In 2005, after 38 years of military occupation, land confiscations and illegal settlements, over 170 Palestinian organizations and unions called for a worldwide, nonviolent campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, until the state recognizes the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and complies with the precepts of international law by:

• Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands
• Dismantling the Separation Wall
• Recognizing the fundamental rights of all Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel to full equality
• Respecting, promoting and protecting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands as stipulated by international law & U.N. Resolution 194

Today this call by Palestinian civil society is being answered by a rapidly growing global movement to boycott and divest from Israeli and pro-occupation companies, products, services, and cultural activities.

Here are three things you can do to help:

		Read and sign the BDS Pledge to support the nonviolent BDS campaign.
		Learn about products to boycott in our Boycott Guide.
		Read up. See recent global BDS news below and BDS organizations and resources in the sidebar.

Global BDS Movement
G4S loses its contract with the European Parliament Global BDS Movement - 17 Apr 2012 The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) is pleased to be able to mark Palestinian Prisoners Day by announcing that the European Union has declined to renew...more Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day with call for action against Israeli prison contractor G4S Global BDS Movement - 17 Apr 2012 Today, on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, we the undersigned Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations salute all Palestinian political prisoners, especially those engaging in brave civil disobedience through ongoing hunger...more BDS roundup: Los Angeles activists urge city to “Dump Veolia!” Global BDS Movement - 9 Apr 2012 In this week’s BDS roundup from the Electronic Intifada, LA activists demand the city “Dump Veolia”; an international campaign urges product designer Yves Béhar not to collaborate with Sodastream; university...more Why Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Should Be Used to Target Israeli Apartheid Global BDS Movement - 8 Apr 2012 I read with great interest Peter Beinart’s recent New York Times op-ed “To Save Israel, Boycott the Settlements.”  His thesis is straightforward: Beinart believes Israel is a democratic country being...more Scottish govt. helps Israeli company deal with BDS Global BDS Movement - 8 Apr 2012 Documents obtained by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign show how a subsidiary of an Israeli company operating in Britain turned successfully for help from the Scottish Government to deal with...more How detention without charge links Israel and apartheid South Africa Global BDS Movement - 6 Apr 2012 Will hunger strikes spark mass revolt in Palestine like they did in South Africa? ( Issam Rimawi / APA images ) The hunger strikes undertaken by Hana al-Shalabi and Khader Adnan have drawn...more
Boycott Divestment Sanctions
How To Resources Pledge
Organizations BDS Conference Montreal As part of the growing global movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, grassroots organizations in Montréal successfully hosted a conference in October 2010, aimed at moving forward the BDS movement in Québec. BIG Campaign - Boycott Israeli Goods The BIG Campaign was launched in the House of Commons on the 4th July 2001. There have been calls for a boycott from within Israel itself as well as in the Occupied Territories. Our decision to launch this campaign follows decades of Israel’s refusal to abide by UN Resolutions, International law and the 4th Geneva Convention. Boycott & Divestment - U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation Boycott & Divestment Resources: The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is supporting a nation-wide municipal and state Boycott & Divestment Project. Boycott Israel to end the Military Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza A resource for education and for people who want to boycott produce from Israel and illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, by providing sources of information about companies, products etc. Boycott Israeli Campaign - Innovative Minds A lively British site full of graphics, poetry, protest and practical boycott information. Boycott Israeli Medical Association UK: The Medical Committee for Boycott of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) will document the systematic torture of Palestinian people by agents of Israel. It will publicise the practice in order to bring world opinion to bear on Israel. And it will challenge the Israeli Medical Association which has repeatedly failed to issue advice to doctors who are involved in any way with torture. Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call From Within 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. Dearborn Boycotts Israel Dearborn, Michigan-based blog promoting boycott of Israel and justice for Palestinians. Divest from Israel Links to university divesiture campaigns and other useful information. Divest From Israel - Global Exchange "I am a black South African, and if I were to change the names, a description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank could describe events in South Africa. " - Archbishop Desmond Tutu Global BDS Movement Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for Palestine - This website is overseen by the steering committee of the Palestinian BDS National Committee and has been adopted as a tool of the ICNP (International Coordinating Network on Palestine) to support efforts of networking and coordination. Global Exchange Activists’ Toolkit - BDS guide (PDF) Global Exchange has produced an activists’ toolkit which you can download here. This booklet will help you identify your target institution and begin researching its holdings, define your campaign goals, create a petition, enlist support through media outreach and educational events, pass a divestment resolution, and connect with the global divestment movement. Interfaith Peace Initiative For Peace and Human Rights in Israel-Palestine - The Interfaith Peace Initiative seeks to provide a forum for dialog and learning about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and examining America’s relationship to this region. Israeli Apartheid Week Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international series of events held in cities and campuses across the globe. The aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement. Labor for Palestine U. S. Trade Unionists Support South African and Australian Dockers’ Boycott of Israeli Cargo. Join us in demanding immediate and total: 1. End to U. S. aid for Israel. 2. Divestment of business and labor investments in Israel. 3. Labor boycott of Israel. 4. Withdrawal of U. S. and allied forces from the Middle East. Sign the petition! Neged Neshek ‘Neged Neshek’ means ‘Against Arms’ in Hebrew. This website, currently run by Jimmy Johnson, endeavours to be a valuable resource for news, data and analysis focusing on Israel’s arms industry with a secondary focus on militarism in Israeli culture, society and politics. New England Conference of the United Methodist Church - DIVESTMENT TASK FORCE Christ has called us to be a light to the nations, to replace darkness and despair with hope rooted in love for all God’s creation. Refusing to support an occupation that endangers Israelis as well as Palestinians is an effective way to show our light to the world. Palestine BDS Campaign Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel was launched in Ramallah in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals to join the growing international boycott movement. Perdana4Peace The Perdana Global Peace Foundation, a first but resolute step in the arduous journey towards global peace, moves towards the single goal of putting an end to war. Its founder, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, envisages “a serious, active and sustained struggle against war and for peace”. Stop Caterpillar Jewish Voice for Peace site dedicated to the Caterpillar boycott. US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel Responding to the CALL of Palestinian civil society to join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, we are a US campaign focused specifically on a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions. Who Profits from the Israeli occupation? Israeli and international corporations are directly involved in the occupation: in the construction of Israeli colonies and infrastructure in the occupied territories, in the settlements’ economy, in building walls and checkpoints, in the supply of specific equipment used in the control and repression of the civilian population under occupation. E-mail us a link to your favorite BDS site More BDS News   US Campaign Thanks Cassandra Wilson for Supporting Cultural Boycott 16 May 2012 In late February, US jazz singer Cassandra Wilson canceled a schedule performance at the Holon International Women's Festival in Israel. Wilson, a world-renowned vocalist, canceled her performance after appeals from... Dozens of US Campaign Member Groups Participate in 2012 Israeli Apartheid Week! 16 May 2012 Two weeks ago, activists from US Campaign member groups and other organizations joined organizers in 115 cities worldwide for the 8th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW)! From Olympia, WA to... On the 9th Anniversary of Rachel's Stand in Gaza 16 May 2012 The following is a letter written by Cindy and Craig Corrie. Dear Friends, It has been nine years today since our daughter Rachel was crushed to death under an Israeli... Palestinian Academics Condemn Cornell University's Collaboration with Technion 16 May 2012 The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott (PACBI) of Israel has issued a statement condemning Cornell University's collaboration with Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Cornell and Technion... Anna Baltzer on United Methodist Divestment 16 May 2012 Anna Baltzer is National Organizer at the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and author of "Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories." To learn... Why is Palestine solidarity being criminalized on California campuses? 16 May 2012 Kristin Szremski is a member of the US Campaign Steering Committee, an independent journalist and the director of media and communications at American Muslims for Palestine. Cooperation between academic authorities... “Sí, se puede!” : Palestinian civil society salutes US Chicano/Latin@ youth for their principled stand in support of BDS 16 May 2012 At the 19th annual national conference of M.E.Ch.A. (Movímíento Estudíantíl Chícan@ de Aztlán), the largest association of Latin@ youth in the US, chapter leaders voted by a landslide decision to... Why Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Should Be Used to Target Israeli Apartheid 16 May 2012 Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a member of the US Campaign Steering Committee, a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies and the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum. I... Derail-Dump-Drown Veolia Campaign in the U.S. 16 May 2012 The Davis Committee for Palestinian Rights is asking for your help by sending emails to members of the Board of Directors of the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency (WDCWA) to encourage... Update from Tampa on Methodist Divestment Vote 16 May 2012 US Campaign National Organizer Anna Baltzer and Steering Committee member Sydney Levy write from Tampa where they provide an upbeat assessment of the impending vote of the United Methodist Church... Palestinian Christians Urge United Methodists to Divest 16 May 2012 Palestinian Christians published an open letter to delegates to the United Methodist General Conference urging them to support the church's resolution to divest from three corporations--Caterpillar, Motorola, and Hewlett-Packard--that are... It will be easier for our movement of subcultures to change the US than to change Israel — Sarah Schulman 16 May 2012 One of the most important voices in the American discussion of the issue is Sarah Schulman, the novelist and longtime queer activist who published a stunning piece on pinkwashing in... Letters: Arts boycotts, hunger strikes and the defence of Israel 15 May 2012 Israel's ambassador, Daniel Taub, is right to say the Unison boycott is discriminatory ( From boycott to bigotry , 9 May). That is the unavoidable crudity of all boycotts, which are usually... Irish writer Gerard Donovan accuses pro-Palestinian group of 'bullying' him to boycott Israel 15 May 2012 Syria: UN monitors attacked - live updates 15 May 2012 • Video shows UN monitors under fire north of Hama • Parliamentary election results announced in Syria • Palestinians and Israeli police clash on Nakba day • Read the latest... Syria and Middle East - Monday 14 May 14 May 2012 • Fierce clashes reportedly kill more than 30 in Rastan, Syria • Syrian clashes spill over into Lebanon • Nato airstrikes killed 72 in Libya - Human Rights Watch •...   See our weekly TV show: Salaam/Shalom

BDS Victory: Knesset- UK is Centre of Political Struggle against Israel
Alternative Information Center - Calling Britain “the European and even world centre of the political struggle against Israel”, the Knesset Sub-Committee for Israel-World Jewish Community Relations has scheduled a discussion on “the challenges standing before the Jewish and pro-Israeli community...

Algerian author sparks uproar with Israel visit
Jerusalem Post 16 May 2012 - Boualem Sansal at Jerusalem writers festival: "What are we boycotting? This is a country with a flag."

Prisoners and the wounded, crossing borders
Jamal Muqbel, Bitterlemons 5/14/2012
      About four years ago, a friend of mine told me about a meeting between Israelis and Palestinians near the Dead Sea. I really did not want to get involved at all, but my friend said to me, "Just come with me and you do not have to talk or participate."
     I consulted my wife. She also rejected the idea out of hand. "How can you meet with the Israelis and still be the nationalist you are?" she said. "This is not right for you!" But I convinced her I was going only out of curiosity.
     The meeting was held in March 2008. It was brief, and a chance to share personal stories between the participants. I remember that my 11-year-old son Yazen asked me, "Baba, were you with the Jews that imprisoned you long ago? Are these the same Jews that shot you in the head?" I told him, "Yes."
     He then asked, "Aren't you afraid to sit with them? Were they carrying weapons?" First, I should explain that we have often welcomed internationals into our home and it makes no difference to us what religion they are. But he meant something else. He was asking if these were our occupiers. Frankly, it was difficult and moving for me to answer my son. I tried to answer diplomatically, but he was not convinced.
     After that I decided to attend another event, a two-week dialogue in Bosnia. In my heart I could not shake the feeling that I was dealing with the enemy of the Palestinian people. The whole time I felt remorse. It was an incredible experience for me--like venturing into a jungle when I did not know the path and its destination. When I returned from Bosnia and talked about the activity, I was surprised to find how extensively the very act of meeting with Israelis met with objections. I found that I was being "boycotted" and, as a result, I lost many social relationships and clients. Just last week, there was another slap in the face when I lost the chance to be considered as a representative of the Beit Umar municipal council. My nomination was rejected because of my relationship with Israelis. more.. e-mail

Irish writer Gerard Donovan accuses pro-Palestinian group of 'bullying' him to boycott Israel
Ha'aretz - 15 May 2012

Site launched to counter boycotts of Israeli goods
Jerusalem Post 15 May 2012 - Shop-A-Fada campaign encourages public to counter anti-Israel boycotts by purchasing of merchandise manufactured in Israel.

Letters: Arts boycotts, hunger strikes and the defence of Israel
The Guardian 15 May 2012 - Israel's ambassador, Daniel Taub, is right to say the Unison boycott is discriminatory ( From boycott to bigotry , 9 May). That is the unavoidable crudity of all boycotts, which are usually last-resort expedients when governments do nothing....

Nobel Prize laureate J. M. Coetzee appears to boycott International Writers Festival in Jerusalem
Mondoweiss - Talk about burying the lede. From a Haaretz article on the boycott movement in Ireland comes this tidbit: Uri Dromi, the manger of Mishkenot Sha'ananim that hosts the festival said that "there is an increasing feeling of cultural siege and despite our success in attracting major...

Israeli Businesses Counters Boycott Push
The Foward Breaking News 14 May 2012 - Israeli businessmen have launched a website to help counter calls to boycott products made in Israel. Click here for the rest of the article...

Boycott the boycott violators in the International Writer’s Festival in Jerusalem
Alternative Information Center - Taking a clear stand in support of the just Palestinian cause should be a top priority for engaged intellectuals all over the world. The General Union of Palestinian Writers salutes those who have chosen to boycott...

Libya extends voter registration amid boycott call
Daily Star 13 May 2012 Libya has extended the deadline for voters to register for national elections by a week to spur more participation.

