#BDS: مؤتمر مقاطعة إسرائيل يحظر التعامل مع ست شركات بينها أردنيتان

كشفت مصادر مطلعة لـ«الوطن» أن المؤتمر الـ85 لضباط اتصال المكاتب الإقليمية لمقاطعة إسرائيل قرر حظر التعامل مع ست شركات لثبوت تعاملها مع إسرائيل كما قرر رفع الحظر عن شركة Aerosvit Airlines الأوكرانية بعدما التزمت بمبادئ المقاطعة.

وفي حين نظر المؤتمر في أوضاع أربع شركات وقرر عدم الحاجة لحظرها بعدما تأكد من عدم تعاملها مع إسرائيل، فإنه أجل البت بوضع الشركة الأوكرانيةUkranian International Airlines إلى مؤتمره القادم بعد ستة أشهر لحين استكمال البحث في الوثائق المتعلقة بهذه الشركة قبل إقرار حظرها أو سلامة وضعها.

ولم يعلن المؤتمر الذي اختتم أعماله بدمشق الخميس عن أسماء هذه الشركات كما لم يتطرق إليها في بيانه الختامي بانتظار تصديق مجلس الجامعة العربية لقراراته، إلا أن المصادر كشفت لـ«الوطن» أن الشركات المحظورة هي: الشركة اللوكسمبرغية: Paradiam Geophysical SrL، والشركة الألمانية: Wittur AG، والشركة السويسرية: Syngenta AG، والشركتان الأردنيتان «اليمامة» و«رم الخليج»، و«جمعية أصدقاء الأرض- الشرق الأوسط» التي تُعنى بالحفاظ على البيئة ولها مقرات في تل أبيب وبيت لحم وعمان، وأعضاؤها إسرائيليون وفلسطينيون وأردنيون.

أما الشركات التي اعتبر المؤتمر وضعها سليماً فهي وفق مصادر «الوطن» الشركة الإسبانية Cortefel S. A، والشركة اليابانية Olfa Corporation، والشركة البريطانية Explora Security Ltd، والشركة الفرنسية Sogreah.

#BDS: رفض دعوة توتو لمقاطعة إسرائيل

رفضت أوبرا كيب تاون إلغاء حفلتها في إسرائيل بعد دعوة وجهها إلى الأوبرا كبير أساقفة جنوب أفريقيا الفائز بجائزة نوبل للسلام ديزموند توتو، كما نددت الطائفة اليهودية في البلاد بمواقف رجل الدين الأفريقي.

وذكرت وكالة الأنباء الجنوب أفريقية (سابا) أن أوبرا كيب تاون أعلنت الأربعاء أنها لن تلغي الحفل المقرر الشهر المقبل.

وكان الأسقف توتو قد حث الأوبرا الثلاثاء على إلغاء حفلتها المقررة في إسرائيل، وقال "كما قلنا خلال سياسة التمييز العنصري إنه من غير الملائم أن يؤدي الفنانون الدوليون في جنوب أفريقيا في مجتمع قائم على القوانين العنصرية، سيكون من الخطأ أن تؤدي أوبرا كيب تاون في إسرائيل".

ودعا كبير أساقفة جنوب أفريقيا الفرقة إلى تأجيل حفلتها إلى أن يتمكن محبو الأوبرا من إسرائيليين وفلسطينيين من حضورها بشكل متساو حسب تعبيره.

يأتي ذلك في حين وجهت مجموعة من الإسرائيليين المعارضين لسياسة حكومتهم رسالة إلى الأوبرا حثوها فيها على عدم المشاركة في الحفل.

وفي المقابل انتقد مجلس ممثلي اليهود في جنوب أفريقيا تصريحات توتو وأصدر بيانًا قال فيه "إن السلام والتفاهم يخدمان بالطريقة المثلى من خلال التواصل البنّاء والإيجابي بين إسرائيل وجنوب أفريقيا والأراضي الفلسطينية وليس من خلال المقاطعة".

