We, Palestinians, Jews, citizens of Israel, join the Palestinian call for a BDS campaign against Israel, inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid. We also call on others to do the same.
We are devoted to the promotion of just peace and true democracy in this region. We are particularly opposed to Western governments' decision to boycott the Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, most especially in besieged Gaza. This is particularly outrageous given the same Western governments' prolonged support of Israel's apartheid and other daily violations of international law.
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Campaigns
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Dear Bryan Ferry,
We are an Israeli group called BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within. Undoubtedly, our name discloses the intent of this letter: We hereby invite you to join the growing international movement of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel - a movement that has undertaken to respond to the Palestinian call to apply these nonviolent measures against Israel, until the following is accomplished:
1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
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Campaigns
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February 3, 2011
Dear Gilberto Gil,
We are members of a group of over 200 Israeli citizens who support the Palestinian-led cultural boycott of Israel. As an artist who was himself imprisoned and exiled by a military regime in your country, we heard with dismay about your scheduled April 14 concert in Tel-Aviv. The Palestinian Call [1] for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) was issued in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations in order to counter racism and such oppressive mechanisms as mass unlawful expulsion and imprisonment. We are aware that you visited Israel in the past. It is not much due to the act itself but due to its current context that we urge you now to heed the Palestinian Call and cancel your scheduled performance in Israel. By doing so you will stand by a globally growing, human rights-based and non-violent civil society Palestinian initiative.
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Campaigns
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.
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Statement
We are a group of Israeli citizens who are deeply concerned about our government's policies of apartheid and occupation, and the European Union's complicity in these policies. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Poland for assuming the EU Presidency in July 2011. It has been brought to our attention that the first joint Polish-Israeli cabinet session is due in Jerusalem on the 24th of February.
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Statement
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“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.
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Campaigns
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?
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Statement
Vanessa Paradis cancelled her performance in Israel
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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.
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Statement
Anonymous writer
For years I have been rather ambivalent about the wisdom of boycotting Israel. While a boycott of anything related to the illegal settlements in the West Bank, which are a clear derivative of a brutal occupation, is an absolute necessity, and which I have fully supported, I have always been reserved about the boycotting of Israel proper. Today I feel that there is no choice but to call for a full and total boycott directed against Israel – Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS). For the good of Israel and in the hope that blatant pressure from abroad directed primarily at the Israeli economy is the only way to wean Israel from what Thomas Friedman in a recent editorial called “Israel’s crack addiction”. It is the only way to wake Israelis up from their (crack) pipe dream of “business as usual” or the feasibility of maintaining a disastrous status quo that will only lead to more land grabs, violence and war, ultimately jeopardizing Israel itself. It is the only way to convince present and future governments that the current situation is untenable and unviable. It is the only way to save us from ourselves. At this point in time, Israelis are unable to affect change from within. The atmosphere has become so poisoned that attempts at the grassroots level to affect political change are insignificant at best, particularly in light of attempts at the legislative level to delegitimise grassroots initiatives and make local NGOs seeking to advance political change illegal.