ISM Clowns for Peace Antagonizing an Israeli Soldier.
Kev,
ISM and your no small part in the efforts got some some people killed in the Middle East. You need more attention.
Let me help:
The Six Goofs who committed an act of violence on Easter Sunday worshippers at Holy Name Cathedral, yesterday, appear to be acting in coordination with Kevin Clark ( click my Post Title for the link to the AP story) a Leader of the Internationals Solidarity Movement - a group that works with Palestinian terrorist organizations and whose activities have brought about the deaths of ISM members.
Kevin Clark wants some attention. Here goes - this is from a report on ISM activities, by :Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, the famous Torah scholar,
emphasized that Jews have a religious obligation to
defend the community from attack.
More Evidence of the International Solidarity Movement's Support for Violence
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The three messages below are taken from the April 2002 postings on a listserv of a New York City affiliate of the International Solidarity Movement (Independent Media Center) that describes itself thus: [Ref. 21]
This list is for those interested in travelling to Palestine for direct action in support of Palestinian human rights. The next delegation will be from March 29 - April 12. The following delegation is currently planned for June.
Like many e-mail messages, these were typed carelessly. We reproduce them as they appear on the list, only once adding a single letter in parentheses to make the meaning plain.
The messages were posted in the spring of 2002, a period during which hundreds of Israelis were murdered and hundreds more were maimed during the worst onslaught of terror attacks in Israel's history. Israel, which had held its fire during a year and a half of terror attacks that began at Rosh HaShanah 2001, responded in April of 2002 by sending the Israel Defense Force into the UNRWA camps to arrest the terrorists and destroy the bomb factories.
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Message 1: [Ref. 22]
Earlier in the day, Arafat called on the international community to put an end to Israeli brutality against the Palestinian people in a message through an International Solidarity team that managed to enter his office and portray his message to the world.
Arafat praised Palestinian determination in the face of Israeli racism and terrorism using all sorts of American weapons to carry out aggression against the Palestinians.
Arafat told his people, "Together until a Palestinian child raises the Palestinian flag over Jerusalem's walls, mosques and churches."
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Message 2: [Ref. 23]
From: "pcrbs"
Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 14:14:52 -0000
Urgent call for Internationals to come to Palestine.
The International Solidarity Movement ISM calls upon who ever can
come to Palestine to come. you are all needed now. ISM and GIPP
groups in Ramallah and Bethlehem are doing great. They are the only
(p)rotection for President Arafat, they are with families in camps,
joining ambulances. Your presence makes a difference. if you can
find your way into Jerusalem we will do our best to get you in
Bethlehem or Ramallah.
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Message 3: [Ref. 24]
----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Cc:;
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 12:41 AM
Subject: US/palestine solidarity...from the camps 4/3
> fwd if you dare.. (do you guys ever get in trouble for this?)
>
> peace,
> kevin
>
> Dehaishe refugee camp, west bank. 6am
> it is storming again, and was much of the night...the thunder competing
with the tank fire in the distance. It was the thunder that has a much
nicer sound...rich, rolling, you feel it deep in the bones...the sound of
the tanks was puny in comparison.
>
> the weather has probably been a very good thing...it is cold and wet and
windy...not good weather for fighting...at least all the israelis are
outside in the cold, while the few fighters they chase are holed up at least
dry,..if not warm.
>
> I am not sure what is the latest status of the fighting..in this area it
is mostly centered around the other camps (ayda and aza) and in bethlehem
itself
> there are a lot of casualties reported..
>
> none of the resistace here had any opinion that they could actually hold
out for long...bethlehem is too easy to take militarily. for the people
here anyway, they are saying al aqsa is over...
>
> al aqsa..this intifada
>
> they decided that this intifada they would try "any means necessary" &
they have tried a lot over 50 yrs of struggle.
>
> In the last intifada the tried coordinated nonviolence, the participation
of all sectors of society -but still the israelis crushed it without
international society rising up to support the palestinians.