#BDS: BDS Action: Protest IKEA, which Delivers to Israeli Colonies but not Palestinian Cities in West Bank

You may have heard that this summer, Swedish Radio revealed that the Swedish furniture company IKEA, through its local franchisee in Israel Northern Birch Ltd. makes home deliveries to Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. They refuse to deliver to Palestinian communities nearby.

The settlements are illegal according to international law, and considered illegal also by the EU. Delivering furniture to the settlers means giving legitimacy to the dual system called apartheid by many operated by the Israeli government.

At the same time IKEA takes pride in being considered as one of the frontrunners of CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility. The company has an extensive Code of Conduct, based on the eight core conventions defined in the Fundamental Principles of Rights at Work, ILO declaration June 1998, the Rio Declaration on Sustainable Development 1992, The UN Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development and the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact 2000. IKEA recognises the fundamental principles of Human Rights, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations 1948).

Swedish renowned professor of international law, Mr. Ove Bring, stated after reviewing the case that IKEA is breaching the spirit of the universal human rights by its delivery policy.

#BDS: Oxfam works in Israel to ‘alter the balance’

Oxfam is to launch a new strategy to improve its image with Israel and British Jews, after concerns about pro-Palestinian bias within the organisation.

The charity has never actively publicised its work with Jewish Israelis. During Operation Cast Lead Oxfam released a statement saying Palestinians had “fewer rights than convicts”.

Oxfam’s director Barbara Stocking, and its regional director for the Middle East, Olga Ghazaryan, have been working with the Movement for Reform Judaism to “rebalance” Oxfam’s portrayal of Israel on its website, and to add perspective to the statements it releases about the country.

Only Gaza, the West Bank and Bedouin projects in the Negev are currently highlighted on the organisation’s website.

The Reform Movement is to work on a joint poverty relief project with Oxfam for both Jews and Palestinians in Israel.

Oxfam’s Middle East media manager, Jennifer Abrahamson, said: “I think there have been many misconceptions about Oxfam’s relationship with Israel.

“We have worked in the country with both Jewish and Arab people and our mission is always only to help those suffering from injustice and poverty.

#BDS: علاء الأسواني يقاضي دار نشر إسرائيلية

القاهرة: بعد قيام مركز إسرائيلي فلسطيني بترجمة روايته "عمارة يعقوبيان" إلى العبرية، أكد الكاتب المصري د.علاء الأسواني أنه سوف يتخذ الإجراء القانونى المناسب من خلال التقدم بدعوى قضائية ضد دار النشر الإسرائيلية.

وبحسب الزميلة فتحية الدخاخني من صحيفة "المصري اليوم" أكد الأسواني إلى أن ما فعلته دار النشر يعد اعتداءً على الملكية الفكرية للمؤلف، ومخالف لكل الاتفاقيات الدولية، التى وقعت عليها إسرائيل.

وبالفعل قام الأسواني بإرسال جميع الأوراق الخاصة بالقضية لمحاميه حسام لطفى، محامى اتحاد الكتاب والناشرين أمس الأول لاتخاذ جميع الإجراءات وفقاً لما ذكره لـ "المصري اليوم"، معرباً عن انتقاده للحملة الهادفة لتشويه صورته ووصفه بأنه عدو للسامية والسلام، وللتجاهل الذي تعرضت له القضية الرئيسية الخاصة بالإعتداء على حقوق الملكية الفكرية له.

ومن جانبه أكد محمد سلماوى رئيس اتحاد الكتاب، إن الاتحاد مستعد للاتصال بوزارة الخارجية، واتحاد الناشرين الدوليين، لتصعيد الأزمة، مشيراً إلى أن إسرائيل اعتادت السطو والقرصنة على الأعمال الأدبية وترجمتها دون إذن مؤلفيها، الذين عادة ما يرفضون التعاون معهم، وبعضهم يتظاهر بعدم معرفته بما يفعله الناشرون الإسرائيليون، ونحن لا يمكننا التدخل دون إذن هؤلاء الكتاب.

يذكر أن المركز الإسرائيلي الفلسطيني للأبحاث والإعلام قد قام بتوزيع نسخة مجانية مترجمة إلى العبرية من رواية "عمارة يعقوبيان" للأسواني على أعضائه، بدون الحصول على تصريح من مؤلفها.

