Amidst the Nakba of 1948, my grandfather was shot dead on his doorstep in Jerusalem. Since that year, Israel has continued its quest to assert total control over all land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, aiming to fragment, weaken, and ultimately erase Palestinian presence. In 1988, my uncle Mubarak Awad, a popular nonviolent leader, was expelled for life from Jerusalem, where he was born and grew up. My uncle Emil and aunt Mai and their family fled Gaza in 2024 to escape the current genocide. Israel must be stopped.

Gaza: Siege, Displacement, and Genocide

Since 1967 but more visible for nearly two decades, Gaza has faced a land, sea, and air blockade that blatantly contravenes international law. Presently, it endures relentless bombardment, mass displacement, and deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure. This was never about “Hamas.” Israel seeks to render Gaza uninhabitable and force Palestinians to either leave or lose their ability to survive.

This week, in a landmark resolution adopted by 86% of its voting members, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)—the world’s largest academic body dedicated to genocide studies, declared that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide, citing mass civilian casualties, starvation, blockaded aid, and collective displacement.

The West Bank: Annexation, Separation, and Fragmentation

In the West Bank, the pattern of dispossession is equally strategic. Israel is moving to annex Area C, which encompasses over 60% of the territory. Meanwhile, settlements proliferate—most significantly in the E1 corridor—destined to sever Palestinian lands physically and create more modern Ghettos for Palestinians to live in. Cities and villages are wholly isolated from each other by roads lined with gates, checkpoint-controlled entry and exit points, and military roadblocks. What was once daily life—access to schools, mosques, hospitals, jobs—has become a controlled maze (and frequent humiliation at check-points), dismantling any hope for a unified Palestinian homeland.

Photo: Megan Hanna

Water, Land, and Control

Israel controls and diverts the majority of West Bank water resources, leaving Palestinian communities with only a fraction of the supply available to nearby Israeli settlements. The systematic destruction of wells and pipelines has left entire villages without access to water, while in Gaza, residents are forced to rely on contaminated or insufficient sources. These policies, coupled with ongoing land confiscations and home demolitions, function as deliberate tools of displacement and deepen the humanitarian crisis.

Palestinians Inside the 1948 Territories (Israel)

Palestinians who remain within the 1948 borders—today citizens of Israel—also live under a system of discrimination that treats them as second-class citizens.. They face unequal access to housing, education, and services, alongside restrictive planning laws that deny building permits and facilitate land confiscation. Entire villages, particularly in the Naqab (Negev), remain “unrecognized,” denied water, electricity, and basic infrastructure.

Recent years have seen intensified surveillance, policing, and political repression of Palestinian citizens, particularly during protest movements in solidarity with Gaza and Jerusalem. The goal mirrors what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza: to weaken Palestinian identity, fragment communities, encourage emigration, and reduce political resistance while tightening control over all land from the river to the sea.

Jerusalem: Erasure of Presence

Within Jerusalem, evictions, restrictive planning laws, and creeping settlement expansion all serve the goal of erasing Palestinian presence and solidifying an exclusive Israeli identity for the city. Palestinians living in Jerusalem are living daily terror from violent settlers roaming the streets, insulting and physically attacking them.

Palestinian and Jewish Safety

Israel’s project is clear: to dominate from the river to the sea and beyond. Israel is building a permanent occupation of areas in Syria and Lebanon. Besides greed, Israelis are motivated by the myth that only an Israeli state can ensure Jewish safety. In fact, Jewish safety is endangered by the apartheid state that will never be accepted by Palestinians nor much of the world. NVI strongly believes in nonviolent resistance because we know that we must protect everyone in this wonderful homeland and ensure that Never Again means Never Again for ANYONE.

Sumud: Political Resistance through Steadfastness

Amid this onslaught, Palestinians maintain Sumud—steadfastness. In Gaza, families cultivate gardens amid rubble. Our partner, Dignity 4 Palestinians is doing amazing work providing food, water and medical aid to the most needy in Gaza. In the West Bank, NVI projects and programs such as HIRN, CJNV, Villages Group, and HLT help people resist expulsion while replanting olive trees destroyed by settler attacks. In Jerusalem and 1948 Israel, Lebanon, Syria and in the diaspora, parents preserve identity, language, and history through storytelling, education, and community—even when every system around them seeks to erase those very foundations.