Britain welcomes Israel
YNet News, 13 May 2012 - Op-ed: Anti-Semitic incidents, calls for boycott on UK campuses limited, do not reflect overall picture ....

Palestinian writers call for boycott of Jerusalem int’l writers’ fest
Mondoweiss - As hunger striking Palestinian prisoners, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla, mark their 75th day without food today in protest against  detention without charge,  solitary confinement and restrictions on family visits in Israeli jails, the 3rd International Writers' Festival begins in Jerusalem. According to a statement released on...

US claim of Iran-al-Qaeda ’deal’ discredited
Gareth Porter, Asia Times 5/12/2012
      WASHINGTON - The United States Treasury Department's claim of a "secret deal" between Iran and al-Qaeda, which had become a key argument by right-wing activists who support war against Iran, has been discredited by former intelligence officials in the wake of publication of documents from Osama bin Laden's files revealing a high level of antagonism between al-Qaeda and Tehran.
     Three former intelligence officials with experience on the Near East and South Asia told Inter Press Service (IPS) they regard Treasury's claim of a secret agreement between Iran and al-Qaeda as false and misleading.
     That claim was presented in a way that suggested it was supported by intelligence. It now appears, however, to have been merely a propaganda line designed to support the Barack Obama administration's strategy of diplomatic coercion on Iran.
     Under Secretary of Treasury David S Cohen announced last July that the department was "exposing Iran's secret deal with al-Qaeda allowing it to funnel funds and operatives through its territory". The charge was introduced in connection with the designation of an al-Qaeda official named Yasin al-Suri as a terrorist subject to financial sanctions.
     The Treasury claim has been embraced by the right-wing Weekly Standard and others aligned with hardline Israeli views on Iran, as primary source evidence of an alliance between Iran and al-Qaeda.But Paul Pillar, former national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia, told IPS the allegation of a "secret deal" between Iran and al-Qaeda "has never been backed up by any evidence that would justify such a term" and that it is "a highly misleading characterization of interaction between Iran and al-Qaeda". more.. e-mail

interview with Bruce Katz, co-founder of PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity)
In Gaza: 13 May 2012 - Boycott Campaign: Naot Shoes [ from CPJME website ]: Naot Shoes has a factory outlet store located in the illegal Gush Etzion colony (i.e. “settlement”) block located on occupied Palestinian territory between Jerusalem and Hebron in the West Bank. The Gush Etzion block is a group of 22 colonies with about 70,000 Jewish Israeli colonists. The Naot Shoes factory outlet store plays a role in strengthening and legitimizing the Gush Etzion colony. The Naot Shoes Outlet provides employment for the colony’s residents, and attracts both international tourists and Israeli customers to the Gush Etzion complex. The Naot Shoes Outlet thereby not only serves to legitimatize the colony and sustain its economic growth, but also enables the colony to absorb new colonists. Almost 66 percent of Naot Shoes is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which also owns nearly 18 percent of AHAVA Dead Sea products, currently being boycotted as well. Shamrock Holdings is the...more

Palestinian prisoners are from planet Earth too
Dr. Daud Abdullah, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) 5/4/2012
      Given the contrasting reactions of Western leaders to the case of the former Ukrainian prime minister and that of the Palestinians in Israeli jails, one may think that the latter are from a different planet.
     In Ukraine, a single politician, Yulia Tymoshenko, has gone on hunger strike in protest against her ill-treatment; leading politicians and the media across the West to scream in righteous indignation. In their worthy efforts to end her ordeal, a growing number of EU officials are considering a boycott of the Euro 2012 football championships due to begin in Kiev next month. This is all well and good. It may be that the outrage is based on damning evidence that Mrs Tymoshenko has been maltreated for political reasons.
     In Palestine, meanwhile, more than 1,700 prisoners have entered their third week of hunger strike in protest against their degrading and inhuman treatment at the hands of their Israeli jailers. There hasn't been a whimper of protest from Berlin, London or Paris. Is the silence due to ignorance? Definitely not.
     Rightly or wrongly, Mrs Tymoshenko was tried and convicted of abusing her office. In Palestine, however, there are among the 6,000 prisoners being held by Israel some 28 elected members of the Palestinian parliament and three former ministers; all are being held in "administrative detention", which means no charges, no trials and no convictions.
     Who in the West can seriously claim ignorance of the Palestinian case? The prisoner issue has been festering since the signing of the Oslo accords almost two decades ago. It remains a critical factor in the search for a resolution of the conflict and has been kept alive by Israel's intransigence on the one hand and the exceptional status afforded to the Zionist state on the other, effectively placing it above the law.... more.. e-mail

Rejecting boycott, Tom Rob Smith and Tracy Chevalier prepare for Jerusalem International Writers Festival
Mondoweiss - 'If a single dominant theme could be said to emerge more from the especially diverse program of the third Jerusalem International Writers Festival, which opens this Sunday night at Mishkenot Sha’ananim and runs through Friday morning, it’s evil', writes editor of Haaretz Books, David B. Green. He specifies: '...

Ayalon: Compromise on nukes 'worse than no deal'
Jerusalem Post 9 May 2012 - Deputy FM says Iran has "dictated" terms in nuclear talks despite sanctions, says Israel wants diplomatic solution.

This TUC boycott has morphed into bigotry | Daniel Taub
The Guardian 8 May 2012 - Discriminating against Israelis in the name of the Palestinian cause hurts any progressive agenda for a negotiated peace An NHS conference on conflict resolution for managers and union representatives has turned into a sobering lesson in...

[uruknet.info] Horowitz smear will only invigorate boycott Israel campaign
Uruknet May 8, 2012 - On 24 April, The New York Times featured a large ad in which David Horowitz smeared the Palestinian campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. According to Horowitz, BDS represents a Nazi-like boycott of Jewish businesses, bears indirect responsibility for the recent murder of a rabbi and three Jewish children...

Syrian opposition boycotts parliamentary elections
LA Times 7 May 2012 - Activists say the voting is illegitimate, but the government hails the multiparty elections, which are Syria's first, as a major step toward reform. BEIRUT — Opposition activists across Syria on Monday boycotted parliamentary elections they dismissed as illegitimate, and instead called for a general strike....

In ‘Nation’ BDS debate, Barghouti demands rights, Avishai pleads to protect ‘progressive and creative’ Israeli elites
Mondoweiss - Omar Barghouti is finally in the Nation . He has a piece in the first round of a forum on BDS . The exchange comes on the heels of the dust up within the magazine over the Park Slope Food Co-op boycott and Ben Adler's Twitter meltdown . From...

Assad loyalists are the only voters
The National 7 May 2012 - Reform claim over multiparty election, but an opposition boycott means that, whoever wins, the Assad regime will be the real victor.

Campaign to Boycott Adidas
PIC - Palestinian Youth launched a campaign to boycott an international company for its participation in a marathon in occupied Jerusalem..

Horowitz smear will only invigorate boycott Israel campaign
Electronic Intifada: 7 May 2012 - David Letwin 7 May 2012 David Horowitz’s New York Times attack ad exploits the Holocaust to distract from Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.more

Syrians vote amid boycott calls
BBC 7 May 2012 - Syrians have voted in what the government says are the first multi-party elections in decades, but the opposition dismisses them as a sham.

Take BDS action: Israeli college coerces Palestinians to stand on memorial day
Alternative Information Center - The Western Galilee College in northern Israel attempted to coerce Palestinian students into participating in its Memorial Day ceremony by locking college buildings shut whilst wetting outdoor benches so that sitting down during the country’s moment...

Hamas and Islamic Jihad blocs boycott Jenin’s Arab American University elections
PIC - According to a leading source in the Islamic bloc at Jenin’s Arab American University, the Islamic bloc has decided not to participate in student council elections this year..

Watching propaganda in a Missouri synagogue
Mondoweiss - You had a post three weeks ago about our rabbi Yossi Feintuch urging Christians to block divestment resolutions. Here’s an update of sorts.   Is this a great country, or what?  At dusk on Wednesday evening April 25, the eve of Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day;...

Israel plots an endgame
Ramzy Baroud, Al-Ahram Weekly 5/3/2012
      The ongoing illegal settlements bonanza shows that Israel has reverted to its ambitious plans of 1967 to completely colonise all of Palestine.
     Israel's colonisation policies are entering an alarming new phase, comparable in historic magnitude to the original plans to colonise Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem following the war of 1967.
     On 24 April, an Israeli ministerial committee approved three settlement outposts -- Bruchin and Rechelim in the northern part of the West Bank, and Sansana in the south. Although all settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal by international law, Israeli law differentiates between sanctioned settlements and illegal ones. This distinction has actually proved to be no more than a disingenuous attempt at conflating international law, which is applicable to occupied lands, and Israeli law, which is in no way relevant.
     Since 1967, Israel placed occupied Palestinian land, privately owned or otherwise, into various categories. One of these categories is state-owned, as in "obtained by virtue of military occupation". For many years, the state-owned occupied land was allotted to various purposes. Since 1990, however, the Israeli government refrained from establishing settlements, at lease formally. Now, according to the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now, "Instead of going to peace the government is announcing the establishment of three new settlements... this announcement is against the Israeli interest of achieving peace and a two states solution." more.. e-mail

Boycotters – I’m fed up with you!
Jerusalem Post 5 May 2012 - The boycotting trend that has gained momentum in the past decade really winds me up.

[uruknet.info] Bhopal gas victim calls for Indian boycott of the London Games
Uruknet May 4, 2012 - A victim of the Bhopal gas tragedy who lost his parents and several other members of his family in one of the world's worst industrial disasters has called for India to boycott the London Olympics to protest Dow Chemical's sponsorship of the Games. Sanjay Verma, who was born five months before the...

Israelis, Iranians meet in Berlin to protest war speak, Iran sanctions
Ha'aretz - 4 May 2012

Native American and Indigenous Studies Scholars defend UCLA Professor David Shorter and supporters of BDS
Mondoweiss - UCLA professor David Shorter. (Photo: DIY Daily) An Open Letter from Native American and Indigenous Studies Scholars in defense of UCLA Professor David Shorter and other scholars who support the academic and cultural boycott of Israel April 30, 2012 As Native American and Indigenous Studies scholars...

It took decades for South Africa boycott resolutions to gain traction
Mondoweiss - Two important voices reflecting on the defeat of a divestment resolution Wednesday by the general conference of the United Methodist Church. First, Ali Abunimah , followed by Rebecca Vilkomerson. Abunimah: Perhaps, some may conclude, the battle is too tough and what worked against South Africa can never...

Journalists protest US press freedom reception
5/4/2012 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Activists and journalists demonstrated outside a US-sponsored event marking World Press Freedom Day in Ramallah on Thursday, after the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called for a boycott. The US Consulate organized the event at the Ceaser's Hotel in Ramallah, but the union urged journalists to boycott the event in protest.... Related: Press freedom day 'a painful reminder' for Palestinians

United Methodists call for boycott of products made by Israeli companies in OPT
Alternative Information Center - Adopting the “Kairos Palestine” document, Methodists elevate Palestinian rights and Israel divestment to mainstream prominence.

Apartheid is not fair play-boycott Adidas!
Alternative Information Center - Palestinian civil society welcomes Arab boycott of Adidas and calls for a worldwide boycott due to company's complicity in Israel's occupation.

Methodists reject motion to divest from Israel
Jerusalem Post 3 May 2012 - General conference of United Methodist Church votes against divesting from three companies that trade with Israel.

JVP Statement on the United Methodist Church Efforts to Divest
Jewish Voice for Peace - Jewish Voice for Peace Statement on the United Methodist Church Efforts to Divest from Companies Profiting from the Israeli Occupation May 2nd, 2012 Jewish Voice for Peace is disappointed that the resolution calling for divestment from three companies that profit from the Israeli Occupation (Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard,...

New York Times on the United Methodist divestment campaign
Jewish Voice for Peace - Methodists Vote Against Ending Investments Tied to Israel By Laurie Goodstein. Published: May 2, 2012 The Methodist delegates in Tampa, primarily occupied with proposals for church reorganization plans, were lobbied heavily on the divestment question. Divestment advocates dressed in bright yellow T-shirts passed out literature and...

United Methodists Call for Boycott
Palestine Chronicle: 3 May 2012 - Adopting the 'Kairos Palestine' document, Methodists Elevate Palestinian Rights and Israel Divestment to Mainstream Prominence By Palestinian BDS National Committee “Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory.” – Gandhi Occupied Palestine – The General Conference of the United Methodist Church decided yesterday to call for an explicit boycott of all Israeli companies “operating in the occupied Palestinian territories,” knowing that this constitutes the absolute majority of Israeli corporations. This and the overwhelming support for the “Kairos Palestine” document and its call “for an end to military occupation and human rights violations through nonviolent actions,” which include boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), will pave the way forward for further action by the Church to hold Israel accountable for its colonial and apartheid regime. Although the General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) fell short of voting for...more

Illegal Settlements Bonanza: Israel Plots an Endgame
Dissident Voice: 3 May 2012 - Israel’s colonization policies are entering an alarming new phase, comparable in historic magnitude to the original plans to colonize Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem following the war of 1967. On April 24, an Israeli ministerial committee approved three settlement outposts – Bruchin and Rechelim in the northern part of the West Bank, and Sansana in the south. Although all settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal by international law, Israeli law differentiates between sanctioned settlements and ‘illegal’ ones. This distinction has actually proved to be no more than a disingenuous attempt at conflating international law, which is applicable to occupied lands, and Israeli law, which is in no way relevant. Since 1967, Israel placed occupied Palestinian land, privately owned or otherwise, into various categories. One of these categories is ‘state-owned’, as in obtained by virtue of military occupation. For many years, the...more

Iran says Israeli nuclear weapons 'grave threat' to region
5/2/2012 - VIENNA (Reuters) -- Iran said on Wednesday it would seek an end to sanctions over its nuclear activities at talks with big powers later this month and it sought to turn the tables on its Western foes by accusing France of helping Israel develop "inhumane nuclear weapons." An adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei....

