Adam Shapiro: Profile

By Stand4Facts.org

Overview

One admirer calls Adam Shapiro “the rock star” of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM),[1] a group founded in 2001 in Ramallah that claims to be dedicated to “non-violent resistance” against the “Israeli occupation.” [2] Shapiro was catapulted to international fame when he slipped into Yasser Arrafat’s compound and had breakfast with the besieged leader to show solidarity with the Palestinians during Israel’s Defensive Shield operations in the spring of 2002.[3] His actions raised a storm of controversy, from journalist Andrea Peyser who denounced him as the “American Taliban”,[4] to those who praised an “American Jew who risked his life to help the Palestinians.”[5]

His romance with and subsequent marriage to Huwaida Arraf, an ISM co-founder, further fueled media attention. Stories focused on the fact that he was Jewish and she was a Palestinian American, and included such titles as “A Love Under Fire.”[6]

The young husband and wife are the most prominent American spokespeople and activists for ISM. They often do joint presentations, giving audiences the impression they are getting a Jewish and Palestinian perspective on the conflict. But their presentations only describe the plight of the Palestinians, show graphic videos and photos of the “occupation” and detail their own resistance activities in the Territories. [7] They draw sympathetic audiences who are on occasion moved to tears by tales of Palestinian suffering.

Shapiro and Arraf call themselves “peace activists,” and portray themselves as heroic resisters of Israeli oppression. Shapiro claims that ISM is modeled on the American Civil Rights movement and compared ISM’s summer mobilizations to the Freedom Rides of the civil rights movement and some Palestinian activists to Martin Luther King.[8] The media often perpetuates this image of him. In fact, however, Shapiro is not a pacifist or a peacemaker, nor does he present a balanced view of the conflict. Consider some of Shapiro’s positions:

“The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics - both nonviolent and violent. …No other successful nonviolent movement was able to achieve what it did without a concurrent violent movement…..” Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, 1/29/02[9]

“Hamas claims it has many men ready to be suicide bombers-we advocate that these men (use non-violent resistance)….This is no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation.” Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, 1/29/02[10]

“While we do not advocate adopting the methods of Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., we do believe that learning from their experience and informing a Palestinian movement with this knowledge can be quite valuable and of great utility…”Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, 1/29/02[11]

“President Arrafat, after every terrorist incident, every suicide bombing, every action, has condemned this loss of life, of civilians on both sides.” Adam Shapiro CNN interview outside Arrafat’s Headquarters, March 31, 2002[12]

“[T]hose who maintain nonviolence and exploit the use of violence by the oppressor maintain control and power, which is something that can be manipulated to present a story, a case or an image.”Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, 1/29/02[13]

“Let us reiterate, we accept that Palestinians have a right to resist with arms….”Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, 1/29/02[14]

“[1]t’s true that there isn’t a broad acceptance of or participation in strategic non-violence because there is no popular leadership willing to commit to this strategy and use it….” Adam Shapiro interview July/August 2002[15]

“President Arrafat, who greeted each [ISM] activist personally, thanked the group for their support. ‘We are in need of your help,’” he added.” ISM Press Release December 18, 2001[16]

“We don’t have an official dialogue with armed groups, but we talk to them and they consider nonviolence as a legitimate strategy, but not the only way to resist. They’re not trying to prevent us from doing our work….”Adam Shapiro, Interview July/August 2002[17]

“While the process (home demolitions) is slower and more methodical, one cannot help but be reminded of Kristallnacht during World War II when the Nazi government sought to erase all symbols and elements of Jewish culture and Jewish religion from Berlin.” Adam Shapiro, “Solving the Refugee Issue,” 2002[18] .