The Global Sumud Flotilla: A Mirror to State Inaction

Building on the 17 year campaign of the Freedom Flotilla, the Global Sumud Flotilla—loading aid and spirits alike—has taken to the seas to do what states refuse: uphold humanitarian corridors, enforce international law, and challenge siege policies. The flotilla is both an act of nonviolent solidarity and a pointed reminder of government failures—a showcase of what should be happening, but isn’t.

What the International Community Must Do

This is not a tragedy—it is a political catastrophe born of deliberate policy choices. Governments and international bodies must act and international law must be upheld:

Hold Israel accountable—through enforcement of international law, sanctions, and diplomatic pressure.
Interrupt genocide—by securing safe passage for aid and protecting civilians, not leaving it to civilians on unarmed vessels.
Impose sanctions on officials, corporations and anyone responsible for war crimes and genocide.

Here is what you can do now!

Support those working on the ground— Here is a list of our partner organizations. These are some of many who are working relentlessly to address the injustices in Palestine and the world.
Join one of the largest protests in world history on Sept 18, the 1-year deadline for Israel to abide by the International Court of Justice order to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza.
Call on your governments to recognize Palestine and to vote at the UN to intervene with the on-going genocide in Gaza.
Boycott, Boycott Boycott. Download the app!

Keep the pressure on your governments, raise your voices in protest, support the movement to end oppression and violence worldwide. Please consider becoming a monthly donor to Nonviolence International to support these actions worldwide.

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From Darkness to Dignity: What Cuba Taught Us

Dear Friends,

From March 20 to 23, NVI Co-Directors, Michael Beer, Sami Awad, and board member Mohammed Abunimer, joined the Nuestra América Delegation to Cuba as part of a much larger international convoy of more than 600 people from around the world. We came as activists, artists, influencers, faith leaders, and community organizers, united by a simple conviction: the Cuban people should not be left alone under an embargo that continues to punish ordinary life.

The delegation was supported by CODEPINK, Progressive International, Global Health Partners, and Busboys and Poets, alongside a wider network that included The People’s Forum, Cuban Americans for Cuba, and Global Exchange.

It was our first time in Cuba! What we witnessed was not theoretical, was not news reports, was not propaganda.

Havana looks like a movie set from the 1950s! The cars and buildings are stunning -- but so run down. During our time there, Cuba continued to experience major electrical outages, part of a broader energy crisis that has left entire neighborhoods in darkness and placed immense strain on daily life. The blackouts are tied to the suffocating impact of the U.S. embargo, including restrictions on oil and essential resources.

In Cuba, this is not an abstract policy debate. It means hospitals under pressure, food and medicine at risk, transportation disrupted, garbage piled in streets, markets shut, restaurants closed, and families forced to survive with less and less.

And yet what we encountered was not defeatism. It was resilience. Generosity. Dignity.

People gathered in the dark. They shared what they had. They played music and sang in the streets. We played spirited mixed-gender ultimate with them (with donated frisbees that Michael brought). That spirit stays with us.

For those of us Palestinians, this was deeply personal. We met with and were inspired by Cuban students and others from around the world including Palestinians. We know what it means to live under systems designed to isolate, weaken, and break a people. We know what it feels like when your suffering is discussed from a distance while you are still living inside it. In Cuba, we recognized something painfully familiar: a people being made to pay the price for refusing to submit.

That is why this trip was not only a solidarity visit with medical relief and aid but also an act of nonviolent defiance.

This said, the convoy defied the embargo and carried real material support. Around 20 tons of aid were delivered, including food, medicine, solar panels, and bicycles. The delegation we were part of brought thousands of pounds of medical supplies and over a hundred suitcases and boxes of humanitarian aid, all going directly to hospitals and health workers facing severe shortages.

