Ryan Olander and Bridget Chappell have been speaking in cities across Europe about their experiences and observations from their time working with the ISM on the ground in Occupied Palestine and spreading the message of worldwide, popular resistance to the Israeli occupation. Now they are coming to the UK.

Whilst in Palestine they set legal precedents by arguing in the Israeli Courts whilst threatened with deportation that the policy of raiding area A (Ramallah) to arrest International activists was illegal. They have spent extensive time in Nablus and East Jerusalem, and will talk about their time there, as well as about the post-Second Intifada political & social landscape of Palestine & Israel.

All events are free entry

30 July – Swansea

7.30pm @ the Environment Centre, The Old Telephone Exchange, Pier Street, Swansea SA1 1RY. (between Morgan’s Hotel and the Evening Post)

31 July - Bristol

6-9pm @ ‘The Black Kitten’ Radical Info Shop, 38 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3HB. (Opposite Bristol Free Shop & Emporium Gallery)

2 August – London


7.30pm @ (room G3), School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

4 August - Brighton

4pm @ the Cowley Club, 12 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4JA

6 August - Oxford

7pm @ St Michael at the North Gate church, Cornmarket, Oxford OX1 3EY

9 August – Cambridge

7.30pm @ Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 1RR

ISM Websites

www.palsolidarity.org
www.ism-london.org.uk


RYAN OLANDER

Hailing from the northern wilds of the United States, Ryan Olander decided to halt his complicity in the Occupations of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. He achieved this aim through his cessation of work for money in the United States thereby freeing his labor from funding such vile acts of the country in which he was born. However, alleviating himself from complicity was not enough amidst the atrocities and human rights abuses visited upon Palestinians by Israel. He decided to use his life to physically stand with the Palestinians in their plight for liberation and justice.

In November 2009 he began working with the International Solidarity Movement. He spent last 4 weeks in Ramle Givon Detention center fighting illegal deportation, which he would win some months later. After his release from prison he was unable to return to Sheikh Jarrah (where he had been working with families struggling against illegal home evictions), so he coordinated media for ISM, attended demonstrations in the west bank, participated in direct actions against the construction of the Wall and taught English in the East Jerusalem community of Silwan. Alas, after nearly 6 months in Palestine Ryan’s process was over and he had to leave so ISM could retrieve the 10000 shekel bail that was paid in his name.

BRIDGET CHAPPELL

Spurred on by the shocking images of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, Bridget Chappell left Australia last August to join the popular struggle against the illegal occupation of Palestine. Her work as international co-ordinator and in the Nablus area of the West Bank brought her to focus on the annual olive harvest, settler and military violence, demonstrations and steadfast resistance. She was arrested by the Israeli military in an illegal night raid operation in February this year, as Israel’s crackdown on popular resistance surged. Determined to fight her deportation order, she managed to remain in Palestine a further four months before heading to Europe to continue cultivation of the new global intifada.