“At about 5pm, we received a call from a Palestinian journalist friend of ours with information that bulldozers were working in the Tel Zorob area, the western-most refugee camp next to the Egyptian border. We were actually in the middle of a meeting, so within minutes all eleven of us were geared up and out the door. Five English, two Scottish, two Americans, and two Italians piled into a large taxi and headed to the scene.” Joseph Smith, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, based in Rafah, Gaza writes about the first major ISM action against bulldozers since his friend Rachel Corrie was killed on 16 March 2003. Read more about First major ISM anti-bulldozer action since Rachel Corrie killing
Starbucks Coffee Co. is reportedly closing six stores in Israel this April as well as dissolving a partnership with the Delek Group of Israel, which operated the coffeehouses. Company spokespeople would not disclose any specific reasons as to why it has done this except so say that “[t]he decision to end the partnership was independent of ongoing turmoil in the Middle East and the war with Iraq.” Helen Jung writes for the Associated Press. Read more about Starbucks pulls out of Israel, ends joint-venture
Jeff Halper
Jeff Halper is an Israeli anthropologist, until his retirement a year ago a professor at Ben Gurion University, a transplant 30 years ago from Minnesota, a harsh critic of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and, as founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), perhaps the leading peace and anti-occupation activist in Israel. Kathleen and Bill Christison interview the Israeli activist. Read more about Israel's contradiction: victimhood with power
At a New York branch of Israel’s Bank Leumi, eighteen protesters locked together as a human barricade across Fifth Avenue at 9am this morning. Covered in fake blood, the protesters lay piled in the street at the foot of a mock Caterpillar bulldozer. Read more about Rachel Corrie inspired protest shuts down NY's Fifth Avenue
Following the killing of a Jewish settler by a member of the Palestinian resistance at about 2 pm on Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli Army of Occupation around Jenin has been taking its revenge upon Ya’bad, a town about 8 kilometres to the west of Jenin, close to the bypass road upon which the killing took place. ISM activists report from Jenin. Read more about Jenin: Fourth Day of Collective Punishment for Ya'bad; Israeli Army Keeps up Pressure on ISM
Those of us in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and involved in Palestine solidarity work more generally, are deeply shocked and horrified by the recent murder of Rachel Corrie. Paul Burrows from ISM Montréal reflects on the events. Read more about Reflections on the murder of Rachel Corrie in Palestine
Our friend and fellow activist for peace, Rachel Corrie, was killed on Sunday March 16, when she was run over by an Israeli-driven, US-made (Caterpillar D9) bulldozer, while trying to prevent a Palestinian civilian home from being demolished by the Israeli military in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip. This extended statement from the International Solidarity Movement offers an overview of and background to the event and ISM’s notes on the events and aftermath. Read more about ISM: The killing of Rachel Corrie and its aftermath
Israeli forces fired teargas and stun grenades yesterday in an attempt to break up a memorial service for Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist killed by an army bulldozer in Gaza on Sunday. Witnesses including several dozen foreigners and Palestinian supporters say Israeli armoured vehicles tried to disperse the gathering at the spot in Rafah refugee camp where Ms Corrie was crushed to death. Read more about Activist's memorial service disrupted
