Summary
Advocacy officer at the Joint Advocacy Initiative at the time of Kelly’s research, whose account of the Olive Tree Campaign — the harvest as a culture of resistance, and tourists’ work as boycott, divestment and sanctions at home — anchors the close of Chapter 3 of Invited to Witness — Solidarity Tourism across Occupied Palestine (Invited to Witness — Solidarity Tourism across Occupied Palestine, PDF p.124-126).
Details
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Her work with the Olive Tree Campaign buoys her faith in Palestinian resistance; echoing Yazan al-Zubaidy, who half joked that Palestinians need a “mass therapist”, she explains: “We really need psychological counseling or debriefing. It’s very frustrating to be met with these atrocities, but one small thing will recalibrate you. It’s 99 percent negative, but this 1 percent positive that happens once in a blue moon” (PDF p.124).
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The Campaign rejoiced for a month when the University of Johannesburg broke ties with Ben-Gurion University, and celebrated in 2011 when a farmer won a lawsuit against a settler after fighting for ten years (PDF p.124).
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She reframes tourists’ presence as a gift Palestinians give tourists, not the reverse: “You understand that these people are doing resistance every day. Just by going to their field they are resisting. You going with them during their hottest season for them, which is the season with the most percentage of attacks, you understand that you are partaking in the culture of resistance” (PDF p.125).
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Solidarity with Palestine is not a humanitarian cause in her account; she wants tourists to feel not pity but “sympathy mixed with anger”, to say to themselves, “We are witnessing a new kind of apartheid and not doing anything about it” (PDF p.126).
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As advocacy officer she tells tourists how the boycott and divestment campaigns are going and that what she needs from them is sanctions work at home: “The B is going brilliantly, the D is going brilliantly, and we need you for the S” (PDF p.126).
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In the Conclusion Kelly returns to her recalibration formulation: “one small thing will recalibrate you”, and to her “1 percent positive” in a sea of “99 percent negative” as the form hope takes in solidarity tourism (Invited to Witness — Solidarity Tourism across Occupied Palestine, PDF p.268-269). Her words on participating in the culture of resistance of harvesting and planting are also recalled there (PDF p.267).
Related pages
Invited to Witness — Solidarity Tourism across Occupied Palestine, Olive Tree Campaign, Baha Hilo, Yazan al-Zubaidy, BDS movement, Solidarity Tourism