I’ve been watching with fascination and delight the “Welcome to Palestine” action and the reaction by the Israeli government, security apparatus, and press. Why delight? Because I am one of those people who have arrived and departed Ben Gurion Airport—eight times so far—and understand the harassment one can face if “confessing” to be en route to or from occupied Palestine. Some of my most shameful moments as an educator, workshop facilitator, and writer/blogger have taken place at Ben Gurion Airport.
“What is your purpose in Israel?” the passport control agent asks. “To visit friends in Israel,” or, “For tourism in Tel Aviv,” or, “To attend a conference in Israel.” Upon departing, I lied as well, as many of us who stand in solidarity with Palestinian nonviolent activists often do. The lies expedite our exit, protect our friends and colleagues, and safeguard the truth (through photos, videos, interviews, and stories) that we intend to release once we’re home.
The “Welcome to Palestine” campaign and conference confronts a deception. It exposes the control that Israel has had over our right to freedom of assembly and association, and to Palestinians’ right to those basic universal human rights. More importantly, it directly challenges the status quo, particularly the Israeli travel tradition and policy imposed on activists, educators, filmmakers, and citizen journalists for too long. The campaign is about truth, as the organizers and participants state in one of their objectives: “refuse to lie about the reason we have come or to sign illegal commitments not to enter the Palestinian territories. We will not hide the fact that we have come to visit our Palestinian friends.”
From a theoretic and strategic perspective, the action undertaken by those foreign activists is selective resistance, highlighting a specific, limited issue or grievance that symbolizes general oppression. This nonviolent tactic (arriving at the airport and being forthcoming with one’s intention to visit Palestine) is a form of noncooperation. Although international solidarity activists have participated in campaigns and nonviolent actions for years in occupied Palestine, what we witnessed this weekend is a unique action that openly defies a policy directly targeting those of us who have supported Palestinians for years, but who could not be truthful even though we broke no laws.
“Welcome to Palestine” has incrementally raised the cost of a repressive policy. But for Israel the cost is more than just financial. Not only was the government forced to mobilize hundreds of additional security forces at the airport, it also had to work overtime on a public relations campaign, negotiate, coax, and perhaps coerce particular international airlines, and then manage its domestic press as well as international media coverage. The noncooperation campaign cost the opponent time, money, resources, reputation, and legitimacy. Upon arresting the activists detained at the airport, the Israeli government will also bear diplomatic pressure. It will have to manage and repair its self-image, as independent journalists on the scene portray bullies or a mobocracy. This is a very different picture than the state’s traditional portrayal of its citizens as victims. That narrative is now being turned inside out.
One may ask: why make it so difficult for everyone to enter Palestine, particularly when it’s common knowledge that foreigners from all over the world have been supporting Palestinian nonviolent action for years, even decades? The truth is that nonviolent action presents a real threat. Nonviolent campaigns fly in the face of the terrorist rhetoric. Also, international solidarity activists are increasingly serving as witnesses to the brutality Palestinian nonviolent activists face and this is challenging Israel’s assertion that it is defending itself from terrorist attacks. The growing contingent of Israeli activists participating in West Bank nonviolent actions is creating an added internal dilemma for Israeli authorities and security forces.
One striking irony in Israel’s policy of non-visitation to occupied Palestine is a 1936 poster, designed by Jewish artist Franz Kraus. The poster was published by the Tourist Association of Palestine, a Zionist development agency that encouraged Jews from around the world to participate in “nation-building” in the early days of the Zionist movement. The poster is now a symbol of defiance for Palestinians and their international supporters.
My most recent visit to Palestine was a year ago. I was in Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Budrus to conduct nonviolent education and visit with Palestinian women in resistance. At the conclusion of my trip, an Israeli friend drove me to Ben Gurion Airport. I was rehearsing my exit interview, and I was nervous—had I sufficiently hid and renamed my photos and video footage on my laptop? Was any written material or notes in my carry-on luggage? Was my fictitious story of where I had been believable? My Israeli friend gently said to me, “What you have done here these past weeks is not illegal, you have done nothing wrong, remember that.”
