Word: ism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...ISM and other organizations that wittingly or unwittingly aid extremist groups in Palestinian society are performing a grave disservice to the region as a whole. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be solved diplomatically; there are simply too many moral, political, and historical factors at play. ISM activists, like Rachel Corrie, idealistically believe they are helping the Palestinians, but in reality only add fuel to the fire, deepening the animosity on both sides...
Corrie went to Gaza under the auspices of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a group that, according to its Web site, is “a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles.” These “methods” usually take the form of sending American students to disrupt Israeli military activity including the demolition of Palestinian homes—some of which have been built to hide smuggling tunnels used to bring explosives for suicide bombers...
Although purportedly committed to “nonviolent” resistance, the ISM has routinely allied itself with the most extreme factions of Palestinian society. ISM members have even been accused of associating with suicide bombers, including the ones that attacked the Mike’s Place bar in Israel in 2003, killing three Israeli civilians...
Many idealistic students brought to Israel by ISM, including Rachel Corrie, could be described as naïve pawns of Palestinian extremists looking to garner sympathy from the Western media. This sentiment was probably best expressed by a Hamas activist, who said of Corrie: “Her death serves me more than it served her. Going in front of the tanks was heroic. Her death will bring more attention than the other 2,000 martyrs...
...Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki with a more secular leadership, perhaps including some elements of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party. Unsurprisngly, relations between al-Maliki and the U.S. have turned distinctly prickly. Sources tell TIME that the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the supreme religious figure in Iraqi Shi'ism, has been alarmed by these rumors and asked al-Maliki about them when the Prime Minister visited the cleric in Najaf last month...