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Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

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Template:Infobox Israeli-Palestinian conflict Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations "... for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights."[1] Since then, the campaign has grown and has been endorsed internationally.[2] Omar Barghouti is a founding committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and is currently studying for a masters degree in philosophy at Tel Aviv University, a school he calls for the boycott of. The three stated goals of the campaign are:

  1. An end to Israel's "occupation and colonization of all Arab lands", as well as "dismantling of the Wall;"
  2. Israeli recognition of the "fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality;" and,
  3. Israeli respect, protection, and promotion of "the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194."[1]

Background

Main article: Boycotts of Israel

In January 2005 the Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI) presented a call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel to the 5th World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil (26 January and 31 January).[3]

The launch of the campaign coincided with the first anniversary of the International Court of Justice ruling on the Israeli West Bank barrier.

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) produced a comprehensive document mapping the organizational sources in the UK of the global BDS campaign.[4]

BDS and the use of Christmas

Friends of Sabeel-North America circulated a list of ten companies to boycott entitled “All I want for Christmas is an End to Apartheid,”[5] stating that “While there are many Israeli and multinational companies that benefit from apartheid, we put together this list to highlight ten specific companies to target.”

Adalah-NY (not the same as Adalah in Israel), a central actor in the BDS movement, held a demonstration in front of Lev Leviev’s store in New York. Adalah-NY has been holding this demonstration[6] annually since 2007. Activists doctored traditional carols and stories such as “The 12 Days of Boycott” and “The Grinch who Tried to Steal Palestine,”[7] claiming that Leviev’s “dark task” and “true crime” are to “steal Palestine.” The song also blames Leviev for alleged human rights violations in Africa.

War on Want's[8] campaign "Help win justice for the Palestinian people this Christmas"[9] accuses Israel of "illegal Occupation," "daily human rights abuses," and "the siege on Gaza and the Apartheid Wall." As in previous years, this NGO calls for holiday donations in the form of "alternative gifts," in order to "launch a sustained campaign against UK companies that are profiting from the Occupation" and to "secure compensation for those who have lost land due to construction of the Apartheid Wall."[9]

Reaction

United Kingdom

Main article: Academic boycotts of Israel

On April 22, 2005, the Association of University Teachers (AUT) Council voted to boycott two Israeli universities: University of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University. The motions[10] to AUT Council were prompted by the call for a boycott from Palestinian academics and others.[11] The AUT Council voted to boycott Bar-Ilan because it runs courses at colleges in the occupied West Bank (in Ariel College) and "is thus directly involved with the occupation of Palestinian territories contrary to United Nations resolutions". It boycotted Haifa because it was alleged that the university had wrongly disciplined a lecturer. The action against the lecturer was supposedly for supporting a student who wrote about attacks on Palestinians during the founding of the state of Israel (he withdrew the claims when sued for libel and the University denied having disciplined the lecturer[12]). The boycott, which was not compulsory, was set to last until Haifa "ceases its victimisation of academic staff and students who seek to research and discuss the history of the founding of the state of Israel,".

The AUT's decision was immediately condemned by certain groups, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and members of the AUT. Critics of the boycott within and outside the AUT noted that at the council at which the boycott motion was passed the leadership had cut short debate citing a lack of time. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Union of Jewish Students accused the AUT of purposely holding the vote during Passover, when many Jewish members could not be present.[13] Israel's embassy in London issued a statement criticizing the AUT's vote as a "distorted decision that ignores the British public's opinion", and condemning the resolutions for being "as perverse in their content as in the way they were debated and adopted."[14] Zvi Ravner, Israel’s deputy ambassador in London, said that "[t]he last time that Jews were boycotted in universities was in 1930s Germany."[15] Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement condemning the "misguided and ill-timed decision to boycott academics from the only country in the Middle East where universities enjoy political independence".[16]

The AUT said that members had voted for the boycott in response to a plea for action by a group of Palestinian academics. It was condemned by the Israeli embassy in London, the British ambassador to Israel, by Jewish human rights groups, by al-Quds University[17] in Jerusalem, by the National Postgraduate Committee of the UK,[18] and by Universities UK.

