"Why doesn't anyone do anything?"

That's what a Palestinian asked a Canadian last year. It's a good question.

by Chris LaVigne <clavigne@republic-news.org>

"Why are you here?" the woman angrily demanded, "Asking me these questions isn't going to bring my son back."

The words caught 32-year-old Johanna Mazur by surprise. A volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Mazur was in Palestine last year to assist in the nonviolent opposition to the illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. On this particular day, she had been interviewing the families of two Palestinian teenagers who had been shot by Israeli soldiers.

"When I first met this mother, just the look in her eyes and the pain she had in her expression--it hit me, like no other thing." Mazur relates, "That was definitely a moment where I was like, 'Why am I here?' I was just sort of hit by what she was saying to me. And then within, like, five minutes of us sort of sharing these things, she was inviting me to stay for dinner."

It was only one instance in which Mazur was stunned by the generosity and fortitude of the Palestinians she met. "People are so willing to sort of look forward and find the human element and really want to make the most, deepest connection with people," she remembers.

Connecting with people is a big part of ISM's mandate. The organization was formed in 2001 in response to a United Nations motion that would have sent UN observers into Palestine, had it not been vetoed by the United States. Under Palestinian leadership, ISM coordinates indigenous nonviolent resistance efforts and encourages international activists to visit Palestine and act as the foreign observers the UN could not deliver. Beginning June 25, ISM is sponsoring Freedom Summer, a 56-day event (one for every year of Palestinian displacement and dispossession) to be filled with nonviolent protests in Palestine and internationally. The campaign will end with a three-week Freedom Walk from Jenin to Jerusalem along the path of Israel's apartheid wall.

An international presence is important as foreigners bring world attention to the steady stream of Israeli atrocities being committed against Palestinians. As well, having internationals monitoring places such as the military-patrolled checkpoint crossings often hinders Israeli soldiers and settlers from harassing the local inhabitants and allows nonviolent negotiation to take the place of aggressive confrontations.

However, even internationals have not been spared from the conflict's violence. Tragically, ISM gained worldwide attention last year for having had two of its members killed by Israeli forces. American Rachel Corrie was run over by a bulldozer and Briton Tom Hurndall was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper.

That sort of violence was not unusual in ISM member Melissa Mullan's experience of how the Israeli military treated Palestinians and internationals. Mullan traveled to Palestine twice in 2003, spending time in Nablus and Qalqiliya in the West Bank and Rafah in the Gaza Strip. "Every single normal aspect of life is being attacked purposely," the 23-year-old Port Moody resident says of what she observed the Palestinians having to endure.

The horrors she witnessed included a young boy killed by Israeli sniper fire on his way home from school, entire communities cut off from their traditional olive groves--their only source of income--by the new Israeli security wall, and helicopters firing missiles into the towns with such regularity that it ceased waking her up at night.

"The first time you stand in the middle of the street and people are shooting at you, it's your natural instinct to run away," she casually explains, "but then after a while you really do become numb to it."

Asked why they would go to one of the most dangerous areas in the world, the two activists spoke of a need to act on their long-held humanitarian beliefs. "Justice issues globally have always been of interest to me, but I never really acted on them." Mullan admits. "I guess I was just too lazy to do it."

Mazur helped organize a local ISM branch after seeing two of the group's founders come to Vancouver for a talk last year. She has been particularly motivated by the current American actions in the Middle East. "I think the US war on Iraq really sort of pushed me over the edge in terms of being so disgusted." she explains. "Like I can't sit here anymore and watch these kinds of things happen. I have to be a part of doing something against it because it's out of control and it's disgusting."

Both activists agree that Canada plays an important role in the Israel-Palestine conflict and that Canadians can play a valuable part by persuading our politicians to speak out against Israeli violence. "I think that our government supports Israel in a very sort-of backseat, quiet way, but they're very supportive and I think as a Canadian citizen I need to work against that," Mazur says.

Mullan describes how numerous Palestinians would question her about why Canadians, who have so many rights and opportunities that Palestinians do not, still refrain from speaking out politically and changing their politicians' views. "[Canadians] have the power to do that," the Palestinians would tell her, "and you have the power to influence [your leaders] and to make them be aware of our cause and to help us. So, you know, why doesn't anyone do anything?"

Mazur remembers Palestinians beseeching her, "'Please go home and tell people that our children are not terrorists and that we are peace-loving people and that we just want the occupation to end.'" Mazur and Mullan both believe that the more educated Canadians are about what is happening in Palestine, the more likely they are to speak out against the occupation. Mullan confidently asserts, "World opinion would be different if people knew what was going on."

In the effort to provide more information on the conflict, ISM Vancouver hosts many events including film screenings, rallies to raise public awareness, and recently, a coffee house discussion of what it's like to be an international human rights observer. More information on the local branch of ISM can be found at www.ism-vancouver.org. The organization's main website is www.palsolidarity.org.

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