- Established in 1989, the MA'AN Development Center is
"an independent Palestinian development and training institution....work(ing)
towards sustainable human development in Palestine" through its various
programs. On October 31, it released a publication on the Palestinian BDS
campaign titled, "Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions: Lessons learned
in effective solidarity."
-
- It's another of the many BDS initiatives multiplying
to support Palestine. In July 2005, a coalition of 171 Palestinian Civil
Society organizations created the global movement for "Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and
Universal Principles of Human Rights" for Occupied Palestine, Israeli
Arabs, and Palestinian diaspora refugees.
-
- MA'AN covers BDS history and outlines current efforts
and challenges to be overcome. Past Palestinian boycotts showed they work.
The 1936 six-month strike against the British Mandate demanded a representative
government in Palestine, prohibition of land sales to Jews, a cessation
of Jewish immigration, and immediate elections. The strike brought the
economy to a halt and got the Peel Royal Commission to recommend limited
Jewish immigration and plans for eventual partition.
-
- In 1948, the Arab League banned all commercial and financial
transactions between Israel and League members.
-
- In 1951, each nation set up a national boycott office,
linked to the Damascus headquarters. It maintained a central blacklist
of companies.
-
- In 1973, OPEC embargoed oil to America and other countries
that supported Israel in the October war.
-
- In November 1975, UN General Assembly Resolution 3379
"determine(d) that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination."
Under pressure from GHW Bush and Israel as a condition of its Madrid Peace
Conference participation, Resolution 46/86 revoked it (in December 1991)
saying only that:
-
- "The general assembly decides to revoke the determination
contained in its resolution 3379 (XXX) of November 1975."
-
- In 1977, Arab boycott efforts began when the Carter administration
called them illegal for US companies. In 1978, the Camp David Accords began
normalizing Israeli-Arab relations, effectively undermining boycott efforts.
-
- The First Intifada (1987 - 1993) reactivated them, effectively
in Beit Sahour where residents took control of public affairs. Underground
schools were established. The community refused to pay taxes. Military
ID cards were returned, and all Israeli products were boycotted. Beit Sahour
got a 1990 Nobel Peace Prize nomination and continued resisting until the
Palestinian Authority (PA) took over in 1995.
-
- In 1993, the Oslo Accords and subsequent Paris Protocols
generated immediate normalization. The 1995 Taba summit decelerated boycott
efforts further. The outbreak of the 2000 Second Intifada failed to reactivate
them. Today, grassroots efforts lead the global BDS movement.
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- What Is Normalization"
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- As agreed on during the first Palestinian 2007 BDS Conference:
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- "Normalization means to participate in any project
or initiative or activity, local or international, specifically designed
for gathering (either directly or indirectly) Palestinians (and/or Arabs)
and Israelis whether individuals or institutions; that does not explicitly
aim to expose and resist the occupation and all forms of discrimination
and oppression against the Palestinian people."
-
- Specifically, this includes projects:
-
- -- not supporting Palestinian rights under international
law;
-
- -- implying equal Israeli and Palestinian responsibility
for the conflict;
-
- -- denying Palestinians are victims of Israel's colonial
project;
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- -- refusing Palestinian rights to self-determination
and the right of return and compensation under UN Resolution 194; and
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- -- supported by or partnered with Israeli institutions
not recognizing Palestinians' legitimate rights.
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- Boycott As a Grassroots Movement
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- South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu said "If you
are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the
oppressor," to wit: the Quartet (US, EU, Russia and UN), the Arab
League, and most other nations with few exceptions. To achieve justice,
global grassroots movements must pressure official bodies to change.
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- In August 2002, Palestinian civil society called for
a global boycott Israel campaign:
-
- "for the sake of freedom and justice in Palestine
and the world....upon the solidarity movement, NGOs, academic and cultural
institutions, business companies, political parties and unions, as well
as concerned individuals to strengthen and broaden the global Israel Boycott
Campaign."
-
- The campaign against South African apartheid began in
1963 when 45 prominent British playwrights refused performing rights anywhere
"where discrimination is made among audiences on grounds of colour."
By the 1980s, it became a near-total cultural exchange ban.
