BADIL

Education through Grassroots Arts and Culture in Bethlehem's Refugee Camps

Affirming Refugee Rights while Advancing Strategic tools to Achieve these Rights

New BDS tools

New BDS Guide from Stop the Wall and War on Want: Towards a Global Movement for Palestine: A Framework for Today's Anti-Apartheid Activism

August 2007, OPT - The report considers the scope for the development of a global BDS activism strategy in accordance with the goals set out by Palestinians in their BDS calls.

Still no framework for peace that respects international law

Will the US-led Annapolis meeting fail, succeed, or even happen at all? Whatever the answer, one thing is clear: there is again no accountable process based on international law. In other words, the 'best' outcome will be another meaningless peace process, because it fails to take into account international law and best practice.

When the first news came from Tunis and Tel-Aviv in early September 1993 about the secret talks between the PLO and the Israeli government, the people of Palestine inside and in the exile were torn between enthusiasm and optimism on the one hand, and doubt and skepticism on the other. “Let’s wait and see”, said many then.

The situation of uncertainty did not last long. A week later, the secret Oslo talks were revealed and we learned that the parties had concluded the talks with a Declaration of Principles that was to pave the way for final status negotiations on the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, i.e. the agreement which became known as the Oslo Agreement or the Declaration of Principles.

Scottish PSC successfully campaign to cancel Israel flag raising ceremony

8 May 2008 - Zionists organizations in Scotland held an Israel at 60 celebration event in East Renfrewshire, Scotland. For three Saturdays running up to the event, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign organized stalls in the area, which is also the location of the Israeli Information Office and KKL-JNF Scotland offices, and launched a popular campaign opposing the event. The Council bent under pressure from Scottish PSC and other pro-Palestine groups in Scotland such as Scottish Friends of Palestine and the Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign, as well as individual constituents, and refused to allow the Israeli flag to run up the Council flagpole. The Provost of East Renfrewshire Council, Liberal Democrat Alex Mackie, however, allowed the celebration event to take place, and attended it. The Council denied they were financially supporting the event, however after the event The Jewish Chronicle reported that East Renfrewshire Council donated £500 to buy the celebration's fireworks.

Of all of the countries in which campaigns for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions have been initiated, none is as intimately tied to Israel - economically, politically, and socially - as the United States. Indeed, the United States military-industrial complex forms the umbilical cord that sustains the apartheid state of Israel, and which, if severed, would likely cause the entire Zionist enterprise to wither and perish. Not even the combined economic might of the massive nongovernmental American Zionist establishment is enough to supply the vast military infrastructure that allows Israel to survive as the last colonial state in a post-colonial world.

The three main arenas of Swiss-Israeli cooperation are economic, military and scientific. Since the end of the 1990s, Switzerland has expanded its cooperation with Israel in spite of the fact that there has been a marked increase in human rights abuses since the outbreak of the second Intifada, and that the oppression of the Palestinian people has been more exposed to public scrutiny.

Switzerland, as a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) since 1993, has concluded a free trade agreement with Israel. The agreement is actually limited to products from Israel within the 1949 armistice lines. Products from the territories Israel occupied in 1967 are not included, but these settlement products find their way into the European and Swiss market falsely labelled “Made in Israel.” Countries belonging to the EFTA and member states of the EU, who also subscribed to this agreement, have failed to take effective measures against this misleading labelling. Ignoring Israeli violation of the agreement, the Swiss government concluded a new tax agreement with Israel in 2003 in order to encourage bilateral investments.

 Switzerland has an export surplus to Israel, especially in the trade of diamonds, pharmaceutical products and chemicals, machines and clocks. Diamonds account for half of these goods as Switzerland exports twice as many diamonds to Israel as it imports from Israel. Swiss diamond merchants acquire most of their uncut diamonds principally from the African continent, and export them to Israel for finishing. Only some of the finished gems return to Swiss jewellers (for example to the clock and jewelry fair in Basel, now known as Basel World).

In Sweden, the general public is largely aware of the need to boycott Israeli agricultural products such as avocado and citrus fruits due to a long standing understanding of the illegitimacy and criminality of Israeli policies and practices. However, there is a more alarming trend in the official Swedish-Israeli governmental relationship. Some organizations in the country have worked actively to highlight and counteract this.