The ISM website informs potential ISM activists that “the level of risk dramatically increased in the April ISM campaign with internationals on the receiving end of shrapnel, live fire over their heads, tear-gassing, rubber bullets, sound bombs, beatings, interrogations, arrests and deportations. Without sounding crass, the
benefits were many and obvious:…”[19]

“This government of Israel does not wish the world to see or know of what its forces are doing in the name of occupation-for silence is the greatest asset of oppression…” Adam Shapiro Statement August 2002.[20]

“I arrive here (New York City) having been forced, along with 8 fellow peace activists….out of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We were physically assaulted and abducted by armed gunmen from Israel’s para-military Border Police in the heart of the West Bank.” Adam Shapiro Statement August 2002.[21]

“I don’t identify as Jewish. I see it as a religion rather than an ethnicity and, as I have no religious feelings, I don’t regard myself as Jewish.” Adam Shapiro, May 2003[22]

[1] “The Palestinian Struggle and the Global Intifada come home to Richmond VA,” November 8 2002 at http://richmond.indymedia.org/newswire/display/2009

[2] Palestine Solidarity Website at www.palsolidarity.org

[3] Interview with Shapiro in Tikkun Magazine July/August 2002 at http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0207/article/020711c.html

[4] New York Post, April 1, 2002

[5] “Guerilla of the Week,” Guerilla News at http://www.guerrillanews.com/human_rights/doc373.html

[6] Nicholas Blincoe, “A Love Under Fire,” The Guardian, May 31, 2003 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,966226,00.html

[7] “A Zionist Goes to the University of Michigan Divestment Conference,” October 6, 2002 at http://elitzur.blogspot.com/2002_10_06_elitzur_archive.html

[8] Adam Shapiro, “Freedom Summer,” July 17 2003 at www.yourmailinglistprovider.com/pubarchive.php?MENAinfo+924 and Adam Shapiro, “Ayed Morar and Martin Luther King,” January 18 2004 at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palsolidarity/message/853

[9] Arraf and Shapiro, “Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada: A Response to Ramzy Baroud,” in The Palestine Chronicle, January 29, 2002. At http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020129050221695

[10] Arraf and Shapiro, “Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada: A Response to Ramzy Baroud,” in The Palestine Chronicle, January 29, 2002. At http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020129050221695

[11] Arraf and Shapiro, “Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada: A Response to Ramzy Baroud,” in The Palestine Chronicle, January 29, 2002. At http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020129050221695

[12] Transcript at www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/31/sm.01.html

[13] Arraf and Shapiro, “Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada: A Response to Ramzy Baroud,” in The Palestine Chronicle, January 29, 2002. At http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020129050221695

[14] Arraf and Shapiro, “Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada: A Response to Ramzy Baroud,” in The Palestine Chronicle, January 29, 2002. At http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020129050221695

[15] Mark LeVine, “An Interview with Adam Shapiro,” Tikkun Magazine, July/August 2002 at www.tikkun.org/magzine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/mode/printer_friendly/issue/tik0207

[16] Cited at http://toogoodreports.com/column/general/stix/20020414-fss.htm

[17] Mark LeVine, “An Interview with Adam Shapiro,” Tikkun Magazine, July/August 2002 www.tikkun.org/magzine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/mode/printer_friendly/issue/tik0207

[18] Adam Shapiro, “Solving the Refugee Issue,” 2002, at www.mediamonitors.net/adamshapiro1.html

[19] http://www.palsolidarity.org/traveltopalestine/preparation.php

[20] Adam Shapiro statement upon ISM’s arrival at JFK, NY, August 2002, reported by Huwaida Arraf at www.gush-shalom.org/diary/diary32.html

[21] Adam Shapiro statement upon ISM’s arrival at JFK, NY, August 2002, reported by Huwaida Arraf at www.gush-shalom.org/diary/diary32.html

[22] Nicholas Blincoe, “A Love Under Fire,” The Guardian, May 31, 2003 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,966226,00.html

Biography

Adam Shapiro grew up in Brooklyn, earned his MA in Political Science at NYU and another MA in Arab Studies at Georgetown University.[1] He spent a year in Yemen at a language school and currently is enrolled in a PhD program at Georgetown University in International Relations.