>
> over and over you hear this..it is heartbreraking..the people fighting
here do not expect to win on their own. many keep expecting the world and
especially the US to step in somehow...even though they realize it is the US
that has been the major partner in their suffering for all this time.
>
> This time, this intifada they said, they talked to their grandmothers, and
the grandmothers agreed..50 yrs is too much, it is better to die a martyr,
to give that for the cause of freedom, than to live this way any longer.
>
> no matter the cost in palestinian blood, as long as there was enough
israeli blood they will eventually win...the israelis will eventually tire
of this...
>
> it is impossible to say if they are right or not, but judging from the
israelis latest, massive and unprecedented response many have doubts..
>
> they expect the worst from the israelis in the coming weeks (three to four
weeks of proposed martial law, with god knows how many casualties and
killings) the virtual destruction of the palestinian authority, and all of
the infrastructure here- that is already almost accomplished.
>
> what will take over then?
>
> so WHAT CAN WE DO? as democracy loving internationalists? and anti
authoritarians?
>
> do everything that is possible...it is a historical moment in this
struggle, no one has seen this before, so no one can predict the outcome.
>
> there are a lot of voices here, really smart ones, eager to see further
alignment between this struggle and the face of the struggle represented by
seattle/durban/porto allegre..we can build those relationships..learn a lot
from each other.
>
> students can support the local divestment campaigns at their schools with
all of the direct action tactics that have been so successful in the
past...if there is not a divestment campaign at your school, start one now.
>
> work with other finacial pressure campaigns like SUSTAIN,- divestment and
boycotts were succeful before in the aparthied struggles.
>
> and more international solidarity trips are extremely welcome by the
palestinian people. when this phase of the struggle is over, and martial
law is lifted, there is a lot for people to do here..and lot of
relationships that can be built. many many europeans are doing it. "we
need more americans over here" is what everyone is saying.
>
> just my opinion..
>
> apologies again for the commentary..but this is open publishing after all.
>
> k
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Note that in the message above, the writer, Kevin, appears to be fully cognizant of the whereabouts of the "fighters" the IDF is pursuing. He regrets that the Palestinian fighters will lose unless the international community "rises up" to support them, and he offers the strategic reason given by Palestinian leaders in support of terrorism. "No matter the cost in Palestinian blood, as long as there was enough Israeli blood they will eventually win. The Israelis will eventually tire of this." Then he asks "What can we do?" His answer is that we can "do everything that is possible" and he holds up the "face of the struggle represented by Seattle, Durban, and Porto Alegre."
Seattle, Durban, and Porto Alegre were large-scale riots, during which crowds surged through city streets smashing windows and looting businesses. It is an odd model for a movement that purports to espouse non-violence. But, then, the Durban conference, condemned by the world for the flagrant Jew-hatred on display, is an odd model for any decent person to wish to emulate. ( Emphasis my own:Kevin Clark? Our Boy Witness in Solidarity with the Catholic School Girls - three of whom are what appear to be males - well, that is Solidarity, afterall.)
Sheltering Terrorists
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In a widely publicized incident that made many doubt the ISM's claims that it does not collaborate with terrorists, Susan Barclay, an ISM organizer later deported by Israel, attempted to hide Islamic Jihad terrorist Shadi Sukiya in the ISM office in Jenin while the IDF searched the building for him. An ISM spokesman claimed that Barclay had no way of knowing who the man was—although that would hardly justify her attempt to prevent a search of the ISM offices by an officer of the law who was searching for an identified terrorist. The spokesman went on to say that he was not certain how he would behave if he were himself given the opportunity to shelter a known terrorist from the police.
Tom Wallace, 43, who has traveled from Boston to work as the ISM's spokesperson in Jenin, says the ISMers in Jenin had no idea who Sukiya was when they took him in that morning, and that they were only trying to help a man in distress. And if, in the future, someone who the ISM knows to be a terrorist shows up at the office door requesting assistance? "He's still someone who's hurt and needs help," Tom says, adding that ISM members in Jenin are now debating this very question. "Honestly, I don't know the answer." One year earlier, ISM volunteers went to great lengths to enter the Arafat compound for the purpose of acting as human shields for Arafat and for the terrorists that the ISM volunteer writing this journal entry proudly refers to as the "Ze'evi Five" in honor of the Israeli Cabinet minister whom they murdered.