#BDS: Cyprus to Israel by kayak

Israelis paddle 180 nautical miles in first crossing by kayak from Cyprus to Israel. 'Winds of 25 knots, huge swell,' says Terra Santa instructor Kobi Sade

We’re on the high seas, some 100 nautical miles from Israel. The time is 2:30 am. The moon has disappeared over the horizon and the skies are pitch black with heavy clouds. I paddle forward carefully – the sea around me is rough, winds of up to 25 knots and a huge swell are behind me. I can’t see the waves, I just feel them lift the kayak like a matchstick. Sometimes they break beside me, and I am forced to make a support stroke with the paddle to avoid capsizing.

I am not alone. Motti Ben Atiya, my teammate, paddles beside me in his own kayak. I can’t see his face but I can imagine the exhilaration he must be feeling.

#BDS: S. African opera rejects Tutu's call to cancel Israel tour

Cape Town's renowned opera troupe says will not take political position, cut cultural ties with either Israel or PA

Cape Town's renowned opera troupe is rejecting a call from retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu to cancel a performance in Israel scheduled next month.

The opera's managing director Michael Williams said in a statement Wednesday that the opera would not take a political position and cut cultural ties with Israel or the Palestinian territory.

Tutu, who earned a Nobel for his peaceful opposition to apartheid, on Tuesday compared Cape Town Opera's planned visit to international artists performing in apartheid South Africa.

He said Israel is "luring" international artists to the Tel Aviv Opera House to advance its "fallacious claim to being a 'civilized democracy.'"

Tutu has emerged as a sharp critic of Israel. Last month, he backed calls for a South African academic boycott of Israel.

#BDS: Vanessa Paradis, Johnny Depp coming to Israel

French singer who rose to fame at 14 with chart-topper 'Joe le Taxi' signs on to perform in Tel Aviv in February; producers say she and her Hollywood superstar partner hope to meet Shimon Peres during visit

French singer, model and actress Vanessa Paradis, 37, is set to arrive in Israel on February 8 along with Johnny Depp, 47, and the couple's two children, 11-year-old Lily-Rose and eight-year-old John Christopher.

Paradis has signed on to perform at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center's Opera House on February 10. The contract includes an option for another show.

According to sources familiar with the production, the couple hopes to meet President Shimon Peres during their stay in Israel.

Paradis became a child star at 14 with the huge worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi".

#BDS: Ivri Lider nominated for MTV award

Israeli singer faces competition from other European crooners, after beating Carolina, Hadag Nahash, Sarit Hadad and Infected Mushroom for the honor

After Shiri Maimon and Ninet Tayeb, now it's Ivri Lider's turn to represent Israel at the MTV European music awards in the Best European act category. The event will take place in Madrid on November 7, 2010. Lider won MTV's online vote, beating Carolina, Hadag Nahash, Sarit Hadad and Infected Mushroom for the honor.

The song he has chosen to represent him in the cmetition is 'Jesse' and he will be competing against artists like Enrique Iglesias and Russian singer Dima who won the 2008 Eurovision song contest.

Sources within the music industry claimed on Monday that Lider's nomination fails to comply with the competition rules because Lider's song 'Jesse' was released two years ago, whereas songs requested for the competition should have been released no earlier than 2009.

#BDS: Egyptian author threatens to sue Israeli-Palestinian NGO for translating book without permission

Though no profits were earned as the novel was published for free, the writer is upset because he wanted to boycott the Hebrew language for political reasons.

Egyptian author Alaa Al Aswany is threatening to sue the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information ‏(IPCRI‏) for translating and publishing his acclaimed novel “The Yacoubian Building” against his will.

IPCRI published a Hebrew translation of the book on its website over the weekend. It said Al Aswany has persistently refused to have his books published in Israel, but the center decided to offer the book to Hebrew readers regardless. The title page says the translation is copyrighted by “IPCRI 2010.”

Al Aswany told reporters over the weekend that IPCRI’s action was a gross violation of his copyright, and that translating and publishing his book without permission was theft. He planned to sue IPCRI, he said.

