I met non-violent resistance activist Issa Amro in Hebron in 2006 and we worked together there for three years. He taught me how to stand up to soldiers, settlers and police and to not let them intimidate me. Now he is on trial over a list of laughable charges and is facing a possible lengthy prison sentence. When no-nothing TV pundits recycle the cliché phrase “where are the Palestinian Gandhis?” the answer is “in jail or on trial.”
Issa is currently leading the Youth Against the Settlements in Hebron. One of their recent campaigns is to combat the attempted erasure of the Palestinian nature of the city. View their video about it here.
The world will realize one day that allowing non-violent peace activists to be arrested without cause is not only immoral, but a stain on history.
“where are the Palestinian Gandhis?”
Where is the U.S. Gandhi? The first, middle, and last option for the U.S. government is violence. The U.S. is about as qualified to lecture other countries about Gandhi as it is about human rights.