Resistance in the West Bank: The Popular Committees

with Mahmoud Zwahre, 20 November 2019 Dr Mahmoud Zwahre is an organiser with the popular committee of the village of Al Ma’asara in the district of Bethlehem. The popular committees are engaged in non-violent resistance to Israel's sustained policy of dispossession, violence and oppression. Their activism and empowerment work involves mobilisation, advocacy, organising demonstrations to protect villages and property under threat of demolition or confiscation, legal work to defend prisoners and property, legal training, awareness raising, and they partner with two universities, encouraging study of Israeli and International Law at diploma and Masters level. The popular committees can comprise farmers, activists, students, local politicians, men and women, many of whom face regular harassment, arrest and brutal treatment at the hands of the occupation forces. It is a grassroots internal solidarity movement which has, on many occasions, succeeded in curtailing some of the excesses of Israel's lawlessness and human rights abuses.