#BDS: Israeli orchestra to perform at Wagner festival in Germany

Planned performance will challenge a long-standing Israeli taboo on the music of Richard Wagner, Adolf Hitler's favorite composer.

An Israeli orchestra will strike an emotional chord in Germany next year when it plays a work by Richard Wagner, Hitler's favorite composer, further challenging a long-standing taboo in Israel on his music.

Israeli ensembles hardly ever play Wagner, citing the feelings of Holocaust survivors.

But with the passage of time and the dwindling numbers of elderly survivors, vehement opposition in the Jewish state to the works of the anti-Semitic 19th-century composer is fading, Israel Chamber Orchestra (ICO) chairwoman Erela Talmi said.

#BDS: Group calls for boycott of Israeli products

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is urging a boycott of Israeli products and services - saying Palestine must not be forgotten.

Two members of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla will be holding a public meeting at the Central Hotel on Exchequer Street in Dublin this afternoon at 2pm.

Fintan Lane and Derek Graham were on board different ships intercepted by Israelis while trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The IPSC is also hoping to highlight what it calls the complicity of Veolia, the operators of the Luas in Dublin, with Israel's regime.

A spokesperson for the Irish Anti-War Movement said: "It is vital the murders of peace activists trying to break the siege of Gaza, and most importantly the cruel siege itself are not forgotten and that Israel is held to account for what it is doing to the Palestinian people.

"The easiest and most concrete way, ordinary people can put pressure on Israel and show their solidarity with the Palestinian people is by supporting the campaign of boycott, sanctions and divestment.

"Today we want to make the shops and shoppers in Dublin city aware of the connection between Israeli atrocity and some of the goods stocked in Dublin shops, and appeal to them not to buy these goods or stock them.

"Israel does very significant trade with Ireland. We need to hurt Israel in the pocket if we are to put pressure on them to end their cruel oppression of the Palestinian people."

#BDS: 38 Nobel winners slam academic boycotts against Israel

Laureates: "Academic, cultural boycotts, sanctions are antithetical to principles of academic, scientific freedom," WJC report says.

In an attempt to reverse the trend of boycotts against Israel, 38 Nobel peace prize laureates have signed a declaration condemning international attempts to divest from, sanction or boycott Israeli academic institutions and research centers, according to a World Jewish Congress (WJC) report on Tuesday.

Under the auspices of an initiative by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) the Nobel prize winners gave special attention to the continued threat of a boycott by South Africa’s University of Johannesburg of Ben-Gurion University in Israel and student divestment efforts in the University of California system.

The WJC report contained a statement by the Nobel prize laureates which read "Academic and cultural boycotts, divestments and sanctions in the academy are antithetical to principles of academic and scientific freedom, antithetical to principles of freedom of expression and inquiry, and may well constitute discrimination by virtue of national origin. Instead of fostering peace, [they] are likely to be counterproductive to the dynamics of reconciliation that lead to peace.”

#BDS: Montreal activists launch campus boycott campaign

As a boycott, divestment and sanctions conference was convened in Montreal last week, activists launched a boycott campaign at two city universities. A group of students, professors and staff from Concordia and McGill universities are calling on the schools cut ties with the Israeli Institute of Technology, more commonly referred to as Technion University.

A report compiled by the group says that the links between Concordia, McGill and Technion universities "serve to normalize the Israeli state's policies of institutionalized oppression and should be of serious concern to students, faculty and all members of McGill and Concordia's campus community."

The 13-page report, entitled "Structures of Oppression: Why McGill and Concordia's campus community must sever their links with the Technion University" [PDF], examines Technion's links to military technologies and manufacturers and the militarization and repression of political dissent on the Israeli university's campus. The report also details the nature of Concordia and McGill universities' relationships with the Israeli institution.

Based primarily on news articles, websites of Israeli weapons and military technology manufacturers, Technion press releases and reports written by human rights organizations, the report highlights "Technion University's involvement in the development of deadly military technologies and the intense militarization of an academic institution which directly and indirectly denies Palestinian citizens of Israel the same access to education as other students."