After the great backlash and condemnation - both internal and external - members of the AUT, headed by Open University lecturer Jon Pike - gathered enough signatures to call a special meeting on the subject. The meeting was held on May 26, 2005, at Friends Meeting House in London. At the meeting the AUT decided to cancel the boycott of both Israeli universities. Reasons cited for the decision were: the damage to academic freedom, the hampering of dialogue and peace effort between Israelis and Palestinian, and that boycotting Israel alone could not be justified.[19]

At the 2006 annual conference of the United Kingdom lecturers' union, the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NAFTHE), members were asked to support a motion calling for a boycott of Israeli academics and universities which failed to distance themselves from "apartheid policies".[20] Although the motion was passed it ceased to be official policy just two days later when the union merged with the Association of University Teachers.[20]

Prior to the NAFTHE debate the Federation of Unions of Palestinian University Professors and Employees and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel described the campaign in a letter to the Times Higher Education Supplement as "the only non-violent forms of action available to people of conscience the world over" adding, "We salute those who recognise that, since justice for Palestinians cannot be expected from the international centres of world power, they must organise to further the cause of justice and genuine peace."[21] In contrast, Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg argued that "it is never a good idea for academics to boycott colleagues in other countries on political grounds. During the Cold War, American and Soviet scientists were careful to keep intellectual communication open; this not only served the cause of science, but promoted personal relationships that led to initiatives in arms control. In a similar spirit, when I ran the Jerusalem Winter School of Theoretical Physics we did what we could to recruit Arab students from Muslim countries whose governments discriminated against Jews. We never dreamt of boycotting them."[21]

At its first annual conference (in 2007) the new British academic union (UCU) voted in favour of discussing a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, but not individuals .

France

Following the war on Gaza in 2008-2009, in February 2009, a call for an academic boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli institutions was published.[22]

In June 2009, several French organisations gathered to organize a French BDS campaign against specific targets like Carrefour, Ahava, Agrexco-Carmel,[23] Veolia Transport and Alstom.[24]

Canada

The most visible face of organizing in support of BDS in Canada is Israeli Apartheid Week, which began in Toronto in 2005 and has now spread to countries around the world, and to cities across the country, including Edmonton, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough, Sudbury, Truro, Vancouver, Waterloo and Winnipeg. Canadian Jewish organizations have been divided on the question of BDS. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs "unanimously passed a resolution denouncing boycott, divestment and sanctions activities."[25], while Independent Jewish Voices passed a resolution in support of BDS "with the support of 95% of voting delegates."[26]

South Africa

In 2011 the University of Johannesburg decided to suspend ties with Israeli Ben-Gurion University, while still allowing "individual faculty" to continue cooperating with the Israeli University on a water purification project, citing the University's support for the Israeli military. The decision was seen to affect projects in biotechnology and water purification. [27] However, two days later, Ihron Rensburg, vice chancellor and principal of the university issued a statement saying that "UJ is not part of an academic boycott of Israel...It has never been UJ's intention to sever all ties with BGU, although it may have been the intention of some UJ staff members."[28]

Other

In March 2011, Haaretz reported that many artists, academics and celebrities have supported and participated in the cultural boycotting of Israel.[29] Artists who have voiced support for the campaign or cancelled appearances in Israel citing political reasons include musicians Elvis Costello[30], Brian Eno[31], Gil Scott Heron[32], Pete Seeger[29], The Pixies[30], Roger Waters[30][29], writers Eduardo Galeano and Arundhati Roy[33], filmmakers Ken Loach[34] and Jean-Luc Godard.[35] Artists who have voiced oppposition to the campaign include writers Umberto Eco[36], Ian McEwan[36], Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore[37] and musicians John Lydon[38], Shaggy[39], Gaston Dalmau[40], Joe Bonamassa[41] and Gene Simmons.[29] Many musicians such as Elton John, Leonard Cohen, Madonna and Paul McCartney have chosen to perform in Israel in recent years.[36] Bob Dylan has announced that he will perform in Israel in June 2011.[42]

BDS and Delegitimization

Several analysts, journalists, and policy groups in Israel have argued that the BDS movement promotes the delegitimization of Israel. In the Jerusalem Post, Gil Troy argues that the BDS movement does not target Israel's polices, but rather targets Israel's legitimacy.[43] Similarly, The Reut Institute argued that by what they perceive as singling out Israel and applying double standards, the BDS movement delegitimizes Israel.[44] These groups and individuals argue that regardless of whether or not the participants in boycotts seek to threaten Israel's legitimacy, the movement itself and the organizers behind it have the same goal: isolate Israel like South Africa.[citation needed]

Martin Raffel, who oversees the Israel Action Network, argued in March 2011 that Israel's supporters can respectfully debate artists who choose to boycott the West Bank town of Ariel, but that "not recognizing Israel as a Jewish democratic state is a completely different story."[45]

File:BDS sewer system.png
Screenshot of BDS Sewer System Poster

NGO Monitor has produced "the “BDS Sewer System” which provides detailed information, in graphic form, on the sources of delegitimization campaigns against Israel."[46]

Israeli Response

On June 9, 2010, 25 Israeli lawmakers proposed an anti-boycott resolution to the Knesset (Israeli Parliament). This resolution would see any funds for the Palestinian National Authority redirected to compensate Israelis hurt by Palestinian boycotts of Israeli settlement products. The bill prohibits Israeli citizens from initiating, encouraging, or aiding a boycott against Israel, and all violaters would be forced to pay compensation to Israelis hurt by boycotts. All non-Israelis involved in a boycott would be banned from entering the country for at least ten years.[47][48]

