A NonViolent Movement For Freedom in Palestine is Growing, And it Needs our Help

Still segregation in 2013

The video of 5-year-old Khaled screaming out for his father as the Israeli military dragged the older man off is hard to watch. This is daily life for Palestinians living in the segregated, military-controlled West Bank. But a nonviolent movement for freedom is growing. And it needs our help.Pledge now to get them lawyers, cameras, training, and campaigners to take this local resistance movement global:

It was the hottest week of the year. All Fadel Jaber wanted was some water for his family. But Fadel lives in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli government has redirected water pipes to provide swimming pools for Jewish settlers and empty faucets for Palestinians like Fadel.

When the Israeli forces dragged Fadel off for taking water, his heartbroken five-year-old son Khaled could be heard screaming “baba, baba!” as his dad was torn away. This is daily life for Palestinians living under the brutal fist of martial law where their land and water has been stolen by settlers and they have no basic civil rights. But after years of violence and hopelessness, a movement is growing in Palestine -- a nonviolent resistance seeking the same thing that all Israelis already have: freedom, dignity and a state of their own.

For years, the media has focused on Palestinian militants, and to this day, extremists on both sides are pushing peace further out of reach. But what’s lost in all that vitriol are the loving families like Fadel’s that just want a normal life. Now, those families are stepping forward, leading peaceful marches, organizing sit-ins, and working with Israeli activists to seek justice and freedom. In response, the Israeli military has thrown them in jail, beaten up organisers, and ripped children from their beds.

Days ago, I went to the West Bank to meet with these brave, peaceful people. When I proposed that our community could come to their aid, their eyes lit up. They need funds for lawyers when friends and family are jailed on spurious charges, cameras to document abuses, training in media skills and nonviolent tactics, and campaigners to take this local protest global. These families are the real hope. Let’s each pledge to boost the peaceful movement over the extremist ones and give Khaled a future worthy of his father’s dreams:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/palestines_nonviolent_hope_slt/?bKwnHdb&v=27649

This conflict has gone on for too long and its resolution has been controlled for too long by extremists on both sides. But today, there are a few things most people agree on: first, both the Jewish people and the Palestinians should each be entitled to a state; and second, the treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories violates every sense of justice we have, from international law to national law to basic common sense. Even hard-line retired Israeli military leaders are now saying this! 

But the current Israeli government is only making things worse. While they pay lip service to peace talks and a two-state solution, they expand more settlements into the West Bank, making a two-state solution permanently impossible. And the Israeli military subjects Palestinians in the occupied territories to a whole different set of laws than the Jewish settlers who have occupied those lands, even throwing children into prison for months at a time. 

The best hope for ending this injustice and finally reaching peace is this peaceful resistance movement.Here are a few of the ways we can support them:

• Support life-saving legal aid to help nonviolent leaders defend themselves from trumped up charges and kangaroo military courts;
• Bring in civil disobedience experts from other movements to share strategies and tactics with communities across the West Bank;
• Provide media equipment and trainings to leaders so they can both document abuses and get the word out to the world about this hopeful, inspiring movement;
• Hire top-notch campaigners on the ground to provide ongoing support to this movement, scale actions across the West Bank, and engage our global community to take this peaceful resistance from local to global;
• Livestream their peaceful actions on our site and organise a global day of action across the world.

In our history we have seen how peaceful movements have freed peoples across the world -- Gandhi’s movement in India, Dr. King's movement in the US, and Mandela’s movement in South Africa. We know that it can work, and indeed in this case it’s our only hope. Let’s give this inspiring movement the global solidarity it needs to succeed. Pledge now and let’s help change history:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/palestines_nonviolent_hope_slt/?bKwnHdb&v=27649

The Avaaz community has been unwavering in its support for freedom, justice and conflict resolution across the world. Today, one of the most virulent bastions of injustice on the planet is the Israeli government’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. But even there, hope springs. And together, we can be a part of the generation that brings peace to two peoples, betrayed so often by their governments and others, both of whom so desperately need it. Let’s show what our community can do.

With hope and determination,

Alice and the rest of the Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION 

Video / Palestinian boy upset by father's arrest garners international media attention (Haaretz)
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/video-palestinian-boy-upset-by-father-s-arrest-garners-international-media-attention-1.306155 

When Montgomery comes to Nabi Saleh (Foreign Policy)
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/04/26/when_montgomery_comes_to_nabi_saleh 

The Rise of Palestinian Non-Violence: A Conversation with Mustafa Barghouti (Daily Beast)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/07/the-rise-of-palestinian-non-violent-resistance-a-conversation-with-mustafa-barghouti.html 

Israel in Peril (New York Review of Books)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/07/israel-in-peril/ 

'Drip, Jordan': Water supply as a focal point of occupation (Harper’s Magazine)
http://harpers.org/archive/2011/12/drip-jordan/ 

Is this where the third intifada will start? (New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/magazine/is-this-where-the-third-intifada-will-start.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all&_r=0 

For West Bank protesters, legal knowledge is power (+972 Magazine)
http://972mag.com/for-west-bank-protesters-legal-knowledge-is-power/71412/ 

The West Bank’s 2012: The Year of the Israeli Settlement (TIME)
http://world.time.com/2012/12/31/the-west-banks-2012-the-year-of-the-israeli-settlement/