"Technion is complicit in the violations of international law and human rights abuses committed by the Israeli military against Palestinians by providing new military technologies to defense manufacturers," the report stated.

#BDS: This is what CAT bulldozers do in Palestine

This is not an earthquake.

This is what CAT bulldozers

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Tell TIAA-CREF to stop investing in CAT now.

Sign our petition

#BDS: Cape Town Opera: Don't help Israel whitewash its crimes

The following open letter to the Cape Town Opera was issued by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel on 25 October 2010:

Dear members of the Cape Town Opera,

We at the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), have recently learned of your scheduled performance in Israel on 12 November 2010. As you may know, in 2004, inspired by the triumphant cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa, and supported by key Palestinian unions and cultural groups, PACBI issued a call for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel ("Call for academic and cultural boycott of Israel"). We wish, in our letter to you, to stress the importance of this Palestinian call, and underscore the reasons for the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. We trust you will listen as we take our cue from your struggles and experiences in South Africa against oppression and injustice.

The 2004 Palestinian call for academic and cultural boycott of Israel appealed to international artists to refuse to perform in Israel or participate in events that serve to equate the occupier and the occupied and thus promote the continuation of injustice ("Palestinian civil society call"). Following this, in 2005, Palestinian civil society called for an all-encompassing boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign based on the principles of human rights, justice, freedom and equality . The BDS movement is asking artists to heed our call until "Israel withdraws from all the lands occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem; removes all its colonies in those lands; agrees to United Nations resolutions relevant to the restitution of Palestinian refugees rights; and dismantles its system of apartheid" (see "About the campaign"). In light of our call, your upcoming performance would violate the appeal of the Palestinian BDS movement which urges people of conscience throughout the world to isolate Israel until it ends its colonial and apartheid oppression of the Palestinian people, as was done to the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Your performance is especially disturbing considering the history of the "Porgy and Bess" production. In one of its initial tours in Washington, DC in 1936, the opera singer and actor Todd Duncan "led the cast in an ultimately successful protest against the National Theatre's segregation policy, resulting in the first time an integrated audience attended a performance at the National Theatre" ("Cape Town's Porgy and Bess opens the Israeli opera season," Midnight East blog, 20 October 2010). Ironically, this rich history will be lost on your audience as neither the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, nor the Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora will be allowed to attend your show.

Important, too, is the very nature of this opera as carrying a social and political message, whether it is racial, as some critics claim, or a reminder of policies of segregation. Such a message is further evidence that opera, and culture more broadly, do not rise above politics but are deeply embedded within it. That the subject of your opera carries political overtones should alert you to the fact that performing it in Israel, in this climate of persistent oppression and racist subjugation, would effectively serve to cover up Israel's crimes against the Palestinians. Some of Israel 's violations of international law and Palestinian rights that you would be turning a blind eye to are:

• Its brutal and unlawful military occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip. Israel restricts Palestinians' freedom of movement and of speech; blocks access to lands, health care, and education; imprisons Palestinian leaders and human rights activists without charge or trial; and inflicts, on a daily basis, humiliation and violence at the more than 600 military checkpoints and roadblocks strangling the West Bank. All the while, Israel continues to build its illegal wall on Palestinian land and to support the ever-expanding network of illegal, Jewish-only settlements that divide the West Bank into Bantustans.
• Its growing system of apartheid towards the Palestinian citizens of Israel, with laws and policies that deny Palestinian citizens the rights that their Jewish counterparts enjoy. These laws and policies affect education, land ownership, housing, employment, marriage and all other aspects of people's daily lives.
• Its denial of the internationally-recognized right of return for Palestinian refugees who were ethnically cleansed in 1948 in the process of forming an exclusivist Jewish state. Israel also continues to expel people from their homes in Jerusalem and the Naqab (Negev). Today, there are more than 7 million refugees, still struggling for their right to return to their homes, like all refugees around the world.
• Its illegal and criminal siege of Gaza. As part of this siege, Israel has prevented not only various types of medicines, candles, books, crayons, clothing, shoes, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee and chocolate, but also musical instruments from reaching the 1.5 million Palestinians incarcerated in the world's largest open-air prison.

