International Solidarity Movement volunteer Pat O’Connor has been held for over two weeks in Israeli prison in awaiting deportation. O’Connor was denied entry in 2003, and since gained entry on another passport. Israel is expelling him because he is an exceptionally valuable resource for non-violent activists in Palestine, with his fluent Arabic, and years of work as a humantatian aid worker in Africa and Gaza. Here he notes that while Israel insists Palestinians stop the violence against Israel, it greets legitmate Palestinian non-violent protest with tear gas, bullets, and stun grenades. This is about Israel demanding nothing less than total submission from the Palestinian people. He writes the following Feb. 14 in Ha’aretz while still in Israel’s Maasiyahu Prison in Ramle.
