PRESS RELEASE: 2 May 2003
ISM UK Statement on British Suicide Bombers

The International Solidarity Movement supports non-violent resistance to the illegal and brutal occupation of Palestine. Palestinians have long been at risk of death, imprisonment and torture when they engage in acts of peaceful resistance. When internationals are present, that risk is somewhat reduced.

But now the Israeli army is targeting international peace activists as well, violating international law and attempting to suppress all means of protest in the occupied territories.

On April 30, 2003 a suicide bomber and an accomplice tried to enter "Mike's Place" bar in Tel Aviv. One murdered three people in addition to killing himself. The other escaped. They both held British passports. These activities are in complete contradiction to the purpose and commitment of ISM to non-violent resistance.

There have been media reports trying to connect these two men to ISM. There is no connection. They never tried to work with ISM. They did not go through the ISM non-violence training. They did not travel with ISM activists to Palestine. They did not register with ISM or contact any ISM activists in the UK or in Palestine. They could have attended a memorial service for Rachel Corrie in Rafah that was open to anybody and may have encountered ISM
activists there. This memorial service was not organised by ISM, it was organised by local Palestinians as is their religious custom to mark the 40th day after a death. A few days before the memorial ISM did organise a march through Rafah to show our international presence but they were certainly not present at this march. British ISM participants in the march through Rafah, Camilla Leyland and Mark Cooper, can confirm to this.

As a policy, ISM requires two days of training for all of its
activists. This functions as a screening in addition to training in non-violent peaceful resistance and orientation to the ISM guidelines. All of our groups function by consensus. This process discourages any individuals from acting impulsively. We know our activists, and none have engaged in or have been accused of engaging in, any aggressive, confrontational, or illegal activity.

The claim that the two men involved in the Tel Aviv bombing posed as peace activists is completely spurious. Any international travellers who claim at a checkpoint or border crossing to be part of ISM or any other peace activist group would immediately be detained or turned back by Israeli soldiers. Posing as peace activists has never been a successful means to entering the Occupied Territories and we have long experience of this.

General Yaalon of the Israeli Army gave an order on the eve of the
Jewish festival of Passover to remove ISM from the West Bank and Gaza. This order long preceded the bombing in Tel Aviv. The Israeli army wants us to leave because we are providing witness to the atrocities committed by the Israeli army. Israel and the United States have gone to great Lengths to ensure that no International Observers would be sent to Palestine by The United Nations or any other objective International Organization. ISM activists have
come to provide witness to the cruelty, the brutality and the truth about this occupation and its' purpose.

ISM UK activists:
Mortaza Sahibzada (07946 351319), John Heaney, Camilla Leyland (07866
466357,  camilla@ism-london.org), Chris Dunham (07904 267306), Josie
Sandercock (07817 554814), Atif Choudhury, Mark Cooper (07740 338006,
 mark@ism-london.org)
Email:  contact@ism-london.org Web: WWW.ISM-LONDON.ORG