Can you entertain such a state with a clear conscience?

#BDS: Linkin Park, Cancel Apartheid Israel's Show!

Dear Chester Bennington, Brad Delson, Joe Hahn, Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon and David Farrell of Linkin Park,

We are a group of over 150 Israeli citizens, who support the Palestinian United Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights¹. On November 15 your band Linkin Park is scheduled to perform in Tel-Aviv, Israel, thus undermining the most unified Palestinian form of non-violent struggle, which has already gained substantial recognition across the globe. We therefore urge you to cancel your Israel show, which is inevitably a show of support for Israel's apartheid.

By a brutal and unlawful military occupation, Israel controls a population of 4 million Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Another million and half Palestinians are citizens of the state, yet they are systematically discriminated against by over 30 laws and many more budgetary, regulatory, and policy mechanisms. Very much like Palestinians under occupation – they are continually subjected to house evictions and demolitions. About half of the Palestinian people live in the Diaspora. During the 1948 Nakba they were ethnically cleansed by Israel along with many of the Palestinians inside Palestine\Israel and especially the Gaza Strip - and they are still denied return and compensation by Israel.

#BDS: Debunking pro-Israeli arguments against boycott Inbox X

While the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against apartheid Israel continues to grow, its opponents continue to resort to the same old canards in trying to defend Israel. In a Jerusalem Post article published on 17 October 2010, columnist Hannah Brown gives us a good example of some of the Israeli talking points ("British director Mike Leigh cancels Israel visit". In her concluding paragraph she writes:

"[The] irony is that Israel is virtually the only country in the world that is being boycotted by the filmmaking community. Iranian filmmakers are lauded the world over and no one accuses them of having any complicity with a government that shoots pro-democracy protesters. Nor do directors who disagree with the US military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan see a need to skip the New York Film Festival, for example."

With regards to Iran, the author is misinformed because there already is a boycott of Iran that has been in place by some countries for decades, and has been further upgraded this year. Iran, Brown can be reassured, is already boycotted by much of the world community.

However, for the sake of argument, even had there not been a boycott on Iran there would still be a need to address any grievances we may have with that country through different means. This is primarily because Iran is not being singled out by the world superpower for multi-billion dollar aid packages and other special treatment, nor do its artistic and filmmaking institutions benefit from such treatment and joint international programs.

Still, if an international filmmaker, such as Mike Leigh, feels deep down that his conscience cannot allow him to teach at Iranian institutions that are supporting Iran's government then he could choose not to teach there. However, I doubt that he will find a unified Iranian position at the popular level advocating for a cultural boycott as a strategy to rid them of Ahmadinejad, as one finds among Palestinians in support of BDS against Israel. This argument is a diversionary tactic by the pro-Israeli boycott opponents to silence criticism of Israel, and we might want to ignore it until we hear of Iranians (not Israelis) calling for a cultural boycott of Iran.

As for the issue of equating the US with Israel, there is much truth, except that the author uses this as a rhetorical ploy because she never intends on boycotting the US or supporting such an act. The author seems to be saying that if there was a boycott of the US then a boycott of Israel would, only then, somehow be ethical. Is Brown then admitting that Israel is in violation of the human rights of Palestinians and is to be boycotted, except that we cannot do so until that time in which we also boycott the US? If people of the world waited for a boycott of the US, South Africa might still be an apartheid state! The crucial point is that Brown's argument gives credence to a boycott of Israel; it is simply that boycott activists have not gone far enough.

Joined to this is the argument which boycott activists used to hear, and which is now almost forgotten, that Israel is too powerful to boycott, or if you want to boycott Israel then you have to boycott almost all products, for example Intel microchips made in Israel and common in computers all over the world. Those same people now argue that boycott activists should target the US. Rather than focus on more manageable targets and be more pragmatic, as the BDS movement has done, these critics make a pathetic attempt to sidetrack the debate by asking activists to boycott the world's superpower.

