As Israeli citizens who support the boycott, divestment and sanctions call on Israel, we believe that if Ian McEwan accepts the Jerusalem prize next month in Jerusalem (Letters, 26 January), it will make him a collaborator with Israel's worst human rights offenders and its "business as usual" policy. The Jerusalem prize is awarded by the Israeli establishment, which is keen on branding Israel in general, and Jerusalem in particular, as beacons of enlightenment and democracy. In reality, Ian McEwan will be playing into the hands of and shaking hands with cynical politicians who are trying to whitewash their systematic human rights violations. Specifically, he will be legitimising the actions of Jerusalem's racist mayor, Nir Barkat, who pursues and defends the expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, in order for them to be occupied by Jewish settlers. If McEwan "opposes illegal Israeli settlements", how can he accept the accolades of the people who are responsible for that abomination?

“In the eyes of the world, the question is what can be done when the relevant institutions do not succeed in enforcing international law?”

Tanya Reinhart May 5, 2005¹

January 25, 2011

Dear British Writers in Support of Palestine (BWISP)

We are members of BOYCOTT!² - a group of Jews and Palestinians, citizens and residents of Israel, who are struggling to end the Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinians. We are writing to reassure you that here, in Israel, your attempts to bring about a change in the Middle East will not fall on deaf ears. There is increasing evidence showing that the boycott movement, inspired by the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel³ may eventually affect Israel’s policies. Indeed the loss of Israel’s legitimacy, caused by the state’s war crimes and violation of international law, is affecting the Israeli public, its opinion shapers, as well as policy makers.

Dear Macy Gray,
 
We are a group of Israeli citizens who support the Palestinian Call [1] for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) on Israel, as a means of bringing to an end Israel's decades-long systematic oppression of the Palestinian people.

Vanessa Paradis cancelled her performance in Israel

Dear Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp,

We are Israeli citizens. It has come to our attention that Ms. Paradis is planning on performing in Israel in March 2011, and that you are both expected to meet Israeli President Shimon Peres. You may not be aware, but there is an ongoing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, due to its policies of apartheid and occupation. We, as Israeli citizens endorse this boycott, and we are urging you to take this opportunity to take a stand on an issue crucial to human rights and as such, to human lives as well.

Dear Thomas Quasthoff,
 
We are a group of Israeli citizens, writing in support of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine's (BRICUP) open letter to you. We support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it abides by international law and ceases its systematic violations of Palestinian human rights; as such, we would like to share with you our concerns regarding your scheduled performances in Israel and urge you to cancel them.

Anonymous writer

December 13, 2010

To Adidas International Headquarters (Global_Public_Relations@adidas.com),

We are a group of Israeli citizens who support the Palestinian 2005 Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights. We have noticed the mounting campaign ^[1] against your company's sponsorship of the Jerusalem Marathon scheduled to be held in March, 2011. Going through the settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev in occupied East Jerusalem, to the background view of the illegal apartheid and annexation wall, and circling the Hebrew University, which is built on land belonging to the East Jerusalem neighborhood Issawiyah - this marathon boasts of the Israeli illegal control and occupation of the oppressed indigenous Palestinian population of East Jerusalem. Indeed, as the campaigners noted, the marathon aids and abets a violation of international law, namely the war crime described by article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.

Dear Mark E. Smith,

We are members of an Israeli group which supports the Palestinian call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. As you might have heard the Palestinians are asking artists not to play into the hands of Israeli attempts to construct a facade of normalcy over its constant violation of Palestinian human rights.

Dear officials of Leiden University,

We are a group of Israeli citizens. It has recently been brought to our attention that Leiden University had decided to host a special lecture at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University on Thursday 25/11, commemorating a speech by Professor Rudolph Pabus Cleveringa during the Second World War, in which he protested the removal of Jewish faculty members.

Dear participants of the Tel-Aviv Epos International Art Film Festival,
 
We are a group of citizens of Israel, writing to you today to ask that you reconsider your participation in the international film festival in Tel-Aviv next week. We support the Palestinian Call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) on Israel, a method of struggle against the Israeli occupation chosen by over 170 Palestinian civil society organisations. BDS asks that international artists refuse to perform in Israel while it keeps over four million Palestinians in an open-air prison of sorts under martial-law without any rights.