Israeli Security Shifts Focus from Armed Palestinian Resistance to Suppressing Non-Violent Activists

Entering his home in the West Bank village of Bi'lin ­for the first time in 16 months, after being released from an Israeli military prison, Palestinian popular struggle leader Abdullah Abu Rahmah was enthusiastically welcomed as a hero by family, villagers and supporters.

In a house now draped in banners featuring his image alongside that of Yasser Arafat and jailed Second Intifada resistance leader, Marwan Baraghouti, Abu Rahmah expressed mixed emotions about returning from prison into regular life under occupation.

“I'm very happy to be with my family and friends but at the same time I'm very sad about the people still in jail, all the people denied their friends and family. This makes me very angry and all Palestinians must be released," he said between embraces.

It was the first public appearance for the leading figure of the village's six-year struggle since he appeared on a cold January morning in a packed military courtroom to hear that his sentence had been extended, after more than a year in prison.

Sentenced in December 2010 to 12 months in prison for his role in organizing demonstrations against Israel's wall and land annexation in his West Bank border village, Abu Rahmah's imprisonment was extended by four months on appeal by the military prosecution. European diplomats present at the hearing responded by issuing statements calling him a prisoner of conscience and condemning his jailing.

Abu Rahmah's completed incarceration is the most high-profile example of what appears to be a shift in Israel's security priorities -- from targeting the armed Palestinian resistance to primarily focusing on Palestinian and Israeli activists involved in popular protest and building international pressure abroad. It was a point made clear during the verdict on the prosecution's appeal. When I approached the Palestinian grassroots activist in the prisoner's box for comment before the proceedings began, the military prison security became visibly nervous, intervening immediately and silencing Abu Rahmah before he could get a sentence out.

The first signs of this new focus could be seen as early as 2007 when Shin Bet head, Yuval Diskin, sent a letter to organizations that defend the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel. In the letter, Diskin stated that the intent of Israel's General Security Services was to "thwart the subversive activity of entities seeking to harm the character of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, even if their activity is conducted through democratic means."

The target of this rhetoric was then expanded in December 2010 when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would “use all the resources at its disposal" to “delegitimize the delegitimizers." The statement was directed at Palestinian and Israeli activists bringing international attention to Israeli abuses of Palestinians, particularly the growing international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The BDS movement seeks to help achieve equal rights for Palestinians, such as the right to self determination and the right of return for refugees, through building international pressure on Israel and its supporters.

"With BDS so widely spread and rooted globally, non-violent resistance leaders are seen by Israel as even more dangerous, as their struggle is far more likely today to inspire and mobilize even more boycotts against Israel," says Omar Barghouti, a founding member of the Palestinian Boycott National Committee (BNC), about Abu Rahmah.

Meeting in Ramallah, he said that attempts to silence West Bank popular struggle leaders is in part a product of boycotts becoming a tool of international support for Palestinians' popular struggles, rather than a direct result of their leaders endorsing BDS.