There will no doubt be other such campaigns, probably larger and more coordinated than this one. Yet “Welcome to Palestine” has paved the way for hundreds of us to openly challenge a policy of deceit. It has cracked a status quo and offered a direct challenge, and similar actions will need to be designed by many more people in a united, strategic fashion. Ben Gurion security personnel would finally be liberated to focus on violent threats and contraband rather than on nonviolent educators and supporters. May we persist and declare the truth upon entry: “I’m here to visit Palestine.”
“Welcome to Palestine” has paved the way for hundreds of us to openly challenge a policy of deceit.
Yes, well done. And you are not alone. The link below is to a group
of artists currently at work in Gaza.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150682921080212.696845.835040211&l=6b9be8edf7
Vanessa, thanks for this article. I appreciate you sharing your personal dilemma of nonviolence in supporting Palestinians, yet participating in deceit. Not an easy choice and I didn’t realise this current action was specifically targeted at this issue. I’m curious how the Franz Kraus poster come to be claimed as a symbol of defiance?
According to the article Vanessa linked to:
Bravo Vanessa for this great piece and your brilliant analysis of this example of noncooperation – refusing to comply with a logic of lies and deceit. No doubt that “Welcome to Palestine” is one of those turning-point in the international nonviolent movement in support of Palestine, as it will considerably boost the efforts of the following waves of international activism. And thank you for sharing your own experience, shared by thousands of people at Ben Gourion airport including myself – and I can testify from my own experience that even the alibi of being Jewish doesn’t necessarily shelter you any longer from being rudely treated at the passport control of the Israeli fortress.
It is very interesting to hear your story, and also to read the one by Larry Derfner (which I found through the mobocracy link). I am 24 years old, born and raised in the US. I have traveled extensively, and was lucky to have the opportunity to visit both Palestine and Israel after I graduated from Muhlenberg College ( a predominately Jewish college in Pennsylvania). I will never forget January 21, 2009. I was listening to Amy Goodman’s Democracynow.org and heard a horrifying story of Amer Shurrab, a Palestinian from Khan Yunis and a graduate of Middlebury College. His father and two brothers were leaving their village when their vehicle came under Israeli fire. His brother Kassab died immediately from bullet wounds, while his younger brother Ibrahim survived. It wasnt for another twenty hours that Israeli troops allowed an ambulance to see him, but it was too late, he was dead. His father had witnessed the death of two sons, including the drawn out suffering of his youngest. Hours later I was on campus in the Union where everybody hangs out. I had pushed Amer Shurrab’s story to the back of my mind, as we do to move on from any sad story. I was pumped to see a chocolate fondue fountain, something I had always seen in movies, but never tasted in person. It looked like everybody was going at it, since it was given out free by Hilel. Along with the free pretzels, strawberries, and chocolate Hilel was handing out pamphlets boasting Israeli democracy because of gay rights. At the time I had very little knowledge about anything going on in Israel and Palestine besides the major fighting going on in Gaza while I was in high school, and stories from my dad who had lived on kibbutz in the 70’s but ventured to Palestine to get the other side of the stories he was hearing on the Isreali side. I wondered if these students had any idea about Amer Shurrab’s story, or any Palestinian story at all. I wondered if they would care or view it as justified action by Israel. So I decided to a fellow classmate who was on the board of Hilel about her opinion of this. I was’nt sure why she immediately combative, but she told me send questions and concerns to the president of Hilel. I don’t think that I ever heard back from him, but it wasnt until 2 years later that I was able to see the very visible oppression of Israeli soldiers against Palestinians under the false banner of “security” Does this seem familiar to me? Yes, I saw a banner today that had an America flag and underneath it it said “NO APOLOGIES” We are taught to believe in the system, that it works, and that anything our politicians do, whether it is wage war, or deem people “terrorists” is correct because it is to safeguard our people, our country. Or perhaps this the false sense of security, comfort, money, and power? I hope that everybody can get a chance to ‘Visit Palestine’ but not in the meaning of Zionist Franz Kraus poster that was once an encouragement for Jews from around the world to participate in “nation-building” in the early days of the Zionist movement but as the symbol of defiance for Palestinians and those who believe in them against the oppressive policies of Israel that are in place to maintain power and supremacy over all.
Great news – an Israeli Distrcit Court has upheld an appeal by some of the ‘flytilla’ activists and prevented their deportation. See http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/hale-caught-on-bethlehem-trek-20110713-1he1q.html fonr one Australian media article about this.