Iran says 'hypocritical' France aided Israel nuke program
Jerusalem Post 2 May 2012 - At Non-Proliferation Treaty meeting in Vienna, Iranian Deputy FM Akhondzadeh slams French for calling for sanctions against Tehran after having helped Israel "develop inhumane nuclear weapons."

Palestinians to Boycott US Reception on Press Freedom Day
WAFA -

New petition challenges Horowitz smear invoking Nazi holocaust to attack BDS
Mondoweiss - (Photo: Electronic Intifada)   Recently the David Horowitz Freedom Foundation published a dangerous and slanderous  ad in the New York Times (right). The ad invokes the Nazi holocaust in order to attack supporters of BDS including several professors. Jews of conscience and others who share a...

American Methodists must be fearless about divestment from Israel
Stuart Littlewood, Redress 5/1/2012
      Why is the United Methodist Church apparently making such heavy weather of voting for divestment from corporations – specifically Caterpillar, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard –that profiteer from the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine?
     Americans can surely learn from their British brethren who blazed a trail through this minefield at their annual conference nearly two years ago. They voted to boycott products from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, regarded as illegal under international law, and to encourage Methodists across the country to do the same.
     Been there, done that
     Their action answered a call from Palestinian Christians, a growing number of Jewish organizations both inside Israel and worldwide, and the World Council of Churches.
     Christine Elliott, Secretary for External Relationships, explained: “The goal of the boycott is to put an end to the existing injustice. It reflects the challenge that settlements present to a lasting peace in the region." Yes, they got some flak. Right on cue, the Board of Deputies of British Jews blew a fuse. In a joint statement with the Jewish Leadership Council they said the Methodists should "hang their heads in shame". Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks led the charge, warning that the implications would “reverberate across the hitherto harmonious relationship between the faith communities in the UK. -- See also: Report: Justice for Palestine and Israel more.. e-mail

Illegal Settlements Bonanza: Israel Plots an Endgame
Palestine Chronicle: 2 May 2012 - By Ramzy Baroud Israel's colonization policies are entering an alarming new phase, comparable in historic magnitude to the original plans to colonize Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem following the war of 1967. On April 24, an Israeli ministerial committee approved three settlement outposts - Bruchin and Rechelim in the northern part of the West Bank, and Sansana in the south. Although all settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal by international law, Israeli law differentiates between sanctioned settlements and ‘illegal’ ones. This distinction has actually proved to be no more than a disingenuous attempt at conflating international law, which is applicable to occupied lands, and Israeli law, which is in no way relevant. Since 1967, Israel placed occupied Palestinian land, privately owned or otherwise, into various categories. One of these categories is ‘state-owned’, as in obtained by virtue of military occupation. For...more

Palestinian Christians Urge United Methodists to Divest
US Campaign to End the Occupation 2 May 2012 - Palestinian Christians published an open letter to delegates to the United Methodist General Conference urging them to support the church's resolution to divest from three corporations--Caterpillar, Motorola, and Hewlett-Packard--that are profiting from Israel's military occupation of Palestinian lands. The letter implores delegates not to be misled...

Apartheid is not fair play-boycott Adidas!
Alternative Information Center - Palestinian civil society welcomes Arab boycott of Adidas and calls for a worldwide boycott due to company's complicity in Israel's occupation.

Desmond Tutu urges divestment from Israel
Jerusalem Post 1 May 2012 - Ahead of vote on policy, archbishop urges United Methodist Church to divest from three companies doing business with Israel.

[uruknet.info] Major European Retailer Joins Campaign To Boycott Israeli Settlement Products
Uruknet April 30, 2012 - One of the largest food retailers in the UK has announced that it will boycott four Israeli produce companies which are operating in illegal settlement colonies in the West Bank in violation of international law. The Co-operative Group is the 5th largest food retailer in the UK, and supplies thousands of stores...

[uruknet.info] Apartheid apologists respond to BDS with fake concern for Palestinians
Uruknet April 30, 2012 - Following the decision of major UK supermaket chain the Co-op to boycott four Israeli suppliers, Israel's apologists have responded with an argument' of unintentional hilarity: that BDS harms the Palestinians it claims to help. One would be forgiven for viewing this newly discovered concern for Palestinian farmers living under Israel's colonial occupation...

Update from Tampa on Methodist Divestment Vote
US Campaign to End the Occupation 1 May 2012 - US Campaign National Organizer Anna Baltzer and Steering Committee member Sydney Levy write from Tampa where they provide an upbeat assessment of the impending vote of the United Methodist Church resolution on divestment from companies profiting from Israeli military occupation. Check out their article, "T he...

Major European Retailer Joins Campaign To Boycott Israeli Settlement Products
IMEMC - One of the largest food retailers in the UK has announced that it will boycott four Israeli produce companies which are operating in illegal settlement colonies in the West Bank in violation of international law. ...

Resheq calls to expand the boycott of Israeli goods campaign
PIC - -- Member of Political Bureau Hamas, Ezzat Resheq called to expand the boycott Zionist products campaign, especially those produced in the settlements built on Palestinian lands in occupied West Bank.

Ending Israel’s occupation is the only way to truly invest in Palestine
Mondoweiss - Editor's Note: United Methodist Kairos Response sent out a email today saying that the divestment resolution will be considered by the conference plenary tomorrow. You will be watch live here . In 2004, the end of one of my first journeys to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, I...

American Methodists Must Be Fearless about Divestment
Palestine Chronicle: 30 Apr 2012 - By Stuart Littlewood Why is the United Methodist Church apparently making such heavy weather of voting for divestment from corporates – specifically Caterpillar, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard - that profiteer from the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine? Americans can surely learn from their British brethren who blazed a trail through this minefield at their annual conference nearly two years ago. They voted to boycott products from Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestine, regarded as illegal under international law, and to encourage Methodists across the country to do the same. Been There, Done That Their action answered a call from Palestinian Christians, a growing number of Jewish organisations both inside Israel and worldwide, and the World Council of Churches. Christine Elliott, Secretary for External Relationships, explained: “The goal of the boycott is to put an end to the existing injustice. It reflects the challenge that settlements present to a lasting peace in the...more

Report: Major UK retailer boycotts settlement goods
4/29/2012 - LONDON (Ma'an) -- One of the United Kingdom's largest food retailers has boycotted four companies that export products from illegal Israeli settlements, British daily The Guardian reported on Sunday. The decision by the Co-operative group, which is the UK's fifth largest food retailer, will reportedly affect contracts worth around £350,000....

UK supermarket shuns Israeli-settlement goods
AlJazeera 29 Apr 2012 - Co-Operative Group, UK's fifth-largest food retailer, to boycott exports from illegal Israeli settlements in West Bank.

Major British supermarket chain announces boycott of produce made in West Bank settlements
Ha'aretz - 29 Apr 2012

Olmert defends Abbas for shunning his peace proposal
Jerusalem Post 29 Apr 2012 - Speaking at Jerusalem Post Conference, former PM says Israeli minister at the time advised PA president to reject the peace plan; Olmert: There's still time for Iran sanctions to work.

[uruknet.info] US-Based Professors Respond to NYT Ad Accusing Professors and BDS Movement of Inciting Murder of Jewish Children
Uruknet April 28, 2012 - We are professors who teach in universities across this country. We are appalled at the advertisement by the David Horowitz Freedom Center (Op-Ed page, April 24, 2012) which compares the international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel (BDS) to the Holocaust and ancient blood libels. It also asks that professors...

Co-op boycotts exports from Israel's West Bank settlements
The Guardian 28 Apr 2012 - UK's largest mutual takes lead among European supermarkets The Co-operative Group has become the first major European supermarket group to end trade with companies that export produce from illegal Israeli settlements. The UK's fifth biggest food...

Huge Co-op in UK dumps suppliers linked to Israeli settlements
Mondoweiss - The Co-operative Group Head Office city center Manchester The Boycott Israel Network (BIN) sent out the following press release earlier today: Palestine human rights campaigners today welcomed news that the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer, The Co-operative Group , will “no longer engage with any supplier of...

Not A Happy 64th B'day Israel!
Palestine Chronicle: 28 Apr 2012 - By Samah Sabwai Peeling off the artificial sugar layers and the dazzling celebratory ornaments, Israel on its 64th birthday stands fragile, isolated and exposed in a way it has never been since its foundation. This has not been a good year for the Jewish state. Anti-normalization movements have picked up steam in the Arab world while the global campaign for Boycott Divestments and Sanctions continues to present a serious challenge, with a long list of artists refusing to entertain apartheid. Israeli Apartheid Week continues to grow on university campuses around the world despite Israel’s failed effort to counter it and non-violent resistance in Palestine which is often met with Israeli brutality is no longer the hidden secret it once was with more international activists witnessing and at times experiencing the brutality first hand. The year ended with the a major announcement from the Methodist Church that they will divest from...more

Supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement
Rachel Corrie Foundation 27 Apr 2012 - The Rachel Corrie Foundation supports the Unified Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions launched in July 2005 and the global BDS movement for Palestine. » Read the Rachel Corrie Foundation Statement on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions… In support of the Olympia Food Co-op at the...

UMass Boston Student Senate calls for divestment from Boeing
Alternative Information Center - UMass Boston Student Senate passes resolution calling for divestment from Boeing. Citing Boeing’s involvement in Israel’s Operation Cast, student-led coalition demands divestment from Boeing and other companies profiting from war crimes and human rights violations.

Israel has no reason to believe Western sanctions will stop Iran nuclear program
Ha'aretz - 26 Apr 2012

David Horowitz and the Pornography of the Holocaust
Tikun Olam - Tweet David Horowitz's NYT ad conflating BDS with the Holocaust Jews suffered from a crime unique in the history of Europe.   The Holocaust is seared into the identity of the Jewish people.  The enormity of that crime helped lead to the creation of the State...

(en) Britain, SolFed* - Combating workfare in Liverpool (31/3/2012)
A-infos 26 Apr 2012 - Liverpool Boycott workfare workfare pickets direct action ---- Members of Liverpool Solidarity Federation were joined on pickets by other activists today as part of the Solfed national day of action against workfare. We distributed around 800 leaflets across three sites. Our first target was an ASDA...

US: Israeli outposts not helpful to peace
4/25/2012 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The United States said Tuesday it was concerned by Israel's decision to sanction three settler outposts in the West Bank, as world powers warned of the negative impact on the peace process with Palestinians. An Israeli governmental committee earlier authorized the three outposts -- Bruchin, Sansana and Rechelim -- which were....

Israel general says Iran atomic bomb unlikely
AlJazeera 25 Apr 2012 - Military chief calls Tehran's leaders "very rational", and experts say Iran may drop nuclear programme to ease sanctions.

[uruknet.info] New York Times ad accuses BDS movement, college professors of inciting murder of Jewish children
Uruknet April 24, 2012 - In a sign of growing desperation among anti-Palestinian groups, a New York Times ad published today likens the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to the Holocaust. "The Holocaust began with boycotts of Jewish stores and ended with death camps," begins the ad, placed by notorious anti-African American and Islamophobic agitator David...

UMASS Boston Student Senate passes resolution calling for divestment from Boeing
Students for Justice in Palestine, University of Mass., Boston, Israeli Occupation Archive 4/25/2012
      CitIng Boeing’s Involvement In Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, Student-led Coalition Demands Divestment From Boeing And Other Companies Profiting From War Crimes & Human Rights Violations
     University of Massachusetts Boston, MA, April 18th, 2012 – The UMass Boston Undergraduate Student Government unanimously passed a bill demanding that the UMass Foundation, the university’s investment fund, divest from Boeing and other companies profiting from war crimes and/or human rights violations. This motion is a resounding victory for student activists nationwide and contributes to broader international solidarity movements, including the movement for Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions of Israel (BDS) as called for by Palestinian civil society in 2005.
     Building on UMass’s tradition of student protest and ethical divestment, a coalition of concerned students, student groups, and faculty presented the bill to the Undergraduate Student Government. As one of the first American Universities to divest from apartheid South Africa in 1978, and having recently divested its funds from Sudan in protest of the genocide transpiring in Darfur in 2007, students sought to continue this tradition of ethical integrity by demanding divestment from Boeing, a company that has actively manufactured and sold weapons, which have been used in direct attacks on Palestinian civilians, a violation of international humanitarian law and human rights.
     The bill argues that the University’s investment in Boeing, a company profiting from war crimes, dramatically conflicts with the University’s mission to serve “the public good of our city, our commonwealth, our nation, and our world” (www.umb.edu/the_university/mission_values/). In addition to demanding the University’s immediate divestment from Boeing and other companies which profit from war crimes, the bill calls for the establishment of a Responsible Investment Committee to further uphold the University’s refusal to invest in companies which profit from violations of international law, human rights and other injustices..... -- See also: Mission & Values more.. e-mail

Report: Israel legalizes 3 settler outposts
4/24/2012 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- An Israeli government committee on Monday sanctioned three illegal settler outposts and sought to delay the court-ordered evacuation of another, Israeli media reported. The committee of ministers decided to "legalize" the West Bank outposts of Rechalim, Bruchin and Sansana, Israeli news site Ynet said." These communities were founded in.... Related: Erekat: PLO to ask Security Council for settlement censure and Israel confirms legalizing three West Bank outposts

Erekat: PLO to ask Security Council for settlement censure
4/24/2012 - JERICHO (Ma'an) -- PLO official Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that Palestinian leaders are examining ways to secure a resolution from the UN Security Council condemning Israeli settlement building, after Israel gave legal sanction to three settler outposts. In an interview with official PA radio Voice of Palestine, Erekat called on the Israeli government to.... Related: Report: Israel legalizes 3 settler outposts and UN chief 'deeply troubled' by new West Bank outposts

US university passes BDS resolution against Boeing!
Neged Neshek - The University of Massachusetts-Boston Student Senate passed a resolution calling for divestment from US arms giant Boeing due to its involvement in Israeli war crimes. This tremendous victory is part of a history of U-Mass student activism. The school was “one of the first American Universities...

