Volume [4]
No. [2]
July 2007

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ISM Turns Six, NorCal ISM Five

By Paul Larudee, June 2007
Six years may not seem very old, but given the threats to ISM, many of us are gratified that it remains an effective movement. If anything, the need for nonviolent resistance and solidarity with Palestinians has increased, and volunteers andsupporters continue to step forward.

In the past year, ISM-Palestine has reformed itself with a steering committee, which has vastly improved our decision-making ability, previously hampered by the difficulty of convening the membership across the more than 500 barriers and closures in the West Bank. We remain committed to consensus procedure and to the leadership and guidance of local Palestinian community organizers, but the new com-mittee allows us to respond more effectively.

Today, ISM volunteers participate in the Tel Rumeida Project in Hebron, where they accompany Palestinian children and document the abuses of Israeli settlers and soldiers. They also stay with Palestinian farmers in the south Hebron hills, to prevent the destruction of homes, rebuild the ones that are destroyed, and resist the confiscation of Palestinian land. In addition, we continue our Palestine Freedom Summer and Olive Harvest campaigns to resist the Annexation Wall that steals ever more Palestinian land, and the denial of one of the most precious agricultural traditions remaining in the Palestinian culture and economy.


ISM-Palestine is supported by an internationalnetwork of support groups, of which NorCal ISM in the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most active. We have traditionally provided 15-20 % of the ISM-Palestine budget through our fundraising, which we combine with educational and recruitment activities. Our popular olive oil bottling parties are typical in this respect. They bring the community together, generate markets for the high quality oil still produced by Palestinian farmers, raise funds for ISM, and spread the word through informative bottle labels. In addition we sponsor speakers, both independently and through ISM-USA, the coalition of US support groups.


There are, however, many projects that we are unable to do for lack of volunteers, both in Palestine and locally. We are therefore always eager to add newcomers who are ready to offer their time and skills. Will you be next?

A womens' demonstration against the separation wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in, 2006

Paul Larudee first went to Palestine in 1965 and began volunteering with the ISM in March, 2002.