-
- In 1965, 496 UK academics protested South Africa's racial
discrimination and pledged not to accept a position in the country. Other
movements advocated against bank lending, South African products, and for
divestment. In the mid-1980s, students demanded their universities divest
from companies doing business in or having operations in the country. Hampshire
College was the first success. Others followed until apartheid finally
ended in 1994..
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- Cultural and Academic Boycott
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- On April 6, 2002, UK professors Steven and Hilary Rose
first presented the idea in an open letter to the London Guardian, saying:
-
- "Despite widespread international condemnation for
its policy of violent repression against the Palestinian people in the
Occupied Territories, the Israeli government appears impervious to moral
appeals from world leaders. (For its part, America) seems reluctant to
act. However, there are ways of exerting pressure from within Europe....many
national and European cultural and research institutions....regard Israel
as a European state for the purposes of awarding grants and contracts.
Would it not therefore be timely (for a pan-European moratorium of all
further support) unless and until Israel abides by UN resolutions and opens
serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians (along the lines of proposed)
peace plans."
-
- By July, 700 signatures were registered, including from
10 Israeli academics. Other initiatives followed despite start-and-stop
efforts and enormous opposition. They remain viable and have spread globally.
-
- On February 1, 2009 in Occupied Palestine, the Jerusalem-based
Al-Quds University said it no longer would cooperate with Israeli academic
institutions to:
-
- "pressur(e) Israel to abide by a solution that ends
the occupation, a solution that has been needed for far too long and that
the international community has stopped demanding."
-
- It followed Israel's Gaza attack and addressed decades
of occupation and continued efforts to subvert peace and negotiations to
achieve Palestinian self-determination.
-
- Earlier in October 2003, Palestinian academics and intellectuals
called on their colleagues in the international community to resist repression
and injustice by boycotting Israeli academic institutions. In April 2004,
the campaign was consolidated by PACBI's founding (the Palestinian Campaign
for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel).
-
- Palestinian academics and intellectuals launched it by
"buil(ding) on the Palestinian call for a comprehensive economic,
cultural and academic boycott of Israel issued in August 2002 (followed
by further calls) in October 2003."
-
- Its statement of principles read:
-
- -- "to comprehensively and consistently boycott
all Israeli academic and cultural institutions until Israel withdraws from
all lands occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem;
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- -- removes all its colonies in those lands;
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- -- agrees to United Nations resolutions relevant to the
restitution of Palestinian refugee rights; and
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- -- dismantles its system of apartheid."
-
- PACBI's call got wide support from Palestinian academia
and civil society.
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- Church Divestment
-
- Christian churches in America, the UK, Canada, and elsewhere
have begun to call for boycotting and divesting from companies profiting
from the Israeli occupation. Examples include:
-
- -- in 2005, the United Church of Christ (UCC) endorsed
divestment, not as yet implemented;
-
- -- in 2005, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) adopted a "positive investment" policy to foster regional
peace and cooperation;
-
- -- in 2006, the United Church of Canada's Toronto branch
began boycotting Israeli products and companies doing business with its
military;
-
- -- in 2006, the US Presbyterian Church urged various
companies, including Caterpillar, ITT, Motorola, and others to invest in
West Bank and Gaza companies;
-
- -- in 2008, the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire passed
a resolution for divesting in companies supporting and/or profiting from
the Occupation; and
-
- -- in 2009, the Church of England divested from Caterpillar
stocks, the company whose bulldozers and equipment is used to demolish
Palestinian homes.
-
- Student Campaigns
-
- Students led international protests against Operation
Cast Lead. On January 13, 2009, they occupied a University of London building,
igniting student occupations at 29 US and UK universities in solidarity
with Gaza. They called for:
-
- -- condemning the attack;
-
- -- divestment in companies doing business with Israel,
especially ones providing military weapons, munitions, and equipment;
-
- -- sending computers and books to Gaza students and providing
scholarships; and
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- -- arranging lectures and debates about the Occupation.
-
- Other civil society initiatives included participants
at a July 2005 UN International Civil Society Conference in support of
Middle East peace unanimously adopting the Palestinian Call for BDS (boycott,
divestment and sanctions). In November 2007, the first BDS conference was
held, and the Boycott National Committee (BNC) formed in the same year
to build and spread boycotts as a central form of resistance.