After we returned, the delegation faced attacks and accusations meant to discredit the trip and turn solidarity into suspicion. We reject that. People can debate politics from afar, but we know what we saw. The US has no problem engaging and trading with the communist parties of Vietnam, China, Nepal, and Laos. We saw a country under enormous pressure. We saw communities enduring blackouts and shortages. We saw doctors, families, churches, and neighbors doing their best to hold life together. And we saw hundreds of people from across the world choosing not to look away.

The embargo is not just policy, it is collective punishment.

What we carried back from Cuba was more than memory, it was clarity.

The Palestine and Cuba siege are connected, and so must be our response.

What can you do?

Learn. Stay informed. Support organizations like the ones mentioned above.
Refuse the narratives that justify collective punishment and oppose US unilateral sanctions on Palestine, Cuba and many other countries.
Use your voice—in your communities, your platforms, your spaces.
And find ways—big or small—to stand in real solidarity, including joining future delegations. Visit CUBA!

With Nonviolent Defiance,
Mohammed Abunimer, Michael Beer & Sami Awad

P.S. Please remember to attend our round table Field Testing Israeli Occupation Tech: The Palestine Lab on Sunday, April 19, 2026 3pm ET and see films in advance. This Round Table centers the human impact of this experimentation, examining how Palestinian lives are used as testing grounds for weapons, AI platforms, and policing tactics later exported worldwide. Join the Q&A discussion with: Omar Zahzah, Jeff Halper, Antony Loewenstein, Hassan El-Tayyab

You must register to join the discussion & receive access to the films

Stop Escalating the War on Iran Now!

Stop Escalating the War on Iran Now

By World BEYOND War, March 22, 2026

Already the rule of law has been shattered, millions have been displaced, tens of thousands have been injured and traumatized, thousands have been killed, many billions of dollars of property has been destroyed, and many billions of dollars have been spent on this criminal enterprise — with much more lost through economic impacts and the failure to spend those resources usefully. Millions of tons of C02 has been emitted, and huge areas of land, water, and air poisoned. Urban areas and cultural treasures have been obliterated, and oil rained down on people and their homes. Many millions of people have been given deep reasons to resent and hate and seek revenge, and not a single person taught the value of nonviolent action or reconciliation. The obsessive fueling of the addiction to fossil fuels has been given precedence over everything, not just human rights, but even the dedication to cruelly violating human rights — with sanctions lifted to quickly obtain and burn more oil.

It gets worse. Trump is threatening to attack Iranian power plants. The Iranian government is threatening to attack oil infrastructure in the gulf dictatorships. The human and environmental costs could soar. The precedents of Gaza and Cuba could be repeated. Or it could be even worse. On January 3, Trump’s troops nearly destroyed a nuclear reactor and storage facility in Caracas. The U.S./Israel have already attacked the Bushehr nuclear power plant and the Natanz nuclear facility. Iran has already attacked Dimona, where Israel has a nuclear plant. The risk here is of catastrophic slaughter on a whole new scale. The joy Trump publicly takes when an individual he was annoyed by dies would be multiplied a million-fold. The capacity for rational thought, not just in Trump’s head, but in the so-called U.S. government that sits by and lets him play with the fate of the world, would be virtually eliminated. All blame for U.S./Israeli horrors would be placed on Iran, and escalation would follow escalation. The kingdoms that have sat by while U.S. bases were attacked in their countries will not sit by forever, and have very little capacity for creative nonviolent action, for any means of not sitting by other than escalating the war.

The madmen in the U.S. military who think the worse things get the sooner Jesus will appear can only be encouraged by the worsening of events. The madmen running the nation of Israel have very different fantasies, and those running Iran believe they have no choice and are justified in all things by the vicious attack on Iran. If a sensible solution is to be found, the decent people of the world who wish for life to continue will have to compel the governments of the world to reject militarism and hold accountable those engaged in it. The governments of Spain and Switzerland inching away from the war machine, the individuals transporting solar panels to Cuba, the flotilla being planned to Gaza — these movements will have to grow at a Pentagon-budget-like pace. Standing up for peace will have to soon become the typical path to power for those seeking to represent others, or there will be none of us left to represent.

