[News] Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 
against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal 
Principles of Human Rights
http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/486.shtml

9 July 2005

One year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International 
Court of Justice (ICJ) which found Israel's Wall built on occupied 
Palestinian territory to be illegal, Israel continues its 
construction of the colonial Wall with total disregard to the Court's 
decision. Thirty eight years into Israel's occupation of the 
Palestinian West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the 
Syrian Golan Heights, Israel continues to expand Jewish colonies. It 
has unilaterally annexed occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan 
Heights and is now de facto annexing large parts of the West Bank by 
means of the Wall. Israel is also preparing - in the shadow of its 
planned redeployment from the Gaza Strip - to build and expand 
colonies in the West Bank. Fifty seven years after the state of 
Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its 
Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of 
whom are stateless. Moreover, Israel's entrenched system of racial 
discrimination against its own Arab-Palestinian citizens remains intact.

In light of Israel's persistent violations of international law, and 
Given that, since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned 
Israel's colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal and called 
for immediate, adequate and effective remedies, and

Given that all forms of international intervention and peace-making 
have until now failed to convince or force Israel to comply with 
humanitarian law, to respect fundamental human rights and to end its 
occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine, and

In view of the fact that people of conscience in the international 
community have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to 
fight injustice, as exemplified in the struggle to abolish apartheid 
in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions;

Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid and in 
the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and 
resistance to injustice and oppression,

We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon 
international civil society organizations and people of conscience 
all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment 
initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa 
in the apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective 
states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also 
invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of 
justice and genuine peace.

These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel 
meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's 
inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the 
precepts of international law by:
1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and 
dismantling the Wall;
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian 
citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian 
refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN 
resolution 194.



<http://www.badil.org/Boycott-Statement.htm>View the signatures


Palestinian Civil Society Call for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

Whereas Israel's colonial oppression of the Palestinian people, which 
is based on Zionist ideology, comprises the following:
    * Denial of its responsibility for the Nakba -- in particular the 
waves of ethnic cleansing and dispossession that created the 
Palestinian refugee problem -- and therefore refusal to accept the 
inalienable rights of the refugees and displaced stipulated in and 
protected by international law;
    * Military occupation and colonization of the West Bank 
(including East Jerusalem) and Gaza since 1967, in violation of 
international law and UN resolutions;
    * The entrenched system of racial discrimination and segregation 
against the Palestinian citizens of Israel, which resembles the 
defunct apartheid system in South Africa;
Since Israeli academic institutions (mostly state controlled) and the 
vast majority of Israeli intellectuals and academics have either 
contributed directly to maintaining, defending or otherwise 
justifying the above forms of oppression, or have been complicit in 
them through their silence,

Given that all forms of international intervention have until now 
failed to force Israel to comply with international law or to end its 
repression of the Palestinians, which has manifested itself in many 
forms, including siege, indiscriminate killing, wanton destruction 
and the racist colonial wall,

In view of the fact that people of conscience in the international 
community of scholars and intellectuals have historically shouldered 
the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in their 
struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott,

Recognizing that the growing international boycott movement against 
Israel has expressed the need for a Palestinian frame of reference 
outlining guiding principles,

In the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and 
resistance to injustice and oppression,

We, Palestinian academics and intellectuals, call upon our colleagues 
in the international community to comprehensively and consistently 
boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions as a 
contribution to the struggle to end Israel's occupation, colonization 
and system of apartheid, by applying the following:
    * Refrain from participation in any form of academic and cultural 
cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions;
    * Advocate a comprehensive boycott of Israeli institutions at the 
national and international levels, including suspension of all forms 
of funding and subsidies to these institutions;
    * Promote divestment and disinvestment from Israel by 
international academic institutions;
    * Work toward the condemnation of Israeli policies by pressing 
for resolutions to be adopted by academic, professional and cultural 
associations and organizations;
    * Support Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly 
without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as an 
explicit or implicit condition for such support.




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