If they think these folks will give up easy they have another thing coming.

Ceri.

Letters

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Bombers didn't use us

Wednesday May 7, 2003
The Guardian

As a member of the International Solidarity Movement travelling on a British passport, I am appalled at reports that explicitly state that the two British men involved in the suicide attack in Tel Aviv were "posing" as peace activists, and had some involvement with the ISM in Gaza (Bombers posed as peace activists, May 2).
No one would stand a chance of passing through immigration at Tel Aviv airport or at the land borders if they identified themselves as "peace activists". Every genuine activist who comes to Palestine to work with the ISM must lie through their teeth to immigration officials to stand any hope of gaining an entry visa. If we were to admit honestly any sympathy with the Palestinian struggle against occupation, or declare our intentions to work with human rights bodies, we would be forced on a plane back home. Dozens of activists have had this experience of being effectively deported before getting through the airport. Moreover, when passing through any of the hundreds of "checkpoints" in the occupied territories, ISM activists would rarely reveal the true reason for their presence in the region, for fear of not being allowed to pass.

Whatever these men claimed to be doing in Gaza, I can guarantee that they did not use our movement to legitimise themselves in the eyes of the Israeli authorities. They did not join, receive training from, nor take part in any ISM action. ISM is committed to non-violent direct action, and we work in carefully designed "affinity" groups to avoid infiltration by those who wish to corrupt this. Anyone can attend a public memorial service. Are we to be held accountable for every person we meet for 15 minutes?
Charlotte Carson
Tulkarem, West Bank

"I am appalled at reports that explicitly state that the two British men ... had some involvement with the ISM in Gaza"

Why? They drank tea with the ISM, and the ISM gave them practical and logistical support.

"Every genuine activist who comes to Palestine to work with the ISM must lie through their teeth to immigration officials to stand any hope of gaining an entry visa."

Every ISM terrorist in Israel entered illegally? Is Glenn Miller still missing? Is that bear crap in those woods? It's about time, for the sake of peace and the Palestinian people, that the ISM hate mongers were treated for what they are; military targets. No more sympathy for a spoilt rich kid trustafarian terrorist in a coma. Live by the sword...

"They did not join, receive training from, nor take part in any ISM action."

True... but the ISM did join and take part in their terrorist activities. The ISM have and will continue to destroy all hopes of peace for the Palestinian people by their facilitation and encouragement of hatred and murder.

"Why? They drank tea with the ISM, and the ISM gave them practical and logistical support."

They turned up for a public celebration of Rachel's life. Do you normally ask people who turn up at public events if they intend to become the first Briton's to become suicide bombers? There is no eveidence that ISM offered practical and logistical support. Reason for that? It didn't happen!

"Every ISM terrorist in Israel entered illegally?"

Ah, terrorists by association (that association being the lies of the IOF!) - and there was me thinking that an ANTI-FASCIST might have some problems with one nation exercising complete control over the borders of another. Of course, settlers enter Palestine illegally every day. I'm sure anti-fascists would condemn an occupation force that keeps out Palestine's friends but lets in, and protects illegal settlers. No?

" It's about time, for the sake of peace and the Palestinian people, that the ISM hate mongers were treated for what they are; military targets."

That's a really advanced piece of anti-fascism, no? No trials or anything like that, just a right to shoot! And look having called us terrorists, now we're hate mongers as well. Yet he's the one calling for illegal murders.

Ho hum!

"No more sympathy for a spoilt rich kid trustafarian terrorist in a coma. Live by the sword."

Tacky! And, needless to say, no swords!

"True... but the ISM did join and take part in their terrorist activities."

No proof, is there? Good reason, didn't happen! Big network of informers in the Occupied Territories too.

"The ISM have and will continue to destroy all hopes of peace for the Palestinian people by their facilitation and encouragement of hatred and murder"

Yeah, advocating non-violent resistance is just the same as facilitating and encouraging hatred and murder, isn't it? Funny how your post oozes hatred and calls for murder isn't it? - ANTI-FASCIST?

it's pretty obvious that right about now the level of pro Israeli propaganda is full bore pedal to the floor.