A letter to the Methodists in support of divestment
Mondoweiss - Jewish & Christian advocates for peace and divestment from Israeli Occupation at the Methodist General Conference, April 24, 2012 (Photo: JVPLive ) Today the United Methodist Church opens its global conference in Tampa, FL. Over the next 10 days, it will consider a resolution to divest from...

Who really wields the baton at the London Philharmonic Orchestra?
Chris Somes-Charlton, Mondoweiss 4/23/2012
      Calls for the boycott of Israel’s cultural ambassadors just won’t go away. Now London’s Globe Theatre is being criticised for its invitation to Israel’s Habima Theatre, the latter having performed in Israel’s illegal settlements. Prominent arts figures such as Mike Leigh, Emma Thompson, Jonathan Miller, and Mark Rylance, the Globe’s founding artistic director, have publicly called for the theatre to cancel Habima’s appearance. Meanwhile Günter Grass, author of the classic anti-Nazi novel The Tin Drum, created a storm with his poem Was gesagt werden muss (What must be said), which seeks to free Germans from the ancestral guilt that Israel exploits to secure their obedience. An outraged headline in the Jewish Chronicle equated the boycott call with Nazi book-burning, and Israeli politicians smeared Grass as a Nazi for his conscription into the Waffen-SS, which German youths ‘joined’ to stay alive.
     These prominent figures have the forum to counter the smears. But classical musicians? We’ve yet to hear from the four musicians (Tom Eisner, Nancy Elan, Sarah Streatfeild and Sue Sutherley) in the world-renowned London Philharmonic Orchestra who were summarily suspended last September without pay for six months for being among 24 musicians who signed a letter, published in The Independent newspaper, objecting to a London Proms concert by the Israel Philharmonic at the invitation of the BBC.[1]
     Indeed, anyone perusing the ample media coverage of their suspensions would not find a single word from any of the four musicians themselves. Nothing. The media’s sole source of information was the very management that suspended them, and in his news releases the orchestra’s chief executive seemed inexplicably bent on making villains out of his own musicians. The whole situation begs explanation. more.. e-mail

Egypt and Israel, all is not well
Mondoweiss - link to electronicintifada.net link to www.alternativenews.org link to abirkopty.wordpress.com link to electronicintifada.net link to www.richardsilverstein.com link to www.wideasleepinamerica.com link to www.presstv.ir link to news.yahoo.com Egypt to boycott 'pro-Israel' Adidas kit manufacturer Egypt Football Association (EFA) president Anwar Saleh has confirmed that Egypt will boycott the Adidas sportswear...

‘California Scholars for Academic Freedom’ challenges UCLA on censure of prof who linked to BDS website
Mondoweiss - The organization California Scholars for Academic Freedom sent the following letter in response to the UCLA faculty Senate's action against Professor David Delgado Shorter for linking to a website advocating for the culture boycott of Israel on an online syllabus. April 18, 2012 Andrew Leuchter, Professor,...

Israeli Foreign Ministry: Exporting toxic culture
Mondoweiss - "Artists should create bridges where there is conflict," complained Habima's artistic director, Ilan Ronen, to the Observer two weeks ago, in response to the boycott of Israel's national theatre company that performs in the illegal West Bank settlement of Ariel. Habima's bridge-making offer should be treated...

1200 rabbis threaten an end to interfaith harmony if Methodists support divestment
Mondoweiss - Next week at their conference in Tampa, the Methodists will consider divesting from Israel companies profiting off the occupation , and people are gearing up for the big struggle. Here is an amazing stroke that demonstrates the overwhelming support for Zionism inside the Jewish community, a letter...

Surprises in the Israeli-Iranian Duel
Patrick Seale, Middle East Online 4/17/2012
      Although it is too early to make a judgement, it looks as if Israel’s Iran policy has back-fired and may result in a very different outcome from the one Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has long sought.
     Israel’s thinking these past three years has been that punitive sanctions, cyber warfare and the assassination of Iran’s nuclear scientists must eventually force a crippled Islamic Republic to agree to ‘zero enrichment’ of uranium – that is to say to dismantle its entire nuclear programme. This, it was hoped, would open the way for ‘regime change’ in Tehran.
     To bring about sufficiently severe pressure on Iran, Israel’s strategy has been to threaten to attack. It calculated -- rightly as it turned out -- that the United States and its allies would not dare call its bluff. Instead -- to head off an Israeli attack, which they feared could trigger a regional war with unpredictable and potentially catastrophic consequences -- they worked to bring Iran’s economy to its knees.
     Israel’s strategy was working. Everything seemed to be going its way. Punitive sanctions on Iran were beginning to bite. Impatient for regime change, pro-Israeli propagandists in the United States had even started to call for covert action in support of the Iranian opposition.
     Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, then stepped into the fray. Confounding the hawks, she made an offer to Iran to restart negotiations, using a conciliatory tone quite different from the usual hectoring heard from Washington, Paris and London, and wholly at odds with Israel’s relentless sabre-rattling. Iran responded positively to Ashton’s invitation. Its first meeting with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) took place in Istanbul on 14 April, and, by all accounts, was a surprising success. more.. e-mail

Israel calls for sanctions against Iran to be brought forward
The Guardian 18 Apr 2012 - Israel says EU embargo on Iranian oil and additional sanctions - due to take effect from July - should begin now Israel's deputy foreign minister has called for stringent international sanctions against Iran to be brought...

State officials pleased with Iran sanctions
YNet News, 18 Apr 2012 - Israeli official express satisfaction over West's handling of Iranian nuclear threat, but want to see more pressure ....

UCLA prof reprimanded for linking to website advocating boycott of Israel
Mondoweiss - From the LA Times : In a situation that stirred questions about academic freedom, a UCLA professor has been asked not to link his class online syllabus in the World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department to a website that called for a boycott of Israel, according to the...

G4S loses its contract with the European Parliament
Global BDS 17 Apr 2012 - The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) is pleased to be able to mark Palestinian Prisoners Day by announcing that the European Union has declined to renew a contract with private security company G4S amidst concerns raised by MEPs and campaign groups about...

Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day with call for action against Israeli prison contractor G4S
Global BDS 17 Apr 2012 - Today, on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, we the undersigned Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations salute all Palestinian political prisoners, especially those engaging in brave civil disobedience through ongoing hunger strikes in protest to the ongoing violations of human rights and international law. Emphasizing imprisonment as...

Resheq hails Arab boycott of Adidas company
PIC - Political bureau member of Hamas Ezzet Al-Resheq has hailed the Arab ministers of youth and a Jordanian sports club for deciding to boycott Adidas company.

Canadian group launches arms boycott effort
Neged Neshek - Canada’s Coalition Against the Arms Trade (COAT) has launched an effort to bring Canada into compliance with the 2011 Palestinian call for a military embargo against Israel . COAT’s research has found dozens of companies that both profit from Israeli apartheid and military occupation and are held...

Obama says more Iran sanctions coming if talks drag
Jerusalem Post 15 Apr 2012 - US president responds to Israeli accusations that Istanbul talks gave Iran a chance to continue uranium enrichment; "We still have a window in which to resolve this conflict diplomatically," Obama says in Colombia.

Who are the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ activists?
Mya Guarnieri, +972 Magazine 4/15/2012
      In the air between Geneva and Tel Aviv, I spent some time talking to the international activists who joined the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign.
     Activists who told this writer in the Geneva airport that they are traveling to Palestine cheered quietly and smiled as the plane took off.
     However, a number of those activists declined to be interviewed. Several who had said, in the airport, that they were part of the action became skittish and recanted, claiming that they were visiting Tel Aviv or that they didn’t speak English at all.
     Two men, aged 25 and 49, said that they were, indeed, headed to Bethlehem but that they were feeling “paranoid” and preferred to talk after they landed in Tel Aviv.
     A majority of the activists appeared to be in their twenties.
     One 19-year-old man who asked to remain anonymous said he is traveling to the West Bank to “help the Palestinian people…because they are my brothers in religion and humanity.” The young man is a French national who is the son of an Algerian Muslim father and a French mother. He is studying to be a plumber and heating technician and is active with the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
     When asked about critics’ claims that “Welcome to Palestine” activists don’t want Israel to exist and are attempting to delegitimize the country, he shook his head. “No, that’s not true,” he answered. “[Jews and Palestinians] can live with two countries, with two equal states.” more.. e-mail

ACT NOW Support Methodist Divestment!
Rachel Corrie Foundation 14 Apr 2012 - From April 24-May 4, the United Methodist Church’s top legislative body, the General Conference, will meet in Tampa, Florida and address the proposed resolution “ Aligning United Methodist Church Investments with Resolutions on Israel/Palestine. ”  The resolution supports prompt divestment from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola (cited...

Iran: The Time Has Come To Talk
Juan Cole, Asia Times 4/13/2012
      Blockades and the danger of disaster
     Introduction by Tom Engelhardt: Negotiators for Iran, the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany - the P5+1 or "Iran Six" - meet in Istanbul, Turkey this weekend, face to face, for the first time in more than a year. There are small signs of possible future compromise on both sides when it comes to Iran's nuclear program (and a semi-public demand from Washington that could be an instant deal-breaker). Looking at the big picture, though, there's a remarkable amount we simply don't know about Washington's highly militarized policy toward Iran. Juan Cole does a remarkable job of offering us a full-scale picture of the complex economic underpinnings of the present Iran-US-Israeli crisis and the unnerving dangers involved.
     It's a policy fierce enough to cause great suffering among Iranians - and possibly in the long run among Americans, too. It might, in the end, even deeply harm the global economy and yet, history tells us, it will fail on its own. Economic war led by Washington (and encouraged by Israel) will not take down the Iranian government or bring it to the bargaining table on its knees ready to surrender its nuclear program. It might, however, lead to actual armed conflict with incalculable consequences.
     The United States is already effectively embroiled in an economic war against Iran. The Barack Obama administration has subjected the Islamic Republic to the most crippling economic sanctions applied to any country since Iraq was reduced to fourth-world status in the 1990s. And worse is on the horizon. A financial blockade is being imposed that seeks to prevent Tehran from selling petroleum, its most valuable commodity, as a way of dissuading the regime from pursuing its nuclear enrichment program. more.. e-mail

[uruknet.info] Who Owns the Palestine Solidarity Movement?
Uruknet April 11, 2012 - A few years ago, after I spoke at a conference in South Africa, Ronnie Kasrils, then the country's Minister for Intelligence Services, leaned towards me and said, "I agree with everything you said, but in order for the boycott of Israel to become adopted by world governments, the call has to be...

Who owns the Palestine solidarity movement?
Ramzy Baroud, Gulf News, Israeli Occupation Archive 4/11/2012
      Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign is a global message against Israeli oppression, not a political platform.
     A few years ago, after I spoke at a conference in South Africa, Ronnie Kasrils, then the country’s Minister for Intelligence Services, leaned towards me and said, “I agree with everything you said, but in order for the boycott of Israel to become adopted by world governments, the call has to be initiated by those who represent the Palestinian people in Palestine, not outside groups.”
     I was not actually purporting to represent any group, inside or outside Palestine. A few days later I received more counsel from a leading South African official. “A representative from Mahmoud Abbas’s office was here few days ago,” he said. “He seemed to have different priorities from yours. He asked me to ensure that the South African government continues to isolate Hamas, not Israel.”
     Kasrils, a legendary member of the African National Congress (ANC), was, of course, right. It was the decisive call of academic boycott made by the ANC in the 1960s which started a process that eventually succeeded in isolating the apartheid regime and speeding up its demise.
     Alas, those who are recognised as the representatives of the Palestinians stand on the wrong side of history. Their political fate is now intrinsically linked to that of the very Israeli occupation that continues to torment Palestinians. Ensuring dominion over an occupied nation has proved to be more urgent to them than isolating Israel for its crimes. -- See also: Source: Gulf News more.. e-mail

Who Owns the Palestine Solidarity Movement?
Palestine Chronicle: 11 Apr 2012 - By Ramzy Baroud A few years ago, after I spoke at a conference in South Africa, Ronnie Kasrils, then the country's Minister for Intelligence Services, leaned towards me and said, "I agree with everything you said, but in order for the boycott of Israel to become adopted by world governments, the call has to be initiated by those who represent the Palestinian people in Palestine, not outside groups." I was not actually purporting to represent any group, inside or outside Palestine. A few days later I received more counsel from a leading South African official. "A representative from Mahmoud Abbas's office was here few days ago," he said. "He seemed to have different priorities from yours. He asked me to ensure that the South African government continues to isolate Hamas, not Israel." Kasrils, a legendary member of the African National Congress (ANC), was, of course, right. It was the decisive...more

BDS action: derail Veolia campaign in US
Alternative Information Center - Send an email today to help deny Veolia the possibility to participate as a bidder in a public tender in the US. Veolia is active in violating Palestinian rights through its transit services and landfill operations...

[uruknet.info] BDS roundup: Los Angeles activists urge city to "Dump Veolia!"
Uruknet April 9, 2012 - In this week's BDS roundup, LA activists demand the city "Dump Veolia"; an international campaign urges product designer Yves Be'har not to collaborate with Sodastream; university students in Pennsylvania protest the Jewish National Fund's award gala; boycott activists tell the Red Hot Chili Peppers why they should cancel their upcoming Tel Aviv...

Why Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Should Be Used to Target Israeli Apartheid
US Campaign to End the Occupation 10 Apr 2012 - Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a member of the US Campaign Steering Committee, a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies and the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum. I read with great interest Peter Beinart’s recent New York Times op-ed “To Save Israel, Boycott the...