The first Gulf War in 1991 sparked Shapiro’s interest. He was concerned about how the “Iraqi people and their culture changed as a result….”[2] His focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began when he became director of the Seeds of Peace youth center in Jerusalem in 1999.[3] There Shapiro met Huwaida Arraf, who was a program coordinator for the Center, and it was there “…that I saw first-hand what the occupation was and what it did to the Palestinian people,” he reported.[4]

When the Intifada broke out in September 2000, Shapiro “… realized… I could not be silent, especially as American-made weapons and the American government gave such overwhelming support to the Israelis.”[5] Huwaida left Seeds of Peace and co-founded the International Solidarity Movement in August, 2001. Adam later joined her in ISM and moved to Ramallah.

ISM hoped to force an end to the “Occupation” by bringing international activists to the region who would use non-violent resistance to disrupt Israel’s counter-terrorism measures, act as human shields and draw world media attention to themselves and to the plight of the Palestinians. Shapiro and Arraf spelled out their theory of non-violent resistance in an article in the Palestine Chronicle in January 2002. They advocated it as a strategy to be used in conjunction with “violent” resistance, and insisted they were not advocating the pacifism of Ghandi or Martin Luther King.[6]

Shapiro shares the views of other pro-Palestinian groups-Israel and the Occupation were and remain the cause of the conflict and Israel has no justification for its counter-terrorism measures which are designed to realize its long-term goal of ethnic cleansing. What makes Shapiro, Arraf and ISM different from other pro-Palestinian groups is that they advocate non-violent resistance, try to mobilize international activists to visit the Territories and join them in non-violent resistance, and believe their presence will bring heightened media coverage and sympathy to the Palestinian cause.

At first, Arraf and ISM co-founder Neta Golan grabbed most of the media coverage about ISM. Shapiro referred to himself as “the unnamed guy with Huwaida.”[7] That changed dramatically when Shapiro had his breakfast with Arrafat in March 2002.[8] Shapiro immediately became a controversial celebrity who repeatedly denounced Israel.

Shapiro returned to the US to marry Huwaida in her hometown, Detroit, and then returned to Ramallah in the late spring of 2002. In August 2002, he was arrested for marching on Nablus in defiance of the military curfew and deported just in time to begin his PhD program.[9] He and Arraf continued their activism, however, and went on a speaking tour of US campuses in January 2003. The following June, they toured Arab countries “to encourage “Arabs to join and support our campaigns whether it is by sponsoring another individual to visit Palestine or by contributing to the foundation,” according to Al-Jazeera.[10]

Shapiro advocates divestment from Israel as well as public pressure on Caterpillar because a Caterpillar bulldozer ran over and killed ISM activist Rachel Corrie.[11] He also supports the right of return[12] and opposes the Road Map.

Shapiro is still sought after as an “expert,” eye-witness of the conflict. He spoke on Capitol Hill for the International Relations Middle East Policy Forum on November 26, 2003.[13] He is very likely to come to a campus near you.

[1] http://student.cs.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/db.php?previous=true&aid=130

[2] Shapiro interview with the Daily Star of Lebanon, June 3 2003 at http://www.sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/06/1615928.php

[3] [3] www.jewishsf.com/bk001027/imidshalom.shmtl and http://www.seedsofpeace.org/Display.cfm?id=2&Sub=11 and Nicholas Blincoe, “A Love Under Fire,” The Guardian, May 31, 2003 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,966226,00.html

[4] Shapiro interview with the Daily Star of Lebanon, June 3 2003 at http://www.sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/06/1615928.php

[5] Shapiro interview with the Daily Star of Lebanon, June 3 2003 at http://www.sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/06/1615928.php

[6] Arraf and Shapiro, “Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada: A Response to Ramzy Baroud,” in The Palestine Chronicle, January 29, 2002. At http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020129050221695

[7] www.palsolidarity.org/inthenews/06april_jensen.pho

[8] Transcript at www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/31/sm.01.html and Mark LeVine, “An Interview with Adam Shapiro,” Tikkun Magazine, July/August 2002 www.tikkun.org/magzine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/mode/printer_friendly/issue/tik0207