Apart from the standard anti semitic tripe/jewish conspiracy
theories abound/ everything is blamed on the jews / we are the eternal victims and anyone who is opposed to us is extreme right wing Dobermann pincer raving nazi lunatix
you also get twats like "Anti fascist" some kind of remixer of beton shite .... at a time when it would be better to stay mum and wait for the storm to pass the more these dicks say the better,apart from their racist views they are in a class of their own when it comes to being economical with the truth ...

yeah go for it lets here it for the F16's against stone throwing school kids brigade of the seventh cavalry ...
don't shoot till you can see the red and white cross on the ambulances ...

"stone throwing school kids brigade of the seventh cavalry"

Stone throwing school kids sent out as cannon fodder while Palestinian militants with their Syrian supplied surface to air missiles, rocket propelled grenade launchers, anti-tank mines and assault rifles mow down Israelis and Palestinians indiscriminately, laughing as they shoot British journalists in the back.

Syrian supplied "surface to air missiles, rocket propelled grenade launchers, anti-tank mines and assault rifles"?

Where do you get the idea that they have SAMs and anti-tank mines? If they really had SAMs, the Apache helicopters couldn't operate with impunity, and even the odd F-16 might be lost.

The very few tanks that have been sorted out have been by improvised explosive devices - if there was evidence of military anti-tank mines being used, it would have been all over the news.

Sure, they might have a few RPGs and they do have assault rifles.

But they are fighting an illegal occupation, and so far as I know it is still legitimate to use such weapons against an occupying force, however sick and illegitimate the targeting of Israelis inside Israel by suicide bombers may be.

As to alleging that the British reporter was shot in the back by Palestinians, perhaps you could supply some evidence other than the usual IDF claims of 'crossfire'.

The Israelis shouldn't be in the West Bank and Gaza - full stop. As you say in an earlier post that the ISM shouldn't go to a war zone and expect not to be shot at, I reply: any form of resistance directed against the IDF and the settlers is appropriate - ISM chooses nonviolent protest, other groups choose to attack the IDF and settlers, others illegitimately target civilians inside Israel.

It is only the last of the three forms that I can see any problem with.

I wish the Palestinians did have some decent ASMs and anti-tank weapons - the cost to Israel of keeping the territories might then become too high, while the desperation that leads to suicide bombing might just be lessened by an effective armed resistance.

What I truly enjoy about the pro-Israeli trolls - like the IDF thug wannabe on this thread posing as an 'anti-fascist' - is their propensity for popping off rants without doing the slightest bit of research or fact checking.

Take for example,'anti-fascist's' allegation that the UK reporter James Miller was shot in the back by the Palestinians, a ludicrous assertion which was decisvely refuted by of course was refuted by none other than the Israel's Institute for Forensic Science at Abu-Kabir, where Miller's autopsy was completed. Miller was shot in the front.

'anti-fascist': A classic case of foot in mouth disease.

Read the Guardian story below.

Top film-maker was shot from the front

Jason Deans
Friday May 9, 2003
Guardian, UK

The independent TV production company James Miller was working for when he was killed in Israel last week has welcomed the results of an autopsy that concluded the award-winning film-maker was shot from the front.
Frostbite said the findings supported its belief that Miller, who was fatally wounded while filming in the Gaza strip on May 2, was killed by a bullet fired from an Israeli armoured personnel carrier.

Miller, a director and cameraman, and Channel 4 reporter Saira Shah were filming a house being demolished by the Israeli army when he was killed.

There have been conflicting reports about the circumstances surrounding Miller's death, with the Israeli army claiming he was caught in crossfire between soldiers and Palestinians.

Footage filmed by peace activists from the International Solidarity Movement showed Miller was wearing a bulletproof vest, holding a white flag and was visible under a light.

"We are calling for a rigorous and open inquiry by the Israeli authorities into James's death; an inquiry headed by a judge and with its detailed conclusions made public," Frostbite said.

"James could be the eighth journalist killed by the Israeli defence force in the last two years and, for the sake of his colleagues and journalists worldwide, it is vital his death is properly investigated."

The Foreign Office has supported calls for an official enquiry into Miller's death.

Miller and Shah are best known for Beneath the Veil, a Channel 4 documentary about women living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, which won a prestigious Royal Television Society award last year.

The pair, who were making a film with Frostbite for US channel HBO, were in one of the most dangerous parts of the occupied territories when Miller was killed.

The autopsy was carried out by Israel's national forensic institute.