We are members of an Israeli group called “Boycott! supporting the Palestinian call for boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) from within”. We are appealing to you because of commitment you have demonstrated during many years to social justice. We have recently heard that you plan to participate this November in the event “With Earth and Each Other: A Virtual Rally for a Better Middle East”, in benefit of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.
You might not have heard initially about the BDS call and movement, a broad coalition of Palestinian organizations that have amongst other things, called on artists not to entertain apartheid Israel. Their call has been joined by Desmond Tutu and Bill Fletcher, Jr. amongst many others. These calls are the direct result of the systematic and ongoing oppression of Palestinians by Israel and Israel's decade’s long refusal to stop violating Palestinians human rights.
You might not have heard initially about the BDS call and movement, a broad coalition of Palestinian organizations that have amongst other things, called on artists not to entertain apartheid Israel. Their call has been joined by Desmond Tutu and Bill Fletcher, Jr. amongst many others. These calls are the direct result of the systematic and ongoing oppression of Palestinians by Israel and Israel's decade’s long refusal to stop violating Palestinians human rights.
It is clear that you believe you are heading to an event that will be promoting peace. This “virtual rally for a better middle east” will be promoting a mainstream Israeli institution that claims to promote cooperation and peace. However this is done in a “non political” context while ignoring the imbalance of power and the daily injustice the Palestinians are enduring. Just very recently in the Negev, Israeli Bedouins had been evicted by force from their lands to make room for whatever seems best to the Jewish majority and authority. This is sadly a common event, one of many faces of the Israeli Apartheid.