Israeli Citizens to Red Hot Chili Peppers: Cancel Tel Aviv Gigs!
Alternative Information Center - We are citizens of Israel who support the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel's policies of racism, apartheid and occupation towards the Palestinian people. As we have recently learned about...

[uruknet.info] Viewpoint: Boycott, Divest and Sanctions
Uruknet April 8, 2012 - As we write this piece, more than 5,300 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli jails. Zero Israelis are imprisoned in Palestinian jails. A total of 24,813 Palestinian homes have been demolished by Israel since 1967. Zero Israeli homes have been demolished by Palestinians since then. Some 172 Jewish-only settlements and 101 "outposts" have...

US-Israel War on Iran : The Myth of Limited Warfare
Prof. James Petras, Centre for Research on Globalization - Middle East 4/5/2012
      Introduction
     The mounting threat of a US-Israeli military attack against Iran is based on several factors including: (1) the recent military history of both countries in the region, (2) public pronouncements by US and Israeli political leaders, (3) recent and on-going attacks on Lebanon and Syria, prominent allies of Iran, (4) armed attacks and assassinations of Iranian scientists and security officials by proxy and/or terrorist groups under US or Mossad control, (5) the failure of economic sanctions and diplomatic coercion, (6) escalating hysteria and extreme demands for Iran to end legal, civilian use-related uranium enrichment, (7) provocative military ‘exercises’ on Iran’s borders and war games designed for intimidation and a dress rehearsal for a preemptive attack, (8) powerful pro-war pressure groups in both Washington and Tel Aviv including the major Israeli political parties and the powerful AIPAC in the US, (9) and lastly the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (Obama’s Orwellian Emergency Decree, March 16, 2012).
     The US propaganda war operates along two tracks: (1) the dominant message emphasizes the proximity of war and the willingness of the US to use force and violence. This message is directed at Iran and coincides with Israeli announcements of war preparations. (2) The second track targets the ‘liberal public’ with a handful of marginal ‘knowledgeable academics’ (or State Department progressives) playing down the war threat and arguing that reasonable policy makers in Tel Aviv and Washington are aware that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons or any capacity to produce them now or in the near future. The purpose of this liberal backpedaling is to confuse and undermine the majority public opinion, which is clearly opposed to more war preparations, and to derail the burgeoning anti-war movement.
     Needless to say the pronouncements of the ‘rational’ warmongers use a ‘double discourse’ based on the facile dismissal of all the historical and empirical evidence to the contrary.... more.. e-mail

Scottish govt. helps Israeli company deal with BDS
Alternative Information Center - Documents obtained by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign show how a subsidiary of an Israeli company operating in Britain turned successfully for help from the Scottish Government to deal with what the Israeli company called “a...

BDS Action: Derrick May - it's not cool to play in Tel Aviv!
Alternative Information Center - Electronic music legend Derrick May (Detroit) is scheduled to play in Tel Aviv on 12 April 2012. Please tell him that Tel Aviv is NOT a cool place to play, when millions of Palestinians living under...

Israel 'satisfied' with Iran's rejection of West's demands
YNet News, 8 Apr 2012 - State officials glad to see Tehran exposed its true face by rejecting Obama's reported demands, estimate US president will now be forced to toughen sanctions ....

IOA imposes sanctions on prisoners for their solidarity with colleagues
PIC - Attorney Jawad Boulos said that Israeli guards in Gilboa jail have recently repressed and imposed fines and penalties on the prisoners for their solidarity with fellow prisoners on hunger strike.

[uruknet.info] Lethal Hawkademia and BDS
Uruknet April 5, 2012 - Bluntly put-Israeli universities are military laboratories funded by Israeli and US war mongers and war profiteers. While, the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has a growing global momentum and success by consumers, the campaign for the boycott of Israel academic institutions integral to maintaining Israel's illegal/apartheid occupation is lagging far...

Walking a thin line
George S. Hishmeh, Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN) 3/29/2012
      When Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington earlier this month, he startled his huge audience — over 10,000 American Jews, congressmen and US officials led by President Barack Obama — at the three-day American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual conference with his unbalanced and sometimes exaggerated pronouncements. “Iran’s nuclear programme continues to march forward,” the Israeli prime minister complained. “My friends, Israel has waited and waited for the international community to resolve this issue. We’ve waited for diplomacy to work. We’ve waited for sanctions to work. None of us can afford to wait much longer. As prime minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation.” His diatribe was startling. It even triggered a thought which may shock Netanyahu. Isn’t this what the Palestinians have been saying all along, urging Israelis to pull back from the occupied Palestinian territories, the remaining portion of the Holy Land that has been usurped since 1967. No one, including the Western powers and especially the United States, has been calling on Netanyahu to implement the UN Partition Plan, which divided Palestine unequally, unfairly giving the Israelis a larger and richer portion of the strategic country on the Eastern Mediterranean. Hardly a few weeks passed since this infamous Netanyahu declaration, and the UN Human Rights Council condemned, last Thursday, Israel’s planned construction of new housing units for Jewish settlers on a large occupied area of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The council emphasised that the Israeli plans undermine the decades-long peace process and pose a threat to the two-state solution and the creation of a contiguous and independent Palestinian state. more.. e-mail

Lethal Hawkademia and BDS
Palestine Chronicle: 5 Apr 2012 - By Vacy Vlazna 'It can never be business as usual. Israeli Universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice. While Palestinians are not able to access universities and schools, Israeli universities produce the research, technology, arguments and leaders for maintaining the occupation. [Ben Gurion University] is no exception. By maintaining links to both the Israeli defence forces and the arms industry, BGU structurally supports and facilitates the Israeli occupation.' — Desmond Tutu. Bluntly put-Israeli universities are military laboratories funded by Israeli and US war mongers and war profiteers. While, the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has a growing global momentum and success by consumers, the campaign for the boycott of Israel academic institutions integral to maintaining Israel’s illegal/apartheid occupation is lagging far behind. Until now, amongst the thousands of universities worldwide, only the University of Johannesburg (UJ), after prolonged internal debates, severed ties in...more

US-Israel War on Iran: The Myth of Limited Warfare
Palestine Chronicle: 5 Apr 2012 - By James Petras The mounting threat of a US-Israeli military attack against Iran is based on several factors including: (1) the recent military history of both countries in the region, (2) public pronouncements by US and Israeli political leaders, (3) recent and on-going attacks on Lebanon and Syria, prominent allies of Iran, (4) armed attacks and assassinations of Iranian scientists and security officials by proxy and/or terrorist groups under US or Mossad control, (5) the failure of economic sanctions and diplomatic coercion, (6) escalating hysteria and extreme demands for Iran to end legal, civilian use-related uranium enrichment, (7) provocative military ‘exercises’ on Iran’s borders and war games designed for intimidation and a dress rehearsal for a preemptive attack, (8) powerful pro-war pressure groups in both Washington and Tel Aviv including the major Israeli political parties and the powerful AIPAC in the US, (9) and lastly the 2012 National Defense Authorization...more

Critiquing Israel: Colonialism or Jewish Culture?
Dissident Voice: 5 Apr 2012 - The phenomenal success the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has had since it began in 2005 has attracted attention from all corners of the political spectrum — for better or for worse. Israel is scared. Israeli thinktanks have described BDS as a greater threat to Israel than armed Palestinian resistance. At the same time, at the forefront of the movement against what is now widely called Israeli apartheid are Jews — Israeli and diaspora. This is not surprising, as Jews have traditionally been active in “political mobilisation and opinion formation”, according to Benjamin Ginsberg. So it should not be surprising if the BDS movement itself experiences turmoil. For several years now, the UK Palestinian Soldarity Committee (PSC) has conducted a policy of calling leading activists such as Paul Eisen, Gilad Atzmon and Israel Shamir — all Jewish — anti-Semitic for daring to point out that those who persecute Arab...more

“Sí, se puede!” : Palestinian civil society salutes US Chicano/Latin@ youth for their principled stand in support of BDS
US Campaign to End the Occupation 5 Apr 2012 - At the 19th annual national conference of M.E.Ch.A. (Movímíento Estudíantíl Chícan@ de Aztlán), the largest association of Latin@ youth in the US, chapter leaders voted by a landslide decision to endorse the global call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) on Israel, due to its military...

Palestinian Appeal: Boycott INjustice Conference at Hebrew U!
Alternative Information Center - The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) urges international legal scholars and professionals to boycott the Minerva Jerusalem Conference on Transitional Justice,

[uruknet.info] Prawer Plan' to uproot Bedouins shows folly of the phrase democratic Israel'
Uruknet April 3, 2012 - Peter Beinart's pro-settlement boycott article in the New York Times has rightly been critiqued from the left for ignoring the fact that "Israel is only a genuine democracy' for its Jewish citizens," as Adam Horowitz put it. A close look at the Israeli government's Prawer Plan, which calls for the forced relocation...

Arab sports council boycotts Adidas over Jerusalem event
Daily Star 4 Apr 2012 Arab youth and sports ministers announced their boycott of sports apparel manufacturer Adidas over the company's sponsorship of last month's Jerusalem marathon.

AAI Statement on Jerusalem Raid
Arab American Institute 4 Apr 2012 - On Monday, April 2, Israeli security forces once again raided the offices of Al-Quds University�s Institute of Modern Media, shutting down the office and arresting several key staff members. The crackdown � sanctioned by the Israeli Minister of Internal Security � was aimed at blocking the...

'Confrontation with Iran may be delayed to 2013'
Jerusalem Post 3 Apr 2012 - Defense official says sanctions beginning to show results, Israel is waiting to see what happens in upcoming nuclear negotiations between Iran and P5+1 group.

Mark Rylance joins calls for Shakespeare's Globe theatre to boycott Israeli company
The Guardian 3 Apr 2012 - Founding artistic director calls for theatre to cancel production of The Merchant of Venice by Habima, part of the World Shakespeare Festival Mark Rylance, the founding artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe, has backed calls for the...

‘Prawer Plan’ to uproot Bedouins shows folly of the phrase ‘democratic Israel’
Mondoweiss - Protesters in Tel Aviv two years ago called on the Israeli government to recognize Bedouin villages ( Photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills ) Peter Beinart’s pro-settlement boycott article in the New York Times has rightly been critiqued from the left for ignoring the fact that “Israel is only a ‘genuine...

Egyptian Copts abandon constitution talks
4/2/2012 - CAIRO (Reuters) -- Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church has announced it is withdrawing from talks on a new constitution, saying Islamist domination of the drafting body made its participation "pointless", Egypt's state news agency said. The decision late on Sunday followed calls by Egyptian liberals to boycott the constitution drafting committee, which is....

Action: Support Church Divestment from Israel
Alternative Information Center - Please consider this important and timely opportunity! See below for ways of supporting church divestment and consider attending the briefing on Wednesday, April 4th.

[uruknet.info] Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti sanctioned for peaceful resistance' appeal
Uruknet April 2, 2012 - Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has been punished by Israeli prison authorities after launching an appeal for "peaceful resistance," public radio said late Sunday. Barghouti, a former secretary general of the Fatah party led by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, was put in solitary confinement without saying how long the sanctions would be...

[uruknet.info] Minnesota Battle Over Israeli Bonds
Uruknet April 1, 2012 - "I do not think this is a radical call," says Ronnie Barkan, of Boycott From Within (BFW), an Israeli human rights group that advocates boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) of Israel until it complies with international law and human rights consensus. "Simply by investing in the State of Israel, Minnesota inadvertently supports...

A twitter debate on Israel/Palestine and racism
Mondoweiss - This past weekend saw a spirited and sometimes angry debate on twitter over racism, Israel/Palestine, and BDS (Phil referenced it briefly here ). The discussion was touched off by a critique of BDS from The Nation 's Ben Adler , which was responding to Kiera Feldman's report on...

Action: Support Church Divestment from Israel
Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice, Alternative Information Center 4/2/2012
      Please consider this important and timely opportunity! See below for ways of supporting church divestment and consider attending the briefing on Wednesday, April 4th.
     The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice acknowledges the tremendous importance of calls from Palestinian civil society for tangible action to end the occupation of their land and Israel's discriminatory policies. We encourage you to support the response of United Methodists and Presbyterians as they seek to pass resolutions this spring (UMC) and summer (PC-USA) to withdraw their church funds from Caterpillar, Motorola, and Hewlett-Packard due to their complicity in the Israeli occupation. They want their churches to stop profiting from the violations of human rights which these companies enable.
     The Methodist vote is less than one month away and support is urgently needed. You do not have to be Methodist or Presbyterian to work on these campaigns (although it helps).
     Here is how you can support the votes:
     #1 Volunteer to help pass these resolutions!
     United Methodists and Presbyterians would be especially helpful, but really anyone can help in lots of different ways. Please:
     * Fill out this survey to find out where you'd best fit in:
     * Attend a briefing and training on April 4th at 5-6:15pm PST / 8-9:15pm EST by US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation National Organizer Anna Baltzer. Sign up for details by filling out the above survey.... more.. e-mail

Support Church Divestment Efforts
Rachel Corrie Foundation 2 Apr 2012 - The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice acknowledges the tremendous importance of calls from Palestinian civil society for tangible action to end the occupation of their land and Israel’s discriminatory policies. We encourage you to support the response of United Methodists and Presbyterians as they...

Anna Baltzer on United Methodist Divestment
US Campaign to End the Occupation 2 Apr 2012 - Anna Baltzer is National Organizer at the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and author of "Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories." To learn more about this divestment resolution being considered by the United Methodist Church in 2012, visit www.kairosresponse.org ....

Will churches boycott Israel?
YNet News, 1 Apr 2012 - Op-ed: With mainline churches increasingly anti-Israel, Christian-Jewish relations now at stake ....

