A Call to Boycott Israel

Boycott Israel
to Enforce Respect and Implementation of International Law, Human Rights, and UN Resolutions

(E/52/2002)

BADIL Resource Center
28 August 2002
For Immediate Release

A Call Issued by Palestinian Civil Society Organizations, August 2002

In September 2001, one year after all international efforts at halting Israel’s violent military repression of the second Palestinian uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip had failed, some 3,000 civil society organizations from around the world met at the third World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa and approved their NGO Declaration and Program of Action. These NGO documents address racism and racial discrimination related to the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including military occupation and the denial of the right of return of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes and properties.

Already in Durban, representatives of 3000 civil society organizations from around the world were united in their call for global boycott and sanctions against Israel. Among others, the NGO Program of Action:

Calls for the launch of an international anti Israeli Apartheid movement as implemented against the South African Apartheid through a global solidarity network of international civil society, UN bodies and agencies, business and communities to end the conspiracy of silence among states, particularly the European Union and the United States (article 424).
Calls upon the international community to impose a policy of complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state as in the case of South Africa which means the imposition of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes, the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel. (article 425).

One year after Durban, Israel is engaged in the destruction of Palestinian civil society and its political leadership and the re-establishment of direct military occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. More than ever, Israel, protected by the United States and tolerated by the European Union, violates international law, human rights and UN resolutions.

Therefore, we as members of Palestinian civil society welcome all recent initiatives to boycott Israel which have been launched in many parts of the world. For the sake of freedom and justice in Palestine and the world, we call 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.

Israel Boycotts International Law and Human Rights – We Boycott Israel!

With greetings of solidarity,

Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ)
Arab Center for Agricultural Development (ACAD)
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
General Federation of Trade Unions in Palestine (GFTUP)
High Coordination Committee of the Local Committees for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled – West Bank
LAW – The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment
Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy (PCPD)
Palestinian Federation of Women Action Committees (PFWAC), Nablus
PNGO –Palestinian NGO Network
Palestinian Prisoners Society
Popular Committees of the Palestinian Refugees – West Bank and Gaza Strip
Residents of Destroyed Palestinian Cities and Villages in 1948 Palestine, Ramallah
Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)
Union of Health Care Committees
Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC)
Union of Youth Activity Centers – Palestine Refugee Camps (UYAC)

Please disseminate this call as widely as possible, especially among the international solidarity movement and at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (CEHRO/WSSD) currently convening in Johannesburg, South Africa.