Presidential Compound
On 21 April, Israeli forces redeployed from areas in Ramallah but maintained their tight besiegement of the presidential compound and the surrounding neighborhoods, which comprise much of El Bireh. Inside the compound, Arafat was confined to less than one building in the compound and was surrounded by security personnel, top advisors, a handful of international solidarity movement personnel, as well as the "Ze'evi Five" (those accused of being involved in the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism, Rehav'am Ze'evi on 18 September 2001).
IDF position
Numerous international organizations operate in Israel and the Palestinain-controlled territories, including the Red Cross, the Mennonite Church relief workers, and literally dozens of others. Only the ISM has acquired a special status in the eyes of Israel security. In a recent interview, an IDF officer stated the official position plainly. "We have nothing against the internationals," says a senior IDF officer. "But, as far as we are concerned, ISM is not an international organization or a peace organization. It's a pro-Palestinian organization, set up by Palestinians, funded by Palestinians and linked to Palestinian terror."
The Palestinian Solidarity Movement: the American, Student Arm of the International Solidarity Movement
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The International Solidarity Movement prefers to remain an unincorporated, informal movement for many reasons, perhaps the most important of which is that this allows movement leaders to disavow incriminating actions and statements by other movement leaders. For example, when Charlotte Kates, leader of New Jersey Solidarity, gave numerous interviews to the press in the summer of 2003 in which she endorsed suicide bombing, other movement leaders claimed that she was not part of the ISM, and she herself claimed to have left the ISM and joined al Awda instead.
Even as this split was taking place, however, the Solidarity Movement was sponsoring a July 2003 "Wheels of Justice" speaking tour. In announcements advertising the tour, Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition, Voices in the Wilderness, and the Middle East Children's Alliance describe themselves as "Affiliates of the International Solidarity Movement." [Ref. 25]
Similarly, in September of 2003, Adam Shapiro, cofounder of the International Solidarity Movement answered telephone inquiries from the AMCHA office in New York regarding the upcoming National Conference of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement by denying that the ISM and the PSM were formally related in any manner. However, at the Second Annual Conference of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, held at the University of Michigan in October 2002 and at which Adam Shapiro was a featured speaker, the delegates to the Palestinian Solidarity conference voted to formalize their support of the International Solidarity Movement. [Ref. 26]
Throughout this period, campus groups affiliated with the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, which functions as the American, campus arm of the ISM, continued to travel to Israel, where they worked as volunteer activists under the auspices of the ISM, calling themselves members of ISM while in Israel and members of PSM upon returning to campus.
The Palestine Solidarity Movement consistently refuses to condemn terrorism. The Freeman Center at Duke set the following statement as a necessary common ground to enable dialogue to take place: "We condemn the murder of innocent civilians, whether by individuals, groups, or nations, anywhere in the world." The Chronicle, the student daily newspaper at Duke, reported as follows: [Ref. 27]
PSM's policy does not allow it to condemn any particular action. Thus, the first statement, "We condemn the murder of innocent civilians, whether by individuals, groups, or nations, anywhere in the world" is inconsistent with PSM's philosophy.
Rann Bar-On, designated spokesman for Hiwar, the PSM-affiliated group at Duke University responsible for hosting the Fourth National Conference, was interviewed by The Herald-Sun in Durham and was quoted as follows: [Ref. 28]
"We don't see it as very useful for us as a solidarity movement to condemn violence. That will not achieve any particular goal."
For More:
http://home.comcast.net/~jat.action/ISM_essay.htm
I gotta wonder if ISM, which has such history in Illinois, if dubious outreach to Middle Terror might not have some connection to Tony Rezko and Nadhmi Auchi. Solidarity breeds some strange partnerships - take a look at the six goofs awaiting today's bond hearings. Bloody Big Bond?
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