes that the watching world will take action to press Israel to change laws and policies that discriminate against Palestinians.  By joining Palestinian nonviolent actions, foreign nationals not only increase the numbers of participants at the events, but also send a message to the people of Palestine that there is global support for their nonviolent movement. Internationals demonstrating in Palestine may also capture the attention of media outlets in their own countries that would otherwise not cover the the Palestinian nonviolent movement.

While weekly demonstrations take place in many parts of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, there is a quieter nonviolent movement that runs throughout the entirety of the occupied Palestinian territories. It it led by average Palestinians who simply refuse to be defeated by Israeli occupation and who continue to live their lives as best as they are able under occupation. The South Hebron Hills region of the West Bank is home to dozens of small Israeli settlement outposts, the inhabitants of which regularly perpetrate violence against their Palestinian neighbors. Since 2004, CPT has maintained a permanent presence in the region, accompanying shepherds and farmers as they work their fields, monitoring temporary checkpoints erected by the Israeli military and documenting human rights abuses as they happen. Settler violence is a regular occurrence in the region, and internationals and Palestinians are working together to tell the stories of this violence to as wide an audience as possible.

As important as the work done in Palestine is the work that those returning to their home countries undertake. Telling the stories of those with whom they have worked and advocating for policies that account for Palestinian human rights are ways in which solidarity activists have built upon what they began in Palestine.