They Shoot Activists, Don't They?

In the past month, three international peace activists have been wounded or killed by the Israeli Army. They were all affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, a loose network of international activists who are trained in and dedicated to non-violent tactics to defend Palestinian civilians from Israeli aggression.

They were wounded while acting as "human shields" -- essentially putting their bodies between Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) or armed settlers and unarmed Palestinians, or physically blocking bulldozers bent on destroying water wells, olive groves, and the homes of family members of suicide bombers.

Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old from Olympia, Wash., was crushed to death on Mar. 16 while trying to block an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian physician's house where she had been staying. Brian Avery, a 24-year-old from New Mexico, was shot in the face by an Israeli tank in Jenin on Apr. 5 as he and another ISM volunteer were investigating the sound of gunfire near a refugee camp. He survived, but the left side of his face has essentially been blown away. Then on Apr. 10, 21-year-old Thomas "Tab" Hurndall of London, was shot in the head in Rafah as he escorted a Palestinian child across a road under a hail of Israeli gunfire. Hurndall was declared brain-dead by hospital officials later that day. As of this writing, he is still on life-support.

Activists, international observers, and the families of the victims are asking whether the Israeli Army is intentionally targeting members of a group that has foiled and embarrassed the IDF in the past.

"These are clearly not accidents," said Nils, an ISM volunteer in Israel who asked that his last name not be used out of fear of reprisal. Some, like Nils, are suspicious of the circumstances surrounding each of the three cases. Hurndall was shot in the head. Avery had his hands raised above his head to indicate he was unarmed when he was shot. Corrie made eye contact with the driver and was shouting through a bullhorn, and yet the driver not only crushed her under the bulldozer's blade, but actually reversed back over her after the initial collision. (The official report by the IDF refutes that version and says Corrie was not visible to the driver, and was struck by a piece of concrete moved by the machine, not the machine itself.)

The Israeli army has cleared the bulldozer driver of wrongdoing in Corrie's death and pinned the blame instead on Corrie, who it said was engaged in "illegal, irresponsible, and dangerous" behavior. Corrie's parents have asked the State Department to investigate further. Hurndall's father has traveled to Israel to demand a full investigation of his son's shooting, and plans to pressure the British embassy to open an investigation.

Revenge or Tragic Coincidence?

Whether these incidents really are about a vendetta, the ISM -- a rag-tag group of college-age idealists -- has succeeded in getting under Israel's skin. Last summer, ISM volunteers from Europe, Israel, and America sneaked past an Israeli roadblock into Yasser Arafat's compound and the Church of the Nativity as Israeli tanks surrounded both in an extremely tense stand-off. Inside were both Palestinian civilians seeking safe haven and armed radicals holed up against the IDF.

Before the ISM arrived, the IDF had repeatedly shelled Arafat's compound, killing three Palestinian civilians inside, and tensions at the church were reaching a breaking point. Upon their arrival, ISM co-founder and Israeli Jew Neta Golan informed the Israeli government of the presence of international observers inside the compound. If the IDF shelled the complex or the church, it would risk killing unarmed Jews, Americans, and Europeans, inviting international rebuke and outrage. The shelling ended. A situation that not a few observers expected to end violently was resolved through negotiation.