Non Violent Direct Action is very near and dear to my heart, in fact, Paul Watson, a dear friend who is also one of P10K's Official Advisers is considered one of the pioneers of Non-Violent Direct Action. Paul is one of the Founding Fathers of Greenpeace; originally a completely Non-Violent Direct Action organization. He left Greenpeace when it strayed from these guiding principles in order to found the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society; and the Sea Shepherds are as Non Violent Direct Action as you get. Sea Shepherd agents have sunk 9 pirate whaling ships and Paul has personally rammed 4 Driftnetters (with up to 50 mile long nets); all of which were illegally decimating marine life while absolutely no government was doing a thing about it. It is extremely relevant to note however that in all the Direct Actions Paul or his agents have conducted not one human has been injured or killed, and that is because of their absolute commitment is to save life (both human and non-human) while at the same time destroying the tools used to destroy life.

The point of telling you this is that the P10K Force concept comes from a Direct Action mentality; but Direct Action for the sake of Direct Action is like Resistance for the sake of Resistance, stupid. Both Direct Action and Resistance are a means to effect justice, or they are more often than not ineffective or downright counter-productive. For P10K to succeed against the formidable odds we face we must be extremely intelligent and disciplined. This means that we must think strategically and not give ammunition to our opposition.

The Israeli Government intends to say many things and among them are that the P10K Force is a threat to the "security" of Israel. Ridiculous as this may be we must negate this claim. Therefore we must prove that we are not a threat to their security, that we are in fact the very best security they have. One very effective way to do this is to fully disclose who we are, to reveal our allegiances, and to provide any and all the information that is reasonably and legally required; in order for them to rest assured that we are who we say we are. That is the rationale for the rather extensive registration process.

Israel will wish to claim that P10K Force participants who carry out "confrontational" Non-Violent Direct Actions will incite the Palestinians to violence and this is a threat to the "security" of their (illegal) occupation forces and in turn to Israeli citizens. Understanding this we must negate their argument by committing to Non-Violent Democratic Demonstrations (those that Israel so often praises itself for... as the "Middle Easts only democracy"). So we will only honour these democratic principles by exercising Non-Violent Democratic Demonstrations only; while as P10K Force participants renouncing confrontational Non-Violent Direct Actions that might "incite" our Palestinian hosts to violent acts.

This policy will be hard for many to swallow, including myself, but it is the wisdom of Paul Watson and many other proven TJP warriors who upon consultation agree that the P10K Force getting into Palestine is the most critical objective of all. That in itself will be one of the most powerful Non-Violent Direct Actions of our time. So we must do everything in our power to suceed in simply getting there, because arriving "could have a major impact on moves towards reconciliation, peace, and hopes for justice and freedom in this tortured corner of the world"; as Noam Chomsky has so eloquently put it. So if you are willing to make the legal commitment to Non-Violent Democratic Demonstrations, then you have what P10K needs to succeed.