SFO Jewish Library (you read that right– library) cancels panel on Jewish activism because participant supports boycott
Mondoweiss - link to www.scribd.com I was scheduled to be a panelist on an event in May at the Jewish Library in San Francisco-- "Reclaiming Jewish Activism." After a library funder, the Bureau of Jewish Education, found out I was on the panel, the news traveled up to...

Jewish food fight (at Park Slope Co-op)
Mondoweiss - Kiera Feldman has a great piece of reportage up at the Nation about Tuesday's boycott vote at the Park Slope Food Co-Op. (Alex Kane mentioned it here ). The beauty of the reporting is that Feldman understands exactly where the locus of opposition is in America to...

BDS leaders urge protests on Land Day
3/30/2012 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian BDS National Committee is urging people of conscience around the world to unite for a BDS Global Day of Action on Friday in solidarity with the Palestinian people's struggle for freedom, justice and equality. The BDS Global Day of Action coincides with Palestinian Land Day, initiated in....

BDS is endorsed by large Latino/a youth organization at Arizona conference
Mondoweiss - We received the following press release today from student solidarity groups in Arizona: March 30, 2012 -- At the 19th annual national conference of M.E.Ch.A. (Movímíento Estudíantíl Chícan@ de Aztlán), the largest association of Latin@ youth in the US, chapter leaders voted by a landslide decision...

[uruknet.info] BDS victory: Ahava products dropped by major retail chain in Norway
Uruknet March 28, 2012 - A month after a Japanese distributor decided to stop carrying Ahava cosmetic products because of the company's fraudulent practices and its profiteering from occupation, a major Norwegian retail chain announced that it, too, will stop sales of all Ahava products across the country. Ahava products are made in the illegal West Bank...

Emma Thompson among group of prominent British actors calling on Globe theatre to withdraw invite to Israeli National Theatre
Mondoweiss - UK groups have for three months been pressing Shakespeare's Globe to withdraw its festival invitation to Habima in response to the Palestinian call to boycott Israeli cultural institutions, and now a group of prominent actors, playwrights and directors have published a letter in the Guardian , 'Dismay...

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd supports World Social Forum Free Palestine
Global BDS 29 Mar 2012 - Roger Waters on tour with his “The Wall Live” show in Brazil today issued his support for the World Social Forum Free Palestine: “Since visiting Israel and the occupied territories in 2006, I have been part of an international movement to support the Palestinian people in...

Finland seeks to hide arms trade with Israel
Global BDS 28 Mar 2012 - IN THE midst of an ongoing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) bid in which both of the two finalists are Israeli weapons companies, the Finnish government is pushing forward a bill that would make the details of the Finnish-Israeli arms trade a state secret. The Defence Committee...

New Egyptian constitution boycott
BBC 29 Mar 2012 - One of the senior authorities in Sunni Islam, the al-Azhar University, withdraws from a panel writing a new constitution for Egypt.

Ramallah court extends arrest of Palestinian reporter
3/28/2012 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian court has extended the remand of a journalist arrested Monday over allegations of slander and defamation, officials in Ramallah said Wednesday. The Palestinian Authority will continue to hold Yousef al-Shayeb, who was arrested Monday, for another 15 days, the court ruled. He has not yet been charged with a.... Related: Journalists urged to boycott PA press freedom award

Journalists urged to boycott PA press freedom award
3/28/2012 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority has launched a prize to recognize exemplary reporting, but Palestinian journalists are calling for a boycott in protest of the government's treatment of the media. The prime minister in Ramallah, Salam Fayyad, unveiled the prize Tuesday and invited journalists to submit work on all platforms during.... Related: Ramallah court extends arrest of Palestinian reporter

Peter Beinart's problematic 'Zionist BDS' proposal | Jane Eisner
The Guardian 28 Mar 2012 - Beinart's idea of an Israeli settlement boycott is unworkable, even opportunistic. Its merit is to ask a vital question of us Peter Beinart deserves credit for continually testing how big the Jewish tent really is. His...

Park Slope Coop's vote on Israel boycott pits human rights against hummus
The Guardian 28 Mar 2012 - Brooklyn food co-op known for organic produce and earnest customers becomes unlikely forum for Middle East debate It was an evening that confirmed stereotypes and resisted categorisation: more than 1,600 members of Brooklyn's Park Slope Food...

Israel says sabotage may stretch Iran atom timeline
3/27/2012 - JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel on Tuesday played down the prospect of an imminent attack on Iran, saying its arch-foe's controversial nuclear program could still be set back by sanctions and sabotage. Six world powers are expected to renew efforts next month to talk Tehran into curbing its uranium enrichment, which can yield fuel for....

Pro-, anti-Israel activists clash over boycott
Jerusalem Post 27 Mar 2012 - Co-op members in Brooklyn to take part in first of two votes on proposal to ban Israeli products.

[uruknet.info] Boycotting Israel: Mustafa Barghouti vs. Rabbi Arthur Waskow on BDS Movement, Palestinian Solidarity
Uruknet March 26, 2011 - The Park Slope Food Coop, one of the oldest and largest in the country, is set to vote Tuesday on whether to hold a referendum on boycotting goods from Israel to protest the Israeli government's policies toward Palestinians. We host a debate on the international advocacy effort called the Boycott, Divestment and...

[uruknet.info] South Africans recall their own history during Israeli Apartheid Week
Uruknet March 26, 2012 - This year's Israeli Apartheid Week in South Africa created a buzz nationwide. BDS South Africa and other Palestine solidarity groups teamed up with trade unionists, political parties, student bodies, churches, youth organizations and activists in Gaza to reach out to a wide audience. Organizers used various means to inspire broad-based support for...

Jewish establishment-backed mayoral candidates rush to denounce Park Slope BDS effort
Mondoweiss - New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio ( Photo: Maxine Dovere/The Algemeiner ) The campaign to boycott Israeli products at Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Co-op takes a big step tonight , with members set to vote on whether to hold a referendum on the boycott question. And as...

BDS victory: Norwegian retailer de-shelves Ahava
Mondoweiss - (Photo: Boikott Israel-kampanjen i Bergen ) The Norwegian retailer VITA announced on Friday they will no longer carry products made by Ahava, citing a decision to stop selling all settlement products produced in occupied Palestine. VITA’s decision to boycott the settlement company comes one month after a...

Major Norwegian retail chain stops sales of occupation products from Ahava
Global BDS 27 Mar 2012 - Norwegian retail chain VITA made public on Friday their decision to stop all sales of products originating from settlements in occupied Palestine. VITA will therefore stop selling products from the cosmetics brand Ahava. VITA has been the main retailer of Ahava products in Norway, and this...

Ahly to boycott Egyptian league
BBC 27 Mar 2012 - Cairo club Al Ahly are to boycott all domestic football in the wake of the decision by the Egyptian FA to suspend al-Masry for two years.

‘Be on our side’: Bay Area ad campaign features Palestinian and Israeli women calling for U.S. sanctions against Israel
Mondoweiss - Northern California Friends of Sabeel ad in Downtown Berkeley BART Station.                       (Photo: Barbara Erickson) Two Israeli women, one Palestinian and the other Jewish, are the latest activists to appear on San Francisco Bay Area transit posters calling for an end to U. S. military aid to...

We who believe in freedom
Mondoweiss - In response to the recent debate regarding the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, we offer a view from a Jewish anti-Zionist perspective. We welcome debate as a part of the growth and success of an international movement deploying BDS against Israeli occupation, apartheid and colonization. A  claim   has   been   made  by...

Petition Campaign Against Iran War
Tikun Olam - Tweet Image by Iranian graphic artist Mana Neyestani A local activist friend has created a new petition campaign against an Israeli attack on Iran.  He asks signers to commit to divesting from Israel in their personal and political lives if it launches a pre-emptive assault on...

South Africans recall their own history during Israeli Apartheid Week
Electronic Intifada: 26 Mar 2012 - Adri Nieuwhof Geneva 26 March 2012 Israeli Apartheid Week in South Africa aimed to reach a wide audience and strengthen the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.more

Report: Israeli ministers pose sanctions on PA for UN probe
3/25/2012 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israeli government ministers will meet Sunday to discuss sanctions against the Palestinian Authority and UN Human Rights Council after the body agreed to investigate Israeli settlements, news reports said. The forum of eight senior cabinet members, which includes ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, will meet in Jerusalem for talks....

Jewish Ideas Daily: Marching to Jerusalem
Jerusalem Post 25 Mar 2012 - Protests, marches, sit-ins, boycotts have been employed in support of the Palestinian cause, but violence has remained the core.

Response to ‘Zionist BDS’
YNet News, 25 Mar 2012 - Op-ed: Some ‘open minded’ Jews fail to understand damage they do to historical Zionist narrative ....

Liberals boycott Egypt's constitutional assembly
Jerusalem Post 24 Mar 2012 - Islamist-controlled parliament selects members for constitution-writing body; liberals and leftists withdraw, saying country's diversity will not be properly represented.

Egypt liberals boycott panel vote
BBC 24 Mar 2012 - Egypt's liberal MPs walk out of a vote to choose a panel drafting a new constitution over fears Islamists will monopolise the process.

EAPPI FACT SHEET: Violence Without Sanctions
WAFA - 13:52-In recent years, violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has risen sharply. The Israeli authorities do little to prevent or punish it. This EAPPI fact sheet shows how...

Eli Yishai to Netanyahu: Boycott J Street
Jerusalem Post 22 Mar 2012 - Interior Minister says Israel should not send representatives to "pro-Israel and pro-peace" group's conference.

BDS: Legal Victory
Rachel Corrie Foundation 22 Mar 2012 - Supporters of the Olympia Food Co-op outside Thurston County Superior Court. On February 27th a Washington State judge dismissed the case against current and former board members of the Olympia Food Co-op for their decision to boycott Israeli goods, calling the lawsuit a SLAPP – Strategic...

(en) Britain, SolFed* - Fighting Workfare At Royal Mail - postal workers IWW CWU Boycott workfare
A-infos 22 Mar 2012 - Most people will have heard about the CWU leadership endorsing the Royal Mail's participation in the workfare scheme, whilst at the same time ignoring rank and file members views on forced labour and attacks on workers rights. ---- Concerned posties from SOLFED, IWW, Boycott Workfare, and...

Rome: BDS Action Against Culture as Cover for Israeli Crimes
Alternative Information Center - On Sunday March 18, 2012, at the Cartoons Festival of Rome, a group of 20 activists of the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel requested, and were granted by the organizers, the possibility...

[uruknet.info] Inspired by Shalabi, Palestinian prisoners boycott military courts
Uruknet March 19, 2012 - Political prisoner Hana Shalabi, now in her 33rd day of hunger strike, is spreading dissent across Israeli prisons, including a boycott of the military courts system. Shalabi is protesting Israel's practice of administrative detention, or arrest without charge. As a result of her prolonged protest, she is now "in danger of immanent...

Beinart’s ‘Zionist BDS’ will only help entrench the occupation
Mondoweiss - Peter's Beinart argument for why boycott only settlements' goods never made any sense. According to Beinart, boycotting anything inside the green line invites ambiguity about the boycott’s ultimate goal — whether it seeks to end Israel’s occupation or Israel’s existence. ( New York Times, March 18, 2012...

Munayyer: Liberal Zionist sympathy for Palestinians generally ends at the green line. This is moral and intellectual cowardice.
Mondoweiss - Yousef Munayyer, Zion Square's sole Palestinian regular contributor , has responded to Peter Beinart's settlement boycott op-ed in his first post for the Newsweek/Daily Beast blog . In it, Munayyer takes on "the increased volume voices described as ‘Liberal Zionists’ have garnered in the discourse on Israel/Palestine," and...

Israeli court to hold Shalabi hearing Tuesday
3/19/2012 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- An Israeli court will hold a hearing for hunger-striking detainee Hana Shalabi on Tuesday morning, a lawyer from the prisoners society said. Shalabi started a hunger strike on Feb. 16 after she was re-arrested by Israeli forces, despite being freed in a prisoner swap deal in October. Lawyer Jawad Boulos said.... Related: Shalabi supporters join hunger strike, boycott courts

Shalabi supporters join hunger strike, boycott courts
3/19/2012 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Thirty Palestinian prisoners have joined the hunger strike of Hana Shalabi, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Monday. PA Minister for Detainee Affairs Issa Qaraqe told Ma'an that Shalabi was hospitalized on Monday evening after consuming only water for 33 days. Her lawyers and doctors warned last.... Related: Israeli court to hold Shalabi hearing Tuesday

Jenin students protest financial exclusion
3/19/2012 - JENIN (Ma'an) -- Students at a Jenin university protested outside the university's administrative headquarters overnight Sunday, calling for the reinstatement of 400 students who could not pay full fees for the semester. The student council of the Arab American University called for boycotting classes until further notice. Around 100 students gathered outside.... Related: PA: Austerity measures to continue

Flexing our muscles
Jerusalem Post 19 Mar 2012 - Globally, our responses to Boycott Delegitimisation and Sanctions are seen as examples of best practice.

Inspired by Shalabi, Palestinian prisoners boycott military courts
Mondoweiss - (Photo: Ayman Nobani/APA images) Political prisoner Hana Shalabi, now in her 33rd day of hunger strike, is spreading dissent across Israeli prisons, including a boycott of the military courts system. Shalabi is protesting Israel’s practice of administrative detention, or arrest without charge. As a result of...

Beinart’s Buy Israel, ‘Zionist BDS’ Reverse Boycott
Tikun Olam - Tweet The NY Times op-ed staff has offered Peter Beinart a gift on a silver platter, with his very own essay marking the launch of Zion Square project at the Daily Beast.  As far as liberal Zionism is concerned, the pages of the New York Times...

BDS Trial: France Demands Prison Sentence as Example
Alternative Information Center - The French prosecution is requesting exemplary sentences against local BDS activists.

