Israeli Occupation Forces New Anti-Peace Activist Tactics

Israel’s New Anti-Activist Strategy


A rabble interview with Taayush member Jonathan Oppenheim




>by Allison Gifford
May 14, 2003

The past several weeks have seen the Israeli military taking an increasingly hard-line new tack towards international anti-occupation activists in Gaza — so much so that those attempting to act as “human shields” have lost their special ability to, well, shield.

Members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a non-violent group that attempts to provide protection to Palestinians, have been particularly targeted. In the wake of the death of American ISM member Rachel Corrie and the shootings of Brian Avery and Tom Hurndall, who is still in coma, the Israel military is asking internationals to sign a new declaration that not only relieves the Israeli Government of responsibility for any deaths but also asks the individual signing to confirm they have no connection to the ISM. The ISM office in Beit Sahour has also been raided. Two international activists were arrested, eight computers confiscated.

The crackdown threatens to affect anyone working to support Palestinians under the occupation. Here, rabble interviewer Allison Gifford talks to Jonathan Oppenheim, a research fellow at the Racah Institute of Physics in Jerusalem and an anti-occupation activist with Taayush (a grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews working to end the occupation through daily actions of solidarity) about the ramifications of the new strategy and what might be next.

Allison Gifford: What kind of anti-occupation work do you do?

Jonathan Oppenheim: I mostly do physics...but I do work with a few organizations, including Taayush and Occupy This! Taayush is a group of Israelis and Palestinians who work with communities in the occupied territories. They organize curfew breaking and protests with local communities, and help when needed with things like escorting students through checkpoints.

I do not work regularly with the ISM, but I am familiar with people in it.

Gifford: What kind of non-violent direct actions are activists taking?

Oppenheim: We try to support the actions of local residents of the occupied territories. Even buying a loaf of bread during curfew is a form of direct action these days, which can result in getting killed.

Right now, there is some focus on the “Transfer Wall” (called a “separation fence” even though it is not a fence) that the Israeli Government is building on the pretext of security. In order to confiscate as much land as possible, the route the wall takes is so long that it will not provide any security, but it is certainly making people’s lives miserable, cutting off many villages from their land. It is essentially being built to protect most of the settlements, and provide them with additional land and water resources. Right now, a protest camp has been set up near the wall, and there has been some civil disobedience associated with that.

Also watching checkpoints is an important aspect of people’s work (particularly the ISM). Curfew breaking and school escorts are also important.

Something else that’s worth mentioning is the extent to which Israel bans non-violent protest, which I think has the effect of further encouraging violent action, since all other means have been taken away. Not only has the ISM been targeted, but every time Taayush has a protest, the army declares the area a closed military zone and attempts to stop it. Virtually any time a village organizes a protest march, they are put under curfew to prevent it.

Gifford: Has the banning of ISM members halted the scheduling of any major campaigns to bring international protesters to Israel?

Oppenheim: Israel has always refused entry to activists. People get in because they pretend to be tourists. However, the government now seems to be a bit more systematic, and we will see how successful they are. A few hours ago, they arrested another three to five ISM members in addition to the ones arrested during the raid on the ISM office.

The murder of Rachel Corrie and shooting of Tim and Brian has not deterred people as far as I understand, although people are still in shock.

Also, the ISM is making an urgent appeal for Jewish internationals to come to Israel to join ISM (since it is highly unlikely that we would be deported).

Gifford: What kind of special status do international peace activists have in Israel? How has it changed recently?

Oppenheim: Internationals can enter certain parts of the territories (called Area A), which Israeli’s can’t enter. This just changed with respect to Gaza. Now, internationals must sign a waiver absolving the army of any responsibility if they are injured or killed. They must also state that they are not peace activists.

It was thought that internationals offer some degree of protection to Palestinians during protests. This appears to have changed ever since Rachel was killed.

Gifford: What are the general feelings of internationals right now? Are many people making plans to leave?

Oppenheim: I don’t know of anyone who is leaving. People are of course angry. There ought to be nothing illegal about giving solidarity to those living under occupation. People were much more shocked by what happened to Rachel and Brian and Tim.

Gifford: Have you had to sign the Israeli Military’s new declaration? What happens to ISM members who are served with the declaration?

Oppenheim: No, and I don’t know -- presumably they will not be let into Gaza, and probably they will be arrested.

Gifford: How integral has the ISM been in getting information about Israeli military brutality to the international community? If the ISM is silenced, who will continue this role?

Oppenheim: Almost every day, Palestinians are killed in the occupied territories. Some of them are armed militants, many are civilians going about their lives, and many are children. While the terror attacks inside Israel make the news (and should), the daily killings inside the territories rarely do. Except of course, when the person killed is a journalist or a beautiful white girl from America. The Israeli government understands this, and this is why they have cracked down on the ISM.

If the ISM is effectively shut down (and this will not succeed if people abroad apply pressure), then there will still be Israelis and Palestinians who try to let the world know what is happening -- the question will be whether anyone listens.

Gifford: How does the presence of activists, and their support, help Palestinians?

Oppenheim: I would say also that groups like Taayush show to Palestinians that there is a partner for peace. The Israeli government may not be interested in peace, but there is certainly a significant portion of Israeli society who believes the occupation must end.


Allison Gifford is a Toronto-based freelance writer and editor. When she’s not working as associate editor at rabble, she moonlights as associate editor at This Magazine.