There have been noble attempts by civil society groups, in and outside the US, to boycott the US. However, such boycotts have never truly been consolidated nor have their positions been coherently articulated. More important, the power of the US, the nature of its political system and internal social fabric, and its control of the world through numerous military bases that, on a map, look like a science fiction alien takeover of Earth, demands other strategic and pragmatic considerations. To think of strategies for ending Israeli apartheid and occupation in the same way as US occupation and imperialism is to have a naive understanding of the dynamics of power in both contexts.

Nevertheless, because of the special relationship between Israel and the US, one can think of the boycott of Israel as a way to boycott a US satellite in the Middle East. By changing the nature of the regime in Israel, ending the occupation and recognizing and promoting the Palestinian right of return, this could begin to reverse US policy elsewhere in the world by exposing the failed policies of the US government. In other words, the special US-Israeli relationship means that the boycott of Israel has the potential to significantly impact US policy elsewhere and shift the balance of power in the region.

It is time for people opposing the boycott to find newer talking points. Better yet, they might do well to simply let go of their morally bankrupt politics. The BDS movement has been, from the beginning, founded on principles of international human rights, freedom and equality. Trying to distract from the main issues of Israeli oppression and occupation by drawing flawed comparisons with other places in the world will hardly convince anyone who has a sense of moral responsibility to the world around them. As in South Africa, Israeli apartheid will end.

Sami Hermez is a PhD candidate of Anthropology at Princeton University. He can be reached at shermez A T Princeton D O T edu.

#BDS: برنامج أكاديمي اسرائيلي-عربي يموّه عن جرائم الإحتلال و ينتهك مبادئ المقاطعة

غزة المحاصرة-فلسطين

2010-10-29

تلقت كل من حملة طلاب فلسطين للمقاطعة الأكاديمية وجمعية أساتذة الجامعات في فلسطين ببالغ القلق خبر البرنامج الدراسي العربي الاسرائيلي (نير) الذي تم الكشف عنه على قناة "بي بي سي" العربيه وتأكيده في الصحافة الاسرائلية. وتبعا لل"بي بي سي" فإن عمر هذا البرنامج التطبيعي هو عشر سنوات و معظم المشتركين العرب فيه هم طلاب من الأراضي المحتلة و مصر و الأردن و المغرب.

وكان هذا البرنامج قد أسس من قبل سيدة الأعمال جوديث ريختر و تم تفعيله عام1998. يقوم البرنامج على تنظيم لقاء بين 30 طالب عربي و اسرائيليي بهدف "تطوير معرفتهم العلمية و الطبية" لمدة سنتين. تكون اللقاءات غالبا في بلدان أوروبية او في الاردن و إسرائيل و لا تتمحور فقط على المعرفة الطبية بل تضم ايضا نقاشات سياسية متعددة, كما ذكر في تقرير ال "بي بي سي." و الأهم هو التنبيه الى أن احد المشتركين السابقين (يوفال هيلروفيتش) يخدم الآن كطبيب في جيش الإحتلال.

أن هدف هكذا نشاطات تطبيعية هوالمساواة بين الجلاد والضحية والمساهمة بشكل مباشرفي في تمويه جرائم الإحتلال من استيطان و تفرقة عنصرية. لا تتوقف الحكاية هنا بل يعطي هذا البرنامج الإنطباع الخاطئ بأن إسرائيل هي دولة محبة للسلام و تساهم في التطوير العلمي في الشرق الأوسط.

لقد تم الكُشف عن هذا البرنامج في الوقت التي تتعرض فيه إسرائيل لحملة هائلة من الضغط الدولي للإنصياع للقرارات الشرعية الدولية, خاصة بعد إرتكابها مجازر غزة وأسطول الحرية و إصرارها على مواصلة فرض الحصار الوحشي الظالم على معسكر الإعتقال الأكبر في العالم بعد مجزرة أدت الى استشهاد أكثر من 1440 مدني منهم الكثير من الطلاب الذي يستهدفهم البرنامج المذكور. إننا ندين هكذا برامج لإنتهاكها شروط حملة المقاطعة العالمية والتي حددتها حملة المقاطعة الأكادمية والثقافية لإسرائيل وندعو الأطراف العربيه المشاركة للإنسحاب فورا.