According to her nation's laws, Israeli Ilana Hammerman is a criminal. The law she keeps breaking: "Anyone who drives, hosts, or in any other way assists a Palestinian's entry to Israel shall be sentenced to two years in prison or fined."

That law has never gone over well with Hammerman, a writer, translator, and editor. She and a group of other Israeli women put up signs saying:

"Civilian zone: No entry to the army! This road leads to Palestinian settlements. Israeli civilians, do not be afraid! Come and visit Palestinian settlements; refuse to be enemies!"

Several years before the sign caper, she spent time in the West Bank learning Arabic. Some girls there told her how much they'd like to leave their highly restricted world, if only for a day. So Hammerman brought them from their Palestinian village to Tel Aviv, after counseling the girls to wear modern clothes, and teaching them a few Hebrew phrases to use if they were questioned. They visited a museum, a mall, a market, and the beach, and they ate ice cream on a boulevard bench. In the evening, the girls returned home. It was the first time that the girls had ever left their village, and they loved it.

Hammerman wrote about the experience in a newspaper, knowing full well that she was reporting on her own illegal action. Sure enough, a complaint was soon lodged against her with the Israeli police. She was questioned by conservative media reporters who wanted to know if she had checked the girls' jeans for hidden explosives.

But shortly thereafter, other Israeli women brought more Palestinian women into Israeli areas for a day, just as Hammerman had done. They formed a group called "We Will not Obey" and proclaimed, "We did this in the footsteps of Ilana Hammerman."

Hammerman continues bringing Palestinian women and children on day trips to Tel Aviv and to the Mediterranean. And she continues to write about her lawbreaking, regardless of the consequences to herself. As she says, "I consider myself entitled, even obligated, to examine “by means of common sense" the justice and morality of the laws that apply to me and to other people who are subject to the laws of my country."

She's gaining more and more supporters. One of them has explained why: "What we are doing here will not change the situation. But it is one more activity to oppose the Occupation. One day in the future, people will ask, like they did of the Germans: 'Did you know?' And I will be able to say, 'I knew. And I acted.'"