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- Targeting Israeli Companies with Colonial Operations
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- Agrexco is the most prominent, a 50% state owned company
exporting fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs from Israel and its West Bank
locations. It's one of the three largest Israeli companies exporting from
Occupied Palestine while labeling their products "made in Israel."
-
- The campaign began in 2005 when activists blockaded the
company's depot in Middlesex, UK, stopping all deliveries for over eight
hours. Other actions followed and continue. Protestors accuse Agrexco of
complicity with crimes of war and against humanity and cite the destroyed
Palestinian economy forcing West Bank workers, including children, to survive
on 30 shekels a day with no unions or benefits.
-
- Lev Leviev was also targeted, the Israeli diamond mogul
and real estate baron who finances Israeli colonies in the West Bank. In
November 2007, a surprise protest was held at his Manhattan boutique. Others
followed in different countries against his real estate partner Shaya Boymelgreen's
company Green Park, including a Bi'lin village $2 million suit for building
and selling settlement housing on village land in violation of international
law.
-
- "Key to the success so far has been the level of
coordination and the involvement of Palestinian villages and organizations
in the campaign" to:
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- -- engage the press;
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- -- attract Hollywood celebrity endorsers;
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- -- get the UK government to boycott Leviev over his West
Bank construction ;
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- -- have UNICEF cut ties with him;
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- -- Oxfam International and the US Carousel of Hope charity
to refuse his donations;
-
- -- get the Arab League's Damascus Boycott Office to consider
adding his companies to its boycott list; and
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- -- have Dubai refuse to let him open new stores there
under his name.
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- Economic Isolation Works
-
- Western governments supported South African apartheid
until civil society group actions got corporations to divest, paving the
way for government boycotts and sanctions. "The timeline of action
"during the Gaza massacre suggests a similar pattern:"
-
- -- on January 13, 2009, the Greek government announced
that a ship with munitions for Israel wasn't welcome; students at 29 US
and UK universities protested for divestment and severing cultural and
academic ties with Israel;
-
- -- on January 14, Amnesty International (AI) called for
a global arms embargo against Israel; the EU and European Commission announced
a freeze in upgrading relations with Israel;
-
- -- on January 16, Qatar closed Israel's trade office
in Doha and gave Israeli officials a week to leave the country; Mauritania
suspended trade relations as well;
-
- -- on January 20, the Stockholm community council announced
that the French company, Veolia, lost a future eight-year contract to build
and maintain a railway through East Jerusalem that connects Israeli settlements
in the West Bank;
-
- -- on February 1, Belgium ended arms exports to Israel;
-
- -- on February 5, South African Transport and Allied
Workers Union (SATAWU) dockworkers refused to offfload a ship carrying
Israeli goods;
-
- -- on February 9, 23 vicars encouraged the Church of
England to divest;
-
- -- on February 12, Hampshire College became the first
US university to divest from companies involved with the Occupation;
-
- -- on February 26, UK-based Cardiff University divested
all shares from BAE Systems and GE's aerospace arm over their IDF dealings;
-
- -- on April 2, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation,
the New York Campaign to Boycott Israel and others got Motorola to sell
its Government Electronics Department, a unit that supplied military-related
items to Israel;
-
- -- on April 13, the Dutch Labor Party sought sanctions
against Israel;
-
- -- on April 14, French corporation Veolia's transportation
branch lost a Bordeaux contract worth 750 million euros; it's lost business
now totals over $7.5 billion.
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- Israel's Tarnished Brand Name
-
- When sustained with enough pressure, economic boycott
works. In February 2009, the Israeli Export Institute reported that 10%
of 400 exporters got order cancellations over Operation Cast Lead. In March,
the Israel Manufacturers Association said 21% of 90 local exporters questioned
reported a drop in demand due to boycotts, mostly in UK and Scandinavian
counties.
-
- In Europe, supermarkets are re-labeling Israeli products
made in Cyprus or Spain because "made in Israel" no longer sells.
