Olive Harvest 2005
Join Us in Palestine for the 2005 Olive Harvest Campaign!


Palestinian farmers and agricultural organizations, in coordination with the International Solidarity Movement and the International Women’s Peace Service, announce the 2005 Olive Harvest Campaign. The campaign will take place between October 15 and November 15.


While the world is blinded by the smokescreen of Israel’s “Gaza disengagement” plan, the Israeli government continues to seize Palestinian land throughout the West Bank to expand settlements and build its illegal Annexation Barrier.


As this goes on, Palestinian communities continue to resist Israel’s attempts to cement its control of the West Bank and imprison Palestinians behind walls and fences.


The Olive Harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it. Palestinians are the indigenous people of this land who have farmed olives here for thousands of years. The annual harvest is a symbol of life for Palestinian communities.


Agricultural productivity over the last five years has decreased dramatically because of closures and sieges which prohibit access to farms and markets. Israel’s barrier and increased attacks on farmers and their families in the fields have further diminished Palestinians’ ability to earn a living. Over half a million olive and fruit trees have been destroyed since September 2000. Palestinian agriculture is being destroyed by the policies of the Israeli government and the rights of Palestinians to their land and to a livelihood are being denied.


International and Israeli volunteers join Palestinians each year to harvest olives, in spite of efforts by Israeli settlers, soldiers and bulldozers to destroy this vital piece of Palestinian life. Because much of the world falsely believes that “a peace process” is under way with Israel’s “Gaza disengagement” plan, Palestinians need your support, solidarity and eyewitness testimonies about the reality of life under a military occupation.


How It Works
The Olive Harvest Campaign provides a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Palestinian families in their olive groves and homes.


The presence of internationals during harvest time has proven in the past to help limit and decrease the severity of attacks. After a two-day training session, volunteers for the Olive Harvest Campaign will stay in Palestinian homes in West Bank communities and accompany Palestinian families to their olive groves to serve as witnesses to document and expose attacks by settlers — supported by the Israeli Army — on farmers and their families.


In addition to olive harvest, volunteers will have the opportunity to join Palestinians in nonviolent protests throughout the West Bank against the construction of the Annexation Barrier, settlements and settlement roads.


This 2005 Olive Harvest Campaign is part of the ongoing work of the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led movement comprising of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists working to raise awareness about the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to The Occupation. ISM uses nonviolent, direct-action methods of resistance to confront and challenge the Israeli persecution of Palestinians.


With your help and participation, we will expose the injustice of the Israeli occupation and send a message to the world that The Occupation must end and the Wall must fall!


For more information on preparation, travel and arrival in Palestine, please see the ISM Palestine website, www.palsolidarity.org. ISM support groups located around the world can help answer your questions about the movement and Olive Harvest Campaign. Many will provide training sessions.


If you are in Chicago, Illinois, Indiana or Iowa contact ISM-Chicago at either ISMinChicago (at) aol.com or 773-489-3505.


ISM-Chicago may be able to assist local volunteers with raising travel funds! If you support the mission and work of the International Solidarity Movement--please send a generous donation to us NOW so we may assist those volunteers traveling to Palestine! Donations may be mailed to : ISM-Chicago, P.O. Box 220685, Chicago, IL 60622

About ISM
Who We Are

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles. Founded by a small group of activists in August, 2001, ISM aims to support and strengthen the Palestinian popular resistance by providing the Palestinian people with two resources, international protection and a voice with which to nonviolently resist an overwhelming military occupation force.


Why ISM?


Occupation is not going to be defeated by words alone; occupation, oppression an domination are going to be dismantled the same way they were erected — through people’s action. The Israeli army and the Israeli occupation can be defeated by strategic, disciplined unarmed resistance, utilizing the effective resources Palestinians can mobilize — including international participation.


In April 2002, with help from Palestinians, international activists were able to outmaneuver the Israeli military during two of its biggest military operations, entering and providing support to those trapped inside the Presidential Compound in Ramallah and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. More recently, ISM has supported strong Palestinian-led, nonviolent resistance movements against Israel’s Apartheid Wall in villages like Budrus and Biddu. In these villages peaceful community marches have succeeded in altering the Wall’s path and even stopping Wall construction.


International participation is important for a number of reasons:

Protection:

An international presence at Palestinian civilian actions can ensure a degree of protection for Palestinians engaged in nonviolent resistance.
Message to the mainstream media: The Palestinian struggle is not accurately reported by the mainstream corporate media. The mainstream media portrays Israelis and Palestinians as two equal sides who can’t live together fighting over a piece of land, instead of an Israeli military occupation and a Palestinian struggle for freedom, self-determination and human rights. People from all over the world that join us can reach out to their respective media and help dispel this notion.


Personal witness and transmitting information:

International civilians joining Palestinians can bear witness and return home to talk to their communities about what is happening.

Break isolation and provide hope:

The occupation isolates Palestinians and cuts them off from the rest of the world and from each other. International ciivilians coming in, despite restrictions, send a message to the Palestinian community - "we see, we hear and we are with you." Hope that people acting together can change things is a cornerstone of our philosophy and message.


Internationals with the ISM are not in Palestine to teach nonviolent resistance. Palestinians resist nonviolently ever day. The ISM lends support to the Palestinian resistance to the occupation and their demand for freedom through the following activities:


Direct Action - challenging crippling chheckpoints and curfew, confronting tanks and demolition equipment, removing roadblocks, participating in nonviolent demonstrations, accompanying farmers to their fields and protecting families whose homes are threatened with demolition.


Emergency Mobilization - escorting ambulances through checkpoints, delivering food and water to families under curfew or house arrest, assisting the injured or disabled to access medical care and walking children to school.
Documentation - documenting and reporting to local and international media about the daily life under occupation and the countless human rights and international law violations by the Israeli military.


Get Involved

ISM offers many ways for you to get involved in the struggle for Palestinian freedom. Whether you’re thinking of traveling to Palestine to work with us, or you’d like to work to educate your community about the reality in Palestine, we welcome your involvement. Please visit the websites of the support group nearest to you. Links to our international chapters are found to the left. The Chicago chapter of ISM can be contacted at: ISMinChicago (at) aol.com or 773-489-3505

If you would like to get information and updates from us, please send an email to: palsolidarity-subscribe (at) yahoogroups.com


Contact Us
Email: info (at) palsolidarity.org
Website: www.palsolidarity.org


Structure


The ISM is not an organization, but rather a movement which all organizations, groups and/or individuals who agree our principles can join. The ISM is based in Palestine and is led by Palestinians on the ground. Many ISM support groups around the world assist the ISM by dissemenating information, recruiting and training individuals to join us.


To join the ISM in Palestine, you must adhere to the following principles:

Belief in freedom for the Palestinian people based on all relevant United Nations Resolutions and international law.

Using only nonviolent, direct-action methods, strategies and principles to work towards our goal.

The ISM is non-hierarchical. Actions on the ground are ccoordinated with the larger Palestinian community and moved through a core group of committed activists. The core group is open to all activists, Palestinians or otherwise, who make a commitment to ISM’s work and take on coordinating responsibilities. The ISM uses consensus decision making in all of it’s activities.


Funding

International volunteers who join the ISM are responsible for paying their own way and covering all their expenses in Palestine. ISM-Chicago may be able to assist with travel funds and is actively seeking donations for their travel fund. The ISM does not receive any funding from any state, government or association. We rely on donations from average people all over the world that support peace and the Palestinian struggle for freedom.


Support groups abroad fundraise to help activists who need assistance to come to Palestine. In Palestine, we use our funds to coordinate work on the ground — communications, transportation and legal fees are our major expenditures.