BDS UPDATE
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel
December 2006 to early March 2007
John Bergen and 93 Other Authors, Film-makers, Musicians and Performers Call for a
Cultural Boycott of Israel
15 December – The Guardian, London: In a letter published in The Guardian, the 94, including renowned author John Berger, UK musicians and song-writers Brian Eno and Leon Rosselson;
film makers Sophie Fiennes, Elia Suleiman and Haim Bresheeth; documentary maker Jenny Morgan; singer Reem Kelani; writers Arundhati Roy, Ahdaf Soueif, and Eduardo Galeano, call on their colleagues not to vist, exhibit or perform in Israel. (www.pacbi.org)
Pickets in Canada against Book Store Chain Supporting Israel’s Occupation
25 December 2006 – In Toronto and Montreal the Coalition against Israeli Apartheid, supported by Not in Our Name, launched a boycott of Indigo Books and Music Inc., a bookstore chain affiliated with the ‘Foundation Foundation for Lone Soldiers’ (HESEG) providing financial support to soldiers in the Israeli occupation army. The boycott campaign launched at the height of the holiday shopping season will continue until major shareholders of the bookstore chain publicly cut ties to the HESEG foundation. (www.caiaweb.org, www.stopthewall.org)
Catholics Call For Divestment
2 January 2007 - Roman Catholics have come out in favor of divesting from Israel in a poll conducted by the Catholic organ, The Tablet. A majority of those questioned (68.5%) agreed that they “would disinvest from companies whose products are used by the Israeli government in the occupied territories”; 75% called for the “removal of Jewish West Bank settlements,” and 79.4% disagreed with the statement that “the security wall is needed to protect the population of [Israel] from suicide bombers.” (www.christiantoday.com)
Amazon Petition Demands Fair Treatment for Carter Book
22 January 2007- Berkeley, CA: ten days after shoppers began a campaign protesting Amazon. com’s extraordinarily hostile presentation of former President Jimmy Carter’s book on Palestine, a petition with 16,200 signatures was delivered to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and the company responded by revamping its web-page. It now begins with a tribute from Amazon to the former president’s achievements and an interview with him about the book, plus a photo of him and graphic links to some of his other books – all new material, and all of it posted ahead of the negative review.
South African Union Calls for Boycott and Embargo of Israeli Avocado
23 January - South Africa: the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) condemned Shoprite Holding’s Checkers and Pick ‘n Pay and Fruit and Veg for import of avocado pears from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The Union explained in a statement that, “We are appalled at the insensitivity towards the plight of the Palestinian people by the procurement of supplies from an oppressive, apartheid country like Israel” and called for a boycott of and the halt of such imports. (www.fawu.org.za)
Women In Black Call to Boycott Israeli Philharmonic
5-6 February - Los Angles: Women In Black-Los Angles called for a silent candlelight vigil for boycott of the Israeli Philharmonic at Disney Hall in Los Angles to oppose Apartheid in Palestine and call for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The organization explained in its statement that this call to boycott the Israeli Philharmonic is part of the Palestinian and international civil society campaign for cultural and economic boycotts, along with divestment and sanction campaigns against Israel. They said,“We oppose Israeli Apartheid and oppose Israel’s Occupation of Palestine. Just as the international community imposed a cultural, sports and economic boycott of South African in order to end Apartheid there, we call for a similar boycott to end Israeli Apartheid.” (www.wib-la.org)
Palestinian Labor Unions Call for Boycott of Israeli Goods
11 February - Ramallah: The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), the General Union of Palestinian Workers, the Coalition of Independent Democratic Trade Unions, other professional associations, and the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign called for a comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions movement to isolate Israel and the Zionist Histadrut. At the press conference in Ramallah, labor official Haider Ibrahim said, “The unions and the popular campaign appeal for an inclusive boycott of Israeli products and for continued resistance to the Apartheid Wall.” Ibrahim asked that Palestinian workers escalate their boycott of Israeli materials to include all of those available on the market. He appealed to the Arab League to support the nonviolent action against occupation. (www.stopthewall.org)
UK Activists Boycott Israeli Flowers on Valentine’s Day
10 February – U.K.: the Boycott Israeli Goods (BIG) Campaign called for a boycott of Israeli flowers and launched blockade actions in the run up to Valentine’s Day, in order to prevent cut flowers from reaching stores across the country. The action aimed to strengthen the ongoing campaign against Carmel-Agrexco, Israel’s main marketing venture of agricultural produce abroad. (www.bigcampaign.org.uk)
Third Annual “Israeli Apartheid Week”
12- 16 February – U.K. and North America: recalling the UN International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the crime of Apartheid, students at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London (SOAS), Montreal, Ottawa, New York and Hamilton held the third Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) with events in their respective campuses. According to the week organizers, the week’s goal was to “push forward the analysis of Israel as an apartheid state and to bolster support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign in accordance with the demands outlined in the July 2005 Statement: full equality for Arab citizens of Israel, an end to the occupation and colonization of the West Bank and Gaza, and the implementation of the right of return and compensation for Palestinian refugees pursuant to UN resolution 194. (www.endisraeliapartheid.net)
Norwegian Workers’ Union
Trondheim, 19 February - The Norway workers’ union conference decided (separately) to call for a 2 percent “war tax” on all Israeli products, and that funds should be used to rebuild the Palestinian infrastructure. The union also called to establish weapons embargo on Israel, pull out investment in Israel from the Norwegian Pensions Fund, require Israel to disengage from the Palestinian occupied Territories, put pressure on Israel to stop its military actions against the Palestinians, and dismantle the Wall and settlements. The Union has 83, 000 members. Electricians service in Temecula CA
Canadian Action Party
7 March – the Canadian Action Party (CAP/PAC) endorsed a call to boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel’s apartheid-like practices against the Palestinian people based on the July 2006 Call by Palestinian civil society. A motion in this respect was tabled at the party’s convention in September 2006 in order to become more familiar with the issue; it has now been officially approved. CAP/PAC believes that Israel must demolish the separation or “Apartheid” Wall which is encroaching Palestinians land and making daily life impossible for Palestinians. CAP/PAC said in a press release that, “Israel must compensate those injured by the wall to date, must cease its brutal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and must comply with the precepts of international law, including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.” (www.canadianactionparty.ca)
Prominent Call for Divestment at Howard
17 March - Activists calling for ending financial support for Israel welcomed a victory at Howard, a university in Washington, DC. The faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences voted overwhelmingly to call on the university’s board of trustees to divest from Israel. (www.pacbi.org)
Endorse the 2005 Palestinian civil society BDS
Call: www.bds-palestine.net