Katherine Fuchs: Ending Israeli Occupation

By Adam Waxman, August 26, 2009

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The national organizer for the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation talks motivation and divestment strategies.

WireTap: Tell me a little bit about the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. How did you come to be passionate about this issue?

Katherine Fuchs: The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a national coalition of over 300 groups working for equal rights for all by persuading Americans to take responsibility for their role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We do this through public education and speaking tours, by lobbying Congress to end military aid to Israel, and by organizing boycott and divestment campaigns targeting corporations profiting from human rights violations in the region.

I was first introduced to this issue, and the U.S. Campaign's work, as a college student interning at Peace Action Wisconsin. In 2003 many of my notions about the conflict were challenged. My roommate that year, who came from Gaza City, both challenged and reinforced many of my ideas about Palestinians and life under occupation.

The event [that had the] most impact happened just a few weeks ago, when I went on an Interfaith Peace-Builders delegation to Israel/Palestine. Actually meeting Palestinians and Israelis struggling for civil existence in the midst of a human-induced humanitarian disaster renewed my dedication to this work and blew all of my intellectual understanding out of the water.

Tell me more about your trip. There is much debate about whether or not programs like Seeds of Peace are an effective way of bringing together young Palestinians and Israelis. Did you have a chance to interact with any young people from Israel or Palestine on your trip?

Our delegation primarily met with representatives from organizations working for peace, so we didn't meet with many young people. We did meet with students from Bir Zeit and Hebrew universities, although the students from Bir Zeit were all in PhD programs.

We also met with Idan Halili, a young Israeli woman who has refused to serve in the Israeli military. Idan is a member of the peace group New Profile, and she told us all the reasons that she refused to allow her body to become an instrument of occupation and about what a force the military is in the lives of Israeli youth. Idan was very inspiring, reminding me of all of the work that I've done in the U.S. to educate young people about the non-military options for their future.

U.S. Campaign advocates a complete cut-off of military aid to Israel until Israel ceases the occupation of Palestinian lands; suffice to say, this ain't a particularly popular position with members of the United States Congress. How much direct legislative work do you do?

Sometimes, more often than you might expect, the congressional staffer who I'm meeting with is very sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians and knowledgeable about the international and U.S. laws that Israel is violating. These can be the most depressing meetings.

When I meet with a sympathetic staffer or member of Congress, they often want to help and find ways of doing so short of cutting military aid because they are afraid that they would catch hell from their constituents. It's much more depressing to hear this come from the mouth of someone who clearly wants to do more than it is to be shut out by someone whose last campaign was funded by the Israel lobby and whose mind was made up before I stepped into their office.

Every time I hear that the constituents back home wouldn't stand for sanctioning Israel's bad behavior I am motivated to activate our networks in that district to show the member of Congress that their constituents really do believe in standing up for human rights law.

You work closely with several hundred member organizations, including many student-based groups on college campuses across the country. What types of strategies do your affiliates follow to have an impact on this national issue?

There are three basic strategies that we support our member groups in. These strategies are public education, lobbying, and boycott and divestment.

As far as public education, we organized a national anti-apartheid speaking tour last November. We also provide fact-sheets and A/V resources to our member groups doing public education and sponsor an annual grassroots training institute to educate our supporters on campaigning and other skills to help them reach out to their own communities.

We've already touched on the Congressional campaign to cut military aid to Israel. The biggest part of our military aid campaign is actually activating our supporters across the country to educate their own communities and demand local attention from their members of Congress.

The last strategy that we focus on is boycott and divestment. We adopted this strategy after the 2005 Palestinian Unified Call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). The Palestinian Unified call was inspired by the international BDS campaigns during the 1970s and '80s that functioned in solidarity with anti-apartheid activists in South Africa.

Adam Waxman is a Publishing Fellow at The American Prospect in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in print and online, including AlterNet and The Nation online. Contact him at adam DOT waxman AT gmail.com.