See also

References

  • Barghouti, Omar (2011). Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. Haymarket Books. ISBN 978-1608461141.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Palestinian United Call for BDS against Israel. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  2. ^ "Besieging Israel's siege". The Guardian. 12 August 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  3. ^ Al Majdal, Issue No. 28 (Winter 2005):Highlights, Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, 2005–January 2006.
  4. ^ Mapping the Organizational Sources of the Global Delegitimization Campaign against Israel in the UK - Ehud Rosen
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Adalah-NY
  7. ^ The Grinch who Tried to Steal Palestine
  8. ^ Building the Boycott
  9. ^ a b Help win justice for the Palestinian people this Christmas
  10. ^ "Report to members from the AUT national council". Retrieved 2005-05-22. [dead link‍]
  11. ^ "Palestinian academics call for international academic boycott of Israel". Birzeit University. 2004-07-07. Retrieved 2005-05-22. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "The University of Haifa Response to the AUT Decision". University of Haifa. 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2008-05-15. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Curtis, Polly (2005-05-24). "Second Opinion". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  14. ^ BBC News (2005-04-22). "Academics back Israeli boycotts". Retrieved 2009-12-31.
  15. ^ Rick Kelly (2005-05-02). "Britain: lecturers' union boycotts two Israeli universities". World Socialist Website.
  16. ^ "Decision of British Academics to Boycott Israeli Universities 'Misguided and Ill-Timed'". Anti-Defamation League. 2005-05-22. Retrieved 2007-02-07.
  17. ^ "Joint Hebrew university--al-quds university statement on academic cooperation signed in London". Hebrew University. Retrieved 2008-05-15. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ Ewing, Jim (2005-04-06). "NPC Says: Don't take Academia Hostage". National Postgraduate Committee. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  19. ^ "Academics vote against Israeli boycott". London: The Guardian. 2005-05-26. Retrieved 2005-05-22.
  20. ^ a b Lecturers call for Israel boycott, BBC News Online, 30 May 2006.
  21. ^ a b Steven Weinberg and Palestinian academics, 'A Nobel laureate and Palestinian academics on Natfhe's proposed boycott of Israel', Times Higher Education Supplement, May 26, 2006, Pg. 16 No. 1744.
  22. ^ "French academic boycott call of february 2009". Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  23. ^ "Coalition Against Agrexco-Carmel website". Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  24. ^ "Case against Veolia and Alstom regarding the building of a tram in Jerusalem". Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  25. ^ Jon Haber BDS 2010: Fighting back JerusalemPost.com December 22, 2010
  26. ^ BDS website [2]
  27. ^ University of Johannesburg votes to sever ties with BGU (Jerusalem Post, March 24, 2011)
  28. ^ U. of Johannesburg Official: 'UJ Is Not Part of an Academic Boycott of Israel' By Matthew Kalman, March 25, 2011
  29. ^ a b c d "Lead singer of Kiss Gene Simmons slams Israel boycotters". Haaretz. 2011-03-11. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  30. ^ a b c "Pink Floyd frontman declares support for BDS campaign". The Jerusalem Post. 2011-03-02. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  31. ^ "PACBI-Roger Waters Refuses to be Another Brick in Israel's Wall". Pacbi.org. 18 April 2006. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  32. ^ "Tel Aviv Israel Concert Canceled by Gil Scott Heron (Salem News, Apr 26, 2010)". Salem-news.com. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  33. ^ "21 novembre 2007". Intal.be. 21 November 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  34. ^ Standout British filmmaker joins boycott of Israel, PACBI, august 2006
  35. ^ Lettre de remerciement, july 2008
  36. ^ a b c "Israel boycotters target authors, artists". Ynet. 2011-03-05. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  37. ^ Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore share ‘love, light’ in Israel
  38. ^ "John Lydon – Lydon Slams Critics Over Israel Show – Contactmusic News". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  39. ^ http://www.telavivcity.com/eng/article.asp?articlecode=3670]
  40. ^ Even angels grow up
  41. ^ No ordinary Joe
  42. ^ Dylan show confirmed for June in Ramat Gan
  43. ^ "Delegitimizing the delegitimizers". Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  44. ^ "The Reut Institute: The BDS Movement Promotes Delegitimization against Israel". Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  45. ^ Consensus Seen Taking Shape On Boycotts
  46. ^ Israel Apartheid Week, and efforts to combat it, begin
  47. ^ Amnon Meranda "MKs offer response to PA boycott" Ynetnews.com June 9, 2010
  48. ^ Weingarten, Miri (2010-06-30). "Israel's anti-boycott belligerence". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
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