Colonization of the Mind: Normalize This!
Palestine Chronicle: 18 Mar 2012 - By Samah Sabawi (Full Transcript. Excerpts from this speech were presented at the University of Sydney Australia during Israeli Apartheid Week 2012.) I would like to talk about normalization. I found the best definition of the word normalization on the Palestinian Campaign for Cultural and Academic Boycott’s website: “Normalization is the colonization of the mind, whereby the oppressed subject comes to believe that the oppressor’s reality is the only “normal” reality that must be subscribed to, and that the oppression is a fact of life that must be coped with.” So projects that constitute normalization are not about freedom, justice or liberation, but about numbing our minds to the horror of the occupation, so we accept it as normal, as permanent, as an unchangeable fixed reality! A typical normalization project brings Palestinians and Israelis together to talk about acceptance of one another to reduce the ‘hate’ that drives the conflict!...more

JVP statement on Park Slope Coop BDS Vote
Jewish Voice for Peace -

Gaza sports ministry calls for Adidas boycott
3/16/2012 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Ministry of Youth and Sports in Gaza on Friday called for a boycott of Adidas products due to the company'ssponsorship of an international marathon in Jerusalem." We have spoken with the cabinet to issue a decision to boycott Adidas products because it sponsored the occupation's....

Lieberman in China: Israel reserves right to attack Iran if sanctions fail
Ha'aretz - 16 Mar 2012

South Africa Must Resist Sanctions on Iran
Palestine Chronicle: 15 Mar 2012 - By Iqbal Jassat South Africa's latest corruption scandal is once again linked to high profile politicians and their close business associates. However, unlike earlier cases of fraud, the murkiness of current allegations implicating deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe’s partner Gugu Mtshali is entirely clouded as a result of the involvement of a foreign intelligence agency, the CIA. And amazingly, instead of being alarmed or at the least being curious, media seems to have ignored the questionable role of America’s spooks in South Africa. The foremost question that requires probing is the timing of leaks in relation to an Israeli-inspired frenzy led by the Obama administration to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. As this scandal allegedly centers on so-called sanctions busting, it is entirely inappropriate to accept a narrative framed by the American government that would have South Africa believe it is guilty of a heinous crime by doing...more

Occupied Lives: Switching off hospitals
Relief Web 14 Mar 2012 - Source: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Country: occupied Palestinian territory The reality generated by Israel's longstanding illegal closure, the international sanctions against Gaza’s authorities, and political in-fighting between the Ministries in Gaza and Ramallah, has resulted in a fuel and...

US Campaign Thanks Cassandra Wilson for Supporting Cultural Boycott
US Campaign to End the Occupation 14 Mar 2012 - In late February, US jazz singer Cassandra Wilson canceled a schedule performance at the Holon International Women's Festival in Israel. Wilson, a world-renowned vocalist, canceled her performance after appeals from boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activists encouraging her to respect the Palestinian call for BDS . According...

[uruknet.info] Gaza activists prepare for Israeli Apartheid Week
Uruknet March 11, 2012 - After two successful Israeli Apartheid Weeks (IAWs) in 2010 and 2011, the Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI), together with the One Democratic State Group (ODSG) and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), are gearing up for Gaza's third IAW. PSCABI is...

(en) Britain, Anarchist Solidarity Federation, Anti-workfare action in Brighton
A-infos 12 Mar 2012 - Saturday March 3rd was a national day of action against workfare, called by Boycott Workfare. In Brighton, members of Solidarity Federation headed down to Jubilee Street to support the Brighton Benefits Campaign picket of Tesco. ---- Turnout was encouraging, with over 50 people in attendance. A...

BDS on Trial in Paris: A Masquerade
Alternative Information Center - A masquerade, lies and hypocrisy were once again on show last Thursday (8 March) in the Court of Appeal of Paris, where Olivia Zémor appeared for posting on the website www.europalestine.com a video of a boycott...

Candidly Speaking: Can Obama be trusted?
Jerusalem Post 11 Mar 2012 - Obama is asking Israel to trust him and await the outcome of sanctions without providing a time frame for sanctions.

Gaza Activists Prepare for Israeli Apartheid Week
Palestine Chronicle: 11 Mar 2012 - By Rana B. Baker and Joe Catron - Gaza After two successful Israeli Apartheid Weeks (IAWs) in 2010 and 2011, the Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI), together with the One Democratic State Group (ODSG) and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), are gearing up for Gaza’s third IAW. PSCABI is a group of young Gaza students and recent graduates who are highly committed to the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. They founded the organization early in 2009, shortly after Operation Cast Lead, on their belief that Gaza should encourage and further inspire international solidarity groups around the world. PSCABI has established links with numerous universities and student groups in many countries including the United States, Great Britain, and Italy, and will hold joint events with several over Skype during IAW, which begins...more

Why Boycott Strauss?
Palestine Chronicle: 11 Mar 2012 - By Vacy Vlazna The Palestinian Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement was given an unlikely boost last month with strident calls in Israel to boycott the Strauss Group after two months of protests outside the homes of its company's executives including its chairman, Ofra Strauss. BDS activists looked on bemused by the sweet irony of a 'solidarity' that committed the cardinal sin of anti-semitism - boycotting Jewish businesses which has long raised the false spectre of Nazi comparisons. When Australian BDS activists targeted Strauss' Max Brenner outlets last year, Australia's now ex-prime-minister-ex-foreign-minister joined the anti-boycott fray with a politically motivated sanctimonious statement, ''As an individual citizen - that is me, K. Rudd - I am here because I object to the boycotting of Jewish businesses''. So why were angry Israelis calling for boycott against the Jewish Strauss company? Well, not because the Strauss Group, Israel's second largest food company with a...more

Saudi women students boycott classes in rare protest
3/10/2012 - JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) -- Thousands of students at an all-female university in Saudi Arabia boycotted classes on Saturday, protesting against poor services, witnesses said, in a rare display of dissent from women in the conservative Islamic kingdom. It was the second protest at King Khalid university in the southern town of Abha in a week....

Netanyahu wags America by tail
Khaled Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem, Al-Ahram Weekly 3/8/2012
      In his trip to Washington, Israel's premier acted more like the US president than his host, Barack Obama.
     Despite Barack Obama's desperate efforts to retain a semblance of American national dignity in the face of encroaching Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, it seems that the latter succeeded in getting most if not all of what he wanted from a visibly insecure president who appears convinced that it will be hard for him to stay in the White House without grovelling at Israel's feet.
     Netanyahu went to Washington in a pugnacious, even insolent mood, to achieve two main goals: first, to cajole and if necessary bully the Obama administration to take more proactive measures against Iran; second, to see to it that the Palestinian issue is put on the back burner for many months, if not years, to come.
     As expected, Netanyahu praised the wide-ranging sanctions imposed so far on Iran. However, he told his host that Israel was her own master. His unspoken meaning was, "If you don't bomb Iran, we will."
     Obama invoked all the sacrosanct mantras fit for the occasion. Speaking before the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) convention, he reiterated his ironclad commitment to Israel's security and maintaining its qualitative edge over the entire Arab world combined.
     On Iran, he denied any suggestion that the US would settle for a policy of containment in case Iran succeeded in manufacturing a nuclear weapon. Obama said the US would not allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons, period.
     Not even an allusion or a distant hint was made to Israel's formidable nuclear arsenal, which according to reliable sources amounts to 250-300 nuclear weapons, with their delivery systems. more.. e-mail

Policy Paper – U.S. Military Aid To Israel
Global BDS 10 Mar 2012 - About the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a national coalition of nearly 400 organizations working to change U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine to support human rights, international law, and equality. For additional information, please visit or...

Israel sponsors Polish soap opera in ‘image improvement’ drive – Polish and Israeli activists urge boycott
Global BDS 8 Mar 2012 - Polish and Israeli activists have called on the makers of a Polish medical drama ‘For Better and For Worse’ to abandon plans to film two episodes in Israel under the sponsorship of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Israeli Embassy in Warsaw and the Israeli...

Peres says US, Israel agree on action against Iran
Jerusalem Post 9 Mar 2012 - President tells large audience in Los Angeles he supports tough sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Iran seeking to build long-range missile, warns David Cameron
The Guardian 9 Mar 2012 - Prime minister says Iran is planning inter-continental weaponry, but urges Israel to give sanctions more time David Cameron has warned that Iran is seeking to build an inter-continental missile that would threaten the west, as he...

(en) Britain, Edinburgh, Boycott Workfare National Day of Action 3rd March
A-infos 7 Mar 2012 - Edinburgh Anarchist Federation fully endorses the national day of action called by grassroots campaign Boycott Workfare. -- Join the protest in Edinburgh: -- Assemble 12 noon, Hunter Square, Saturday 3rd March, to visit some nearby businesses using unpaid workfare ‘volunteers’ to work for free. ---- Workfare...

Iran 'seeking to build nuclear weapon', warns David Cameron
The Guardian 6 Mar 2012 - Prime minister says Iran is planning an 'inter-continental nuclear weapon' but urges Israel to give sanctions more time David Cameron has warned that Iran is seeking to build an "inter-continental nuclear weapon" that threatens the west,...

Netanyahu on Iran: 'None of us can afford to wait much longer'
The Guardian 6 Mar 2012 - Israel has waited for the international community to resolve the issue, Netanyahu said in his address, but diplomacy and sanctions have failed Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, invoked the spectre of Auschwitz as he chided...

Gas prices have shot up 13% since AIPAC’s victory in Senate
Mondoweiss - Last fall, the Israel lobby group AIPAC led the charge for stiffer sanctions against Iran . The Obama administration, including Treasury Sec'y Timothy Geithner, said the legislation would send gas prices higher. As Reuters said, "The Obama administration's chief concerns appear to be that the amendment could...

Ignore the intelligence reports, let’s make war on Iran
Sabbah report 6 Mar 2012 - Stuart Littlewood argues that, with the USA’s intelligence agencies concurring that Iran has no nuclear weapons programme, Washington’s and London’s clamour for ever tighter sanctions and war with Iran appear to be motivated not by national interests, but by loyalty and obedience to Israel and its...

Obama offers Netanyahu assurances over Iran
3/5/2012 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Barack Obama appealed to Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to give sanctions more time to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, but the Israeli prime minister gave no sign of backing away from possible military action. The two men, who have had a strained relationship, sought to present a united front in the....

Obama Cites ‘Window’ for Diplomacy on Iran Bomb
New York Times 5 Mar 2012 - President Obama urged Israel to allow more time for a campaign of economic sanctions to work on Tehran.

[uruknet.info] Barack Obama tells AIPAC conference: 'too much loose talk of war'
Uruknet March 4, 2012 - Barack Obama has admonished Israel for "too much loose talk of war" with Iran and said the world has a responsibility to give sanctions an opportunity to discourage Tehran from pursuing a nuclear weapon. Speaking ahead of a meeting on Monday with the Israel prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, Obama sought to head...

Diplomat: Israel can rely on the US, full stop
Jerusalem Post 3 Mar 2012 - Deputy head of mission in Washington says sanctions on Iran, paired with a credible threat, could work.

Boycott movement about Palestinian rights, not destroying Israel
Omar Rahman, +972 Magazine 3/3/2012
      Noam Wiener’s post against the BDS movement once again fails to understand the movement and the general plight of Palestinians.
     I am really not sure how I missed this guest post by Noam Wiener on the boycott movement, and the flurry of comments it generated, but I wanted to add a few of my own. There were way too many comments to read and I am sure that I am reiterating what many of our in-tuned readers certainly stated, but here it goes.
     I have two central issues with this piece, starting with the following excerpt:
     "When I choose to boycott somebody, I am telling that somebody that they are, for me, a non-entity. They become transparent, not to be addressed, not to be dealt with, and not to be considered. Boycotting means denying not just an entity’s business, but its voice."
     1. I don’t believe boycott means what he says it means. I may boycott Nike because it practices child labor in Malaysia, but that does not mean I view Nike as a “non-entity” with no right to exist. Boycott is about Israeli practices, not about Israel. Unfortunately, inherent Israeli exclusionary practices that privilege one people and disenfranchise another fit this bill, and may consequently force Israel to be a state for all its citizens: not such a terrible thing in my estimation.
     2. No matter how many times people say it, there are those like Noam Wiener who fail time and again to understand or empathize with the refugee issue. They can say the occupation is the source of all evil till they run out of breath, but they must acknowledge that the refugees are also not a “non-entity” and that their existence and plight must be addressed. -- See also: Wiener: Boycotting Israel means denying its right to exist more.. e-mail

Iran's leader touts turnout before most people even vote
The National 2 Mar 2012 - Iran's leaders need strong voter turnout more than ever with the country under unprecedented western sanctions and threats of an Israeli attack over its nuclear programme.

[uruknet.info] Gaza gears up for Israeli Apartheid Week
Uruknet March 1, 2012 - For the third consecutive year, students in Gaza are holding a series of events to mark Israeli Apartheid Week. Gaza's contribution to this international on-campus initiative is largely the work of the Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel. This group was founded early in 2009, shortly after Operation Cast...

[uruknet.info] Israel's Chutzpah Using a Black Icon to Sell Apartheid
Uruknet March 1, 2012 - Hucksters for Israel attempt to make up for in chutzpah what they lack in facts. On opening night of the eighth annual Israeli Apartheid Week at NYU - at an event featuring Omar Barghouti and Noura Erakat, leading Palestinian figures in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign - apologists for Israel's...

Iran's first elections since '09 unrest mark a stark contrast
LA Times 3 Mar 2012 - With reformists kept off the ballot, this vote is largely about hard-liners positioning themselves for the 2013 presidential vote. Iranians cast ballots for a new parliament Friday amid a silent boycott by reformists and exhortations from the nation's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to deliver "...

