Jon sent a link to an article about International Solidarity Movement volunteers making the situation more dangerous for the people they claim to be helping:
The anarchists, many of whom are members of the International Solidarity Movement, flock to flashpoints throughout Judea and Samaria, ostensibly to help PA Arabs contend with IDF closures and protect them from harassment. In actuality, many of the volunteers seek confrontations with IDF soldiers and local Jewish residents, taking advantage of their Western passports to cause havoc — knowing that, at worst, they will be deported, not jailed.
The local Arabs in the Hevron region whom the activists claim to be helping are now complaining that the American and European students behave in a provocative and offensive manner in Hevron's public areas. The Arabs say the activists disrespect the moral norms and standards of the local population.
Several local Arab residents told the Kol Ha'Ir newspaper that the activists have been exposing the local youths to drug use and sexual promiscuity.
You'd think, if this situation is common, that the Israeli government would change their laws to allow foreign agents provocateur to be treated in the same way as anyone else: deportation is clearly not much of a deterrent.After all, how much worse could the press coverage be for anything that reflects badly upon the Israeli government in the western press?
Posted by Nicholas at November 25, 2005 10:54 AM
Visitors since 17 August, 2004