Dear MRSCP Members and Friends,
I'm forwarding a request from Madison resident Kelly Bornshlegel, currently in Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). She's asking for some donations to help cover her expenses. Kelly has provided us with many "on the ground" reports and I urge you to consider her request.
Barb O.
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 04:36:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kelly Bornshlegel
Subject: Request From KellyFriends,
As most of you have been receiving my email updates, you know that I have been working in Occupied Palestine for over two months now, and intend to stay for at least another six. For now, I have been working primarily with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in Nablus. We are a Palestinian-lead movement that works to support Palestinians in their struggle for nonviolent resistance (www.palsolidarity.org).
The 180,000 people living in Nablus have been targeted heavily by the Israeli military over the past three years, especially since the April 2002 reinvasions. Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) checkpoints, settlement roads and patrols around the city have placed a stranglehold on life in Nablus and the surrounding villages. If they are lucky, subservient and beg, Palestinians are sometimes permitted to access work, hospital, school or visit family. Meanwhile, regular military operations within Nablus have resulted in demolished homes, looted stores, and children shot for throwing stones. Human rights violations and breaches of international law are the norm.
The past two weeks have been the most difficult in my time here, and I have had little time to write. This is because there has been an intense military presence in the Old City, the heart of Nablus. Soldiers have occupied homes, locking large families into single rooms for long periods. Human shields, frequently handcuffed teenagers, are forced to enter homes first. 24 hour curfew has prevented families from buying bread or milk. Working with other ISMers and local medical relief teams, I have broken the curfew to bring supplies and medicine to families, negotiated for the release of human shields, placed myself in front of soldiers' guns aimed at children, accompanied sick women to hospital, and blocked tanks from entering further into the city.
When there is no large-scale invasion, my work is split between reactive work such as protecting homes at risk of demolition and intervening at checkpoints to limit humiliation and abuse, and proactive work supporting nonviolent resistance. Working with the community, children's organizations, and women's and political groups, I have organized roadblock removals and demonstrations to and through checkpoints involving Palestinians, internationals and Israelis in various villages around Nablus. At the moment I am helping prepare for ISM's Olive Harvest Campaign in October, aimed at protecting villagers and crops from violent settler attacks.
I am a 22-year old graduate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I am from Juneau, a small town in Wisconsin. For past four years of my life I have been fighting for peace and justice on both the local and international level; working at a domestic abuse shelter, volunteering for Amnesty International in many different capacities and taking an active role in Madison activism. I first came to Palestine to volunteer with ISM in January after studying the conflict in school and wanting to learn first-hand the situation on the ground. Like so many other friends I have met here, I was sincerely affected and moved by the Palestinians I met and worked with, and made a personal commitment to return for a longer period in the near future.
Continuing this work is very important to me at this point in my life. I am one of the few long-termers in ISM at the moment; and for our work to succeed it is vital that there are some of us here to continue our work with the Palestinians and to help prepare the campaigns. Living in Palestine is comparatively cheap, with relatively few expenses apart from taxis (the primary means of transportation) and phone cards. However, volunteers must fund themselves, as ISM does not have the capacity to support them. My funds are critically low at the moment, and I am now dependent on outside support and fundraising efforts to maintain my presence here. Your help, however small, will enable me to continue my work in Palestine.
It is difficult to ask for money, and thus I have paid for my previous trips primarily by personal funds and a human rights grant. However, being here without an income I now need to rely upon friends, family and fellow supporters of human rights and activism. My minimum budget for the next 6 months is ~$1,500. This includes the stipend we give to families who accommodate us, food, transportation and phone cards (vital for organizing and communication with other activists). Although this is my minimum budget, the more I am able to fund raise the less of a burden I will be on the Palestinians who are gracious enough to host me.
Financial support can be donated by check to:
Kelly Bornshlegel
c/o Michelle Carter
698 Foxfield Rd.
Oregon, WI 53575
Thank you in advance for your vital support. If you know anyone else who may be interested in helping me, please feel free to distribute this letter. If you have any questions or are not on my email list, email me at: kelly@riseup.net.
Salaam,
Kelly