-
- The Challenge of Dependency
-
- Since 1967, Israel forced dependency on the Territories
by controlling its ports, land crossings, and airports, compounded by hundreds
of West Bank checkpoints and the Separation Wall. As a result around 90%
of it is with Israel, while 75% of imported goods are Israeli-made. Conditions
are especially acute in Gaza because of war and closure, meaning only Israeli-approved
goods can enter, and too few of those under siege.
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- A Working BDS Framework
-
- Just as civil society-led boycotts ended South African
apartheid, so can they end decades of Israeli crimes of war and against
humanity against Occupied Palestine. They work, more than ever after human
rights reports on Operation Cast Lead documented what no longer can be
tolerated. The task is to build global outrage to critical mass enough
for change.
-
- Organizations in 20 countries now participate under the
banner of the International Coordinating Network on Palestine (ICNP). Formed
in 2002, it calls itself "a body of civil society organizations....under
the auspices of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable
Rights of the Palestinian People."
-
- Its mission "is to strengthen the role of civil
society in supporting and demanding, of governments and international institutions,
the full implementation" of all Palestinian rights under international
law, including to self-determination, national independence, and sovereignty.
-
- ICNP coordinates global campaigns; facilitates communication;
aids local organizations' plans civil society conferences; and mobilizes
global BDS support. It strives for representation on every continent in
many more nations than the following now participating:
-
- -- Australia;
-
- -- Belgium;
-
- -- Canada;
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- -- the autonomous Catalonian northeast Spanish community
and its capital, Barcelona;
-
- -- Denmark;
-
- -- France;
-
- -- Egypt;
-
- -- Greece;
-
- -- Iceland;
-
- -- Italy;
-
- -- Netherlands;
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- -- Norway;
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- -- Scotland;
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- -- South Africa;
-
- -- Spain;
-
- -- the UK; and
-
- -- US.
-
- BDS initiatives include:
-
- -- academic and cultural boycotts to tell Israel that
its "occupation and discrimination against Palestinians is unacceptable;"
Israel practices militarized apartheid combined with religious fundamentalist
bigotry; non-Jewish voices are excluded; Israeli children are taught to
deny a Palestinian identity; through close monitoring, Israel cracks down
hard against non-compliers;
-
- -- consumer boycotts through bad publicity, building
public awareness, pressuring stores to remove Israeli products, encouraging
companies to stop buying Israeli technology, and overall creating an inhospitable
climate for Israeli commerce;
-
- -- sports boycotts to highlight Israeli oppression and
discrimination and stop its self-promotion as a "fair player"
in bilateral and international competition; at the same time to promote
a Palestinian presence in these events to support their right to identity
and self-determination;
-
- -- divestment/disinvestment in Israel and companies globally
that support its occupation and oppression; encourage and pressure individuals,
businesses, organizations, universities, pension funds, and governments
to shed their Israeli investments to exert pressure for change;
-
- -- sanctions, starting with open debate and raising awareness
on applying them; followed by implementing comprehensive economic, political,
and military measures to isolate the Jewish state; ending Israel's membership
in economic and political bodies like the UN, WHO, Red Cross, WTO, and
OECD;
-
- -- end cooperation agreements under which Israel gets
preferential treatment on trade, joint research and development, and various
other projects; Israel's Export and International Cooperation Institute
reported in 2006 that participation of its companies in global 2005 projects
grew by 150% over 2004 - from $600 million in to $1.5 billion; Israel is
the only non-European country participating in the EU's Sixth Framework
Programme for R & D and gets preferential treatment as a member; many
international agreements have clauses that bind participating countries
to human rights, international law, and democratic standards; Israel disdains
them, and must be challenged and excluded as a result;
-
- -- efforts at the local, regional, and institutional
levels to build greater individual awareness and support;
-
- -- ending military ties over Israel's role as a serial
aggressor; militarism and violence define its culture; confrontation is
practiced over diplomacy, and peaceful coexistence is a non-starter; despite
its own technology, it's heavily dependent on America and other nations
for hardware and munitions supplies; breaking that connection can curb
its crimes of war and against humanity; heightening public awareness is
crucial to accomplishing this goal;
-
- -- involving faith-based bodies and institutions regarding
moral and human rights issues, not religion; and
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