[9] http://www.palsolidarity.org/inthenews/08aug02_blachor.php

[10] http://aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2003%20News%20archives/June%202003%20News/21n/Volunteers%20plan%20protest%20against%20Israeli%20brutality.htm

[11] http://www.palsolidarity.org/traveltopalestine/preparation.php

[12] Adam Shapiro, “Solving the Refugee Issue,” 2002, at www.mediamonitors.net/adamshapiro1.html

[13] http://www.irmep.org/CHF/11_26_Adam_Shapiro_Speakers_Notes.html

Accusations and Defamations

“While the process (home demolitions) is slower and more methodical, one cannot help but be reminded of Kristallnacht during World War II when the Nazi government sought to erase all symbols and elements of Jewish culture and Jewish religion from Berlin.” Adam Shapiro, “Solving the Refugee Issue,” 2002[1] .

The ISM website informs potential ISM activists that “the level of risk dramatically increased in the April ISM campaign with internationals on the receiving end of shrapnel, live fire over their heads, tear-gassing, rubber bullets, sound bombs, beatings, interrogations, arrests and deportations. Without sounding crass, the
benefits were many and obvious:…”[2]

“[N]ot only has Israel managed to carry out …vicious and diabolical atrocities, it has also managed to cover them up or define them in the parlance of ‘defense’…”Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, 1/29/02[3]

“This isn’t about terrorism. It’s about occupation, freedom, human rights….” Adam Shapiro at University of Michigan Divestment Conference, October 2002.[4]

“The long-chanted mantra of the Israeli defense establishment and the right-wing in Israel has been that the Arabs are seeking to destroy the Jewish state and to drive its inhabitants into the sea. Well, it seems that this is truly a case of the kettle calling the pot black.”Adam Shapiro, “Solving the Refugee Issue,” 2002[5] .

“Now, and since the beginning of the Intifada, caught up in the general violence and state terrorism perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces and settlers, is the unannounced policy of targeting the refugees. While launching attacks against camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria is beyond the radar screen for Israel’s politicians and generals (often the same), those refugees who are displaced in the West Bank and Gaza are easy targets for tanks, helicopters and bulldozers.” Adam Shapiro, “Solving the Refugee Issue,” 2002.[6]

“This government of Israel does not wish the world to see or know of what its forces are doing in the name of occupation-for silence is the greatest asset of oppression…” Adam Shapiro Statement August 2002.[7]

“I arrive here (New York City) having been forced, along with 8 fellow peace activists….out of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We were physically assaulted and abducted by armed gunmen from Israel’s para-military Border Police in the heart of the West Bank.” Adam Shapiro Statement August 2002.[8]

“I don’t identify as Jewish. I see it as a religion rather than an ethnicity and, as I have no religious feelings, I don’t regard myself as Jewish.” Adam Shapiro, May 2003[9]

[1] Adam Shapiro, “Solving the Refugee Issue,” 2002, at www.mediamonitors.net/adamshapiro1.html

[2] http://www.palsolidarity.org/traveltopalestine/preparation.php

[3] Arraf and Shapiro, “Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada: A Response to Ramzy Baroud,” in The Palestine Chronicle, January 29, 2002. At http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020129050221695

[4] Reported at “A Zionist Goes to the University of Michigan Divestment Conference,” October 6, 2002 at http://elitzur.blogspot.com/2002_10_06_elitzur_archive.html

[5] Adam Shapiro, “Solving the Refugee Issue,” 2002, at www.mediamonitors.net/adamshapiro1.html

[6] Adam Shapiro, “Solving the Refugee Issue,” 2002, at www.mediamonitors.net/adamshapiro1.html

[7] Adam Shapiro statement upon ISM’s arrival at JFK, NY, August 2002, reported by Huwaida Arraf at www.gush-shalom.org/diary/diary32.html

[8] Adam Shapiro statement upon ISM’s arrival at JFK, NY, August 2002, reported by Huwaida Arraf at www.gush-shalom.org/diary/diary32.html

[9] Nicholas Blincoe, “A Love Under Fire,” The Guardian, May 31, 2003 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,966226,00.html