NEW YORKERS IN SUPPORT OF ‘BDS’ MOVEMENT

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November 15, 2009 at 8:10 am (Associate Post, Boycott Israel, Divestment, International Solidarity, Israel, Palestine)

Commentary by Chippy Dee, Photos © by Bud Korotzer

“If apartheid (in South Africa) ended, so can this occupation, but the moral force and international pressure will have to be just as determined. The current divestment effort is the first…move in this direction.”

Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, October 2002

‘Palestinian babies in Gaza are being born blue because the water is full of nitrates. It gets the nitrates from the sewerage in it. White phosphorus was used there that burns through peoples flesh. Boycott, divestment, and sanctions are urgent. There is a slow deliberate policy of genocide in Gaza.’ These were some of the opening comments made by Omar Barghouti, at a November 6th forum organized by New York University Students for Justice in Palestine and the Adalah-N.Y. Coalition for Justice in the Middle East on the subject of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: A Quest for Justice, Human Rights, and Peace. The panelists were: Omar Barghouti, human rights advocate and founding member of the Palestinian civil society campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Nancy Krikorian, the N.Y. Coordinator of CodePink will discuss it’s “Stolen Beauty” boycott campaign against the Israeli company Ahava, which is manufactured in a West Bank settlement (colony) and appropriates it’s ingredients in occupied Palestinian territory. Ryvka Bar Zohar is a PhD candidate at NYU’s Department of Middle East and Islamic Studies and a member of the N.Y. Campaign for the Boycott of Israel. NYCBI organized a campaign to boycott communications giant Motorola over it’s sale of technology to the Israeli army and the settlement movement. She also works as a Jewish educator in N.Y.C. synagogue schools where she engages students in critical thinking about the culture, history, and living situations of both Palestinians and Israelis.

Apartheid, explained Barghouti, is a well defined crime against humanity, and the definition fits the situation in Israel. There are 2 sets of laws: one for Jews and one for non-Jews. The Palestinians in Israel are not nationals, and only nationals can have rights. Israel is a state for Jews. Non-Jews can be citizens but they cannot be nationals, so, under that system there cannot be equality. Palestinians have to appeal to the people of the world to help them change their situation. There is genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing on the West Bank, and the Palestinian citizens of Israel do not have equal rights. The U.S. singles out Israel for privileged treatment despite all their human rights abuses and condemned the Goldstone Report for declaring that Israel had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The mainstream media in the U.S. doesn’t report Israel’s human rights abuses.

The BDS movement has appealed to the conscience of the world. It is based on universalistic principles – it is anti-racist and non-violent. The goals are to end the occupation, facilitate the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, ensure equal rights for all citizens of Israel, and to pressure Israel to comply with basic principles of justice and international law. Anti-Semitism is not allowed. The Jewish people are not responsible for what Israel does. The movement takes no position on political issues, for example, it does not say whether a 1 state or a 2 state solution would be better.

Progress in the BDS Campaign has been slowest in the United States. It is moving much more quickly in Europe and elsewhere. Trade unions in Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and South Africa are supporting it. Dock workers in South Africa have refused to unload Israeli ships. The Student Union at Sussex University is supporting it. Sanctions have been applied against Israel in Norway, Sweden, and Spain. Arab societies are supporting it while their governments are not. Many Jewish groups are saying “Not in our name” and supporting BDS. The World Council of Churches has partially divested. With modern technology it is possible to move the campaign further and faster. Mr. Barghouti concluded by saying that the U.S. is spending billions on the military in Israel and elsewhere in the world while depriving American civil society of basic essentials – health care, education, etc. It is up to us, the American people, to determine what U.S. interests are. Are corporate benefits more important than the interests of the people?

The next speaker, Nancy Krikorian, explained that after the Israeli invasion of Gaza a year ago, CodePink believed that they had to get involved in the issue of Palestinian rights. CodePink has sent several delegations to Gaza, both fact-finding and bringing humanitarian aid. They believe that BDS is a moral and strategic tactic. Ahava is an illegal settlement product and the company is profiting from the occupation. While in Tel Aviv, Medea Benjamin, one of CodePink’s founders, and several CodePink members occupied the Ahava store in their hotel and had a protest demonstration there. During the attack on Gaza, women in London took over an Ahava store there and blockaded it. When New York’s Central Park created a Tel Aviv beach as part of rebranding Israel, CodePink women came in bikinis and carried anti-occupation signs. Film and television actor, Kristin Davis was the spokesperson for Ahava in the U.S.. What the company was doing was explained to her and she made no response. Davis was also the spokesperson for Oxfam. When Oxfam learned about her association with Ahava they let her go. This brought bad publicity for Ahava so they let her go also.

Ahava has pulled the list of where their product is sold off their website. Women in Austria and Canada have joined the boycott. Ahava is a large company and the boycott may not make a huge dent in their profits, but it is making people aware of Israel’s illegal and immoral policies against the Palestinians.

Ryvka Bar Zohar described the campaign by NYCBI and Adalah being waged against diamond dealer, Lev Leviev, and Motorola. Motorola produces product fuses and detonators for bombs used in Israel. They also produce advanced communications systems, including radar and cameras, that are used on the West Bank by settlers who want to track Palestinians outside their settlements. Having this technology makes the settlements more permanent. After the boycott started Motorola sold their Israeli division.

Lev Leviev is a billionaire who owns diamond mines in Angola and Namibia. He is the largest cutter and polisher of diamonds in the world. He also builds West Bank settlements. There is a public and a private part of the BDS campaign against Leviev. In the public part there are street actions outside his Madison Avenue store – especially before holidays when people are buying gifts. There is an attempt to be eye-catching and creative with signs and songs. Privately, letters have been sent to charities, that list him as a benefactor, describing what he is doing. He has been dropped from the sponsor list of several charities, including UNICEF. Being dropped from these sponsor lists is a serious blow to his prestige. It is also an opportunity to make people more aware of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians – which is a blow to Israel’s prestige.

During the question and answer period several issues were raised. A student asked what BDS should mean to his fellow NYU students? Mr. Barghouti explained that the campaign included an academic and cultural boycott and the universities are being asked to cut their institutional ties with Israeli universities. It is particularly important at NYU because NYU is about to open a campus at Tel Aviv University. That was the university where the Dalia Doctrine originated. That military doctrine said that civilians should be attacked in order to get them to pressure their government into capitulation. It was the policy Israel used against the people in Lebanon. The academic boycott applied to institutional ties to schools – not individuals.

The cultural aspect of BDS applies to performers. Those who support the occupation, are part of Israel’s rebranding campaign, are ambassadors for Israel, or are part of a whitewash of the oppression of Palestinians, should not be invited to perform. There should be no deceptive image of normalcy, no normalization of Israeli oppression, and Palestinian rights have to be recognized.

There is no boycott of Israeli movies unless there is Israeli money involved in the distribution of the film. Recently the Israeli government put money into the Edinburgh Film Festival. Director Ken Loach told the festival that he would withdraw his film unless the money was returned to Israel. Edinburgh returned the money rather than lose the Loach film.

Barghouti said that without resistance the colonialists will never give up power and privilege. Every victory is important, even if it is small. It raises the spirit of the oppressed. There is not a lot of time – people of conscience have to work hard because at the rate things are going, within 25 years the Palestinian people will have been destroyed.