Obama ought not shun bluntness
George S. Hishmeh, Ma’an News Agency 3/2/2012
      US President Barack Obama appears likely to win a second term because his Republican competitors seem, if nothing else, hopelessly disjointed. Regrettably, however, he remains treading softly, obviously fearing that any pronouncement on any of the key issues in the Middle East -- Iran, Syria, Israel and the Palestinians -- might tip the balance against him in the remaining nine months before the presidential election in November.
     Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former National Security Adviser in the Carter administration, had this memorable comment on the Republican presidential candidates in a recent TV interview:
     “I must say I literally feel embarrassed as an American when I see those (Republicans) orate. One of them sounds like a medieval Savonarola (a Catholic monk). Another one is trying to explain why he has some of his wealth located (outside the country) in Cayman Islands (to evade paying taxes). And someone else would go back to 1780 (the American revolutionary war). And then there is someone who is using his credentials as a repudiated speaker of the Congress (Newt Gingrich) to be president. I mean, this is just embarrassing ...”
     Israel is confident that it can pull the rug from underneath Obama's shaky feet should he appear more daring against Israel’s aggressive stance vis-a-vis Iran's nuclear policy or the Palestinians’ struggle to gain independence in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip which form only 22 percent of historic Palestine, or half what they were offered under the partition plan sanctioned by the United Nations.
     Obama finds himself in a ticklish position, reminiscent of last year’s occasion when he had to backtrack on his ideas for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement echoing long-held UN resolutions.... more.. e-mail

Israeli PM demands Obama commit to military action if Iran sanctions fail
The Guardian 1 Mar 2012 - Binyamin Netanyahu pressing for explicit threat from US ahead of crucial meeting with Obama next week in Washington Israel is pressing Barack Obama for an explicit threat of military action against Iran if sanctions fail and...

[uruknet.info] Finkelstein, BDS and the destruction of Israel
Uruknet February 29, 2012 - In a recent and highly controversial interview, Norman Finkelstein, long a scourge of Israel, turned his guns on Palestinians and their supporters. He accused the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement of being a "cult", and claimed that its achievements were mostly exaggerated. But what exercised Finkelstein most was his conclusion that...

[uruknet.info] Legal win for BDS in Wash.
Uruknet February 29, 2012 --A Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit aimed at ending the boycott of products from Israel by the Olympia Food Co-op. The Olympia Food Co-op is a nonprofit corporation formed in 1976 that provides food to members. The Co-op now operates two stores in Olympia, Wash., that serve some 22,000 members. The...

Ahlan wa sahlan in Al-Quds
Daoud Kuttab, Ma’an News Agency 3/1/2012
      The invitation by the Palestinian president to Arabs and Muslims to visit Jerusalem is long overdue. But it is better late than never.
     Jerusalem’s 300,000 Palestinians badly needed this visit, which comes at a time when their natural hinterland (the rest of the West Bank) has been cut off from them.
     For years Arabs and Muslims have shied away from visiting Jerusalem and other Palestinian lands for a variety of reasons. Most have no opportunity to go even if they want to. With the exception of Egypt and Jordan (the latter only since 1994) no other Arab country has diplomatic relations with Israel.
     Non-Arab states with substantial Muslim populations can visit, and some have in the past decades, mostly through one-off tourism junkets. I saw Muslims, from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, South Africa and Bangladesh, among others, crossing into Palestine over the King Hussein Bridge. Some said that it was emotionally difficult for them to see the holy city under a foreign military rule.
     Religious leaders, and for different reasons, have also trickled in. Egyptian Copts were ordered not to visit Jerusalem because of Israel’s unilateral decision (before the peace with Egypt) to give the keys of a Jerusalem convent near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to rival Eritreans (at the time Israeli allies). Egyptian-born Doha-based Islamic leader Yosef Qardawi also issued a fatwa against visits to Jerusalem; it was not challenged until recently.
     Some people, with loud rhetoric, have publicly called for a boycott, claiming that such a visit only encourages Israelis to continue their occupation, as it shows that the occupation and annexation of Jerusalem is normal.... more.. e-mail

Gaza gears up for Israeli Apartheid Week
Electronic Intifada: 1 Mar 2012 - Rana Baker and Joe Catron Gaza Strip 1 March 2012 Students across the occupied Gaza strip prepare for the third consecutive year of Israeli Apartheid Week events, structured around strengthening the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and bridging global struggles for liberation.more

[uruknet.info] Transforming Finkelstein BDS attack into opportunity
Uruknet February 28, 2012 - There have been a number of thoughtful and incisive rebuttals to the recent video interview in which Norman Finkelstein absurdly calls the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against apartheid Israel a "cult," and admonishes Palestinians to limit their struggle to the "two-state solution" ("Video: Arguing the boycott, divestment and sanctions...

The Rosh Hashanah sermon on Fire Island
Mondoweiss - Fire Island, NY I keep wanting to get to this story, and today I will. At the Penn BDS conference earlier this month , there was a panel of Jews speaking on “BDS, Hillel, and the Question of Anti-Semitism," and Rebecca Vilkomerson of Jewish Voice for Peace...

Finkelstein, BDS and the destruction of Israel
Global BDS 28 Feb 2012 - Contrary to Finkelstein’s claim that the BDS movement would lead to the ‘destruction’ of Israel, one can simply look to Ireland as an example of a lasting two-state solution [GALLO/GETTY] Chicago, IL – In a recent and highly controversial interview , Norman Finkelstein, long a scourge of...

Judge throws out Israel-backed lawsuit against Olympia Food Co-op, upholds right to boycott
Global BDS 27 Feb 2012 - In a major setback for Israeli efforts to suppress the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in the United States, a judge in Olympia, Washington today dismissed a lawsuit designed to force the Olympia Food Co-op to rescind its boycott of Israeli goods. The judge ruled...

Finkelstein, BDS and the destruction of Israel
Ali Abunimah, Al Jazeera.com 2/28/2012
      Norman Finkelstein's views on the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement may be somewhat shortsighted.
     Chicago, IL - In a recent and highly controversial interview, Norman Finkelstein, long a scourge of Israel, turned his guns on Palestinians and their supporters. He accused the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement of being a "cult", and claimed that its achievements were mostly exaggerated.
     But what exercised Finkelstein most was his conclusion that if implemented, the demands of the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS, would amount to "the destruction of Israel".
     Finkelstein lay into the three "tiers" of the BDS call: that Israel end its occupation of Arab lands conquered in 1967; that it end all forms of discrimination and guarantee equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel; and that it respect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees, including the right of return. US activists urge boycottof Israeli companies
     "They don't want Israel," Finkelstein declared, "They think they're being very clever. They call it their three tiers... We want the end of the occupation, we want the right of return, and we want equal rights for Arabs in Israel. And they think they are very clever, because they know the result of implementing all three is what? What's the result? You know and I know what's the result: there's no Israel." more.. e-mail

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Over Olympia Food Co-op Boycott Of Israeli Goods
IMEMC - Today, (Monday) in a lawsuit brought against current and former members of the Olympia Food Co-op board of directors for their decision to boycott Israeli goods, a Washington State court dismissed the case, calling it a SLAPP – Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation – and said that it would award the defendants attorneys’ fees, costs, and sanctions. The judge also upheld the constitutionality of Washington’s anti-SLAPP law, which the plaintiffs had challenged. ...

[uruknet.info] Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Over Boycott of Israeli Goods
Uruknet February 27, 2012 - Today, in a lawsuit brought against current and former members of the Olympia Food Co-op board of directors for their decision to boycott Israeli goods, a Washington State court dismissed the case, calling it a SLAPP - Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation - and said that it would award the defendants attorneys'...

US Judge Rules Boycott Israel Campaign Legal
WAFA - 28 Feb 2012

Jewish group hails BDS legal victory
Jewish Voice for Peace -

Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Coop to take the first step towards a boycott of Israeli goods on March 27
Mondoweiss -   Members of Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Coop will be voting on more than work shift arrangements at the Coop's monthly General Meeting in March. They’ll be deciding on whether they'll be having a co-op wide referendum about the Coop’s stance on human rights. On the...

Israelis sanction a march of incitement against Hanin Zoabi in her hometown
Mondoweiss - link to www.maannews.net link to www.kibush.co.il '--> link to www.maannews.net link to www.palestine-info.co.uk '--> link to palsolidarity.org link to www.palestine-info.co.uk link to www.aljazeera.com link to www.maannews.net link to www.maannews.net link to www.palestine-info.co.uk link to www.imemc.org link to www.hrw.org link to www.richardsilverstein.com link to english.al-akhbar.com  Report: Police...

MJ Rosenberg on Targeted BDS
The Magnes Zionist 28 Feb 2012 - The indispensable MJ Rosenberg has written a nice piece railing against those politicians who are progressive except for Palestine.He then endorses what I have called “ Targeted BDS ,” i. e., boycott, divestment, and sanctions that focus on the Occupied Territories. But he goes on to...

Israel ‘charity’ accused of racism suffers another blow
Global BDS 28 Feb 2012 - The Jewish National Fund (JNF), a British charity implicated in human rights violations in Israel, received yet another blow when Green Party of England and Wales members voted overwhelmingly to support an international call for action against JNF practices in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,...

Lawsuit against Olympia Food Co-Op declared illegal lawsuit against public participation
US Campaign to End the Occupation 28 Feb 2012 - VICTORY FOR OLYMPIA FOOD CO-OP, PALESTINE AND BDS MOVEMENT: Judge: Lawsuit Violates Washington Free Speech Protections February 27, 2012 – Olympia, WA – In a landmark ruling, Judge Thomas McPhee has declared a lawsuit against the Olympia Food Coop illegal under Washington State law and awarded...

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Over Boycott of Israeli Goods
Palestine Chronicle: 27 Feb 2012 - By The Center for Constitutional Rights - Olympia, WA and New York, NY Today, in a lawsuit brought against current and former members of the Olympia Food Co-op board of directors for their decision to boycott Israeli goods, a Washington State court dismissed the case, calling it a SLAPP – Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation – and said that it would award the defendants attorneys’ fees, costs, and sanctions. The judge also upheld the constitutionality of Washington’s anti-SLAPP law, which the plaintiffs had challenged. In a court hearing last Thursday, lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP argued that the court should grant the defendants’ Special Motion to Strike and dismiss the case because it targeted the constitutional rights of free speech and petition in connection with an issue of public concern. “We are pleased the Court found this case to be what it...more

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Over Boycott of Israeli Goods
US Campaign to End the Occupation 28 Feb 2012 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jen Nessel, CCR, press@ccrjustice.org Jayne Kaszynski, Olympia Food Co-op, publicrelations@olympiafood.coop Court Finds Suit Is Effort to Chill Boycotters ’ Public Statements On Issue of Public Concern February 27, 2012, Olympia, WA and New York, NY – Today, in a lawsuit brought against...

10 Reasons Why the Israel Lobby AIPAC is So Dangerous
Dissident Voice: 28 Feb 2012 - The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the country. AIPAC’s clout helps fuel a never-ending cycle of violence in the Middle East. Here are ten reasons why AIPAC is so dangerous. 1. AIPAC is lobbying Congress to promote a military confrontation with Iran.  AIPAC – like the Israeli government – is demanding that the U.S. attack Iran militarily to prevent Iran from having the technological capacity to produce nuclear weapons, even though U.S. officials say Iran isn’t trying to build a weapon (and even though Israel has hundreds of undeclared nuclear weapons). AIPAC has successfully lobbied the U.S. government to adopt crippling economic sanctions on Iran, including trying to cut off Iran’s oil exports, despite the fact that these sanctions raise the price of gas and threaten the U.S. economy. 2. AIPAC promotes Israeli policies that are in direct opposition to...more

Japanese Distributer Ends Contract With AHAVA
IMEMC - DaitoCrea, Japanese agent of the Israeli cosmetics firm, AHAVA, announced on their Webpage that it has ended all sales of AHAVA products for what it attributed to “financial reasons”. Boycott movement said that decision is the outcome of direct action and protests. ...

Report: Police sanction protest against Zoabi in Nazareth
2/27/2012 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli police have given permission for a right-wing march against a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament in her home town of Nazareth, Israeli media reported Monday. Part of a campaign under the slogan "Expel Hanin Zoabi from the Knesset", her fellow parliamentarian Michael Ben-Ari will accompany activists from far-right group....

Judge strikes down lawsuit against Olympia Co-op boycott of Israeli goods
Mondoweiss - Olympia BDS member in Bil'in, Palestine. (Photo: Olympia BDS) Today, a judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Olympia Food Co-op’s boycott against Israeli products. The Co-op’s decision to de-shelve Israeli products was brought to court after five members sued the co-op. Initially, the plaintiffs petitioned the...

BDS Victory in Japan: Distributor drops Ahava because of the company’s illegal practices
Mondoweiss - (Image: Codepink) This statement was issued by the Palestine Forum Japan, a coalition partner in the Stolen Beauty Ahava boycott campaign. DaitoCrea , the general agent in Japan for Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, announced on its website that they would no longer be distributing Ahava products as...

In one-candidate poll, Yemenis find choices
Jerusalem Post 26 Feb 2012 - Those who boycotted the elections included independent protesters, Houthi rebels and southern secessionists.

Syria referendum proceeds amid military onslaught
Jerusalem Post 26 Feb 2012 - Activists call for boycott, protests against referendum on new constitution which opposition claims is a ploy by Assad.

Syria holds vote despite violence
BBC 26 Feb 2012 - The Syrian government holds a constitutional referendum boycotted as a "farce" by the opposition, as violence claims at least 30 more lives.

Envoy: US, Israel coordinated on steps against Iran
2/24/2012 - JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- The United States and Israel are coordinated on steps being taken to combat Iran's perceived nuclear threat and the two allies have been planning to ensure "all other options" are available, the US ambassador to Israel said on Thursday. Ambassador Dan Shapiro said both countries were hoping the economic sanctions in....

The Case for Sanctions Against Israel
Global BDS 24 Feb 2012 