NVI Directors, Sami Awad and Michael Beer, were part of an international convoy that brought solary panels and humanitarian aid to Cuba in March 2026. NVI is also supporting the flotilla planned for Gaza. Please read our now slightly outdated open letter to de-escalate the war on Iran elsewhere in our NVI blog.

Solidarity in Action: Resisting Occupation in Palestine and Minnesota

I have been having a rough time since I returned from Palestine to Minnesota at the end of November. I really wasn't prepared to leave an occupied territory to return to Minnesota to another occupied territory. While I am not trying to claim an equivalency, it seemed liked the brutality had followed me home.

As many of you know, last September I was beaten up by an Israeli settler and hospitalized for five days and had minor surgery. And my wounds paled to what I was seeing in the streets of the Twin Cites and escalating in the villages of the West Bank. To be honest, there were times when I searched and could not find hope. Yet, I could sense something more durable that kept me going. I sensed it in Palestine and then I saw it emerge in Minnesota. It's like a "no frills" compassion where people sense the next right thing and just go do it, sometimes in an organized strategic way and sometimes spontaneously. Somehow, sometimes deep inside us we know what to do and find the courage to do it. I saw it when my friends stood boldly in a scorching sandy desert protecting shepherd's homes as they were spat on and clubbed by Israeli settlers. And I saw it when friends stood up to armored ICE agents trying to snatch our new neighbors on icy streets in freeing temperatures. And this compassion comes on so many other levels: sharing food, giving rides, washing clothes, demonstrating, paying rent, singing, providing legal assistance and just being present.

Who knows whether this gritty compassion can withstand the whirling violence that encircles us but we must make the attempt. As my old friend Gary Cohen reminded me the other day, "Even when its hopeless, you resist. It's your humanity. It's your self-respect."

Please join me on Monday at 11:30 am central US time, 12:30 pm eastern US time, 4:30 pm UTC and 6:30 pm Jerusalem time for a conversation with people in Palestine and Minnesota who continue to compassionately resist. My friend Anton Goodman of Rabbis for Human Rights has been added to the program,

With grit, grief and love,

Mel Duncan

Join Nonviolence International for a webinar on March 16, Monday, at 11:30am CT and 6:30pm Jerusalem time, entitled Solidarity in Action: Resisting Occupation in Palestine and Minnesota. This will be a conversation among Palestinian and Minnesota activists about nonviolent resistance to occupation and state violence. This webinar brings together organizers from two contexts where communities are confronting intensified state control, displacement and militarized enforcement: one new, in Minnesota, where federal immigration enforcement actions, characterized by a large deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents and have been resisted by community protests, grassroots defense and community building efforts have deeply impacted families and organizers, and veterans in the West Bank, where decades of military occupation shape everyday life and resistance, and have seen an increase of violence in the last months.

While there is no equivalency in duration or depth of violence and impunity, we have an opportunity to learn from people who have resisted occupation their entire lives and from those who may or may not have experienced it comparatively recently. Speakers will share their lived experiences, contrast strategies of resistance, shared learning and explore opportunities for solidarity and collective action. Through this exchange, we aim to center community agency, hope, and shared learning, and uplifting practices of resilience and organizing.

The webinar will be hosted by Mel Duncan, from Minnesota, co-founder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce and organizer of the Unarmed Civilian Protection in Palestine (UCPiP). And speakers include Amira Musallam, Head of Mission of UCPiP, Maddie Moon, Minnesota community organizer, and Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, Executive Director for UNIDOS MN.

Join us for this important conversation by registering here.

Goals:

Share lessons learned from grassroots resistance in both contexts

Build and invite compassion and mutual understanding

Identify opportunities for solidarity and collaboration between movements fighting occupation, displacement, and state violence

From the River to the Sea: Israel’s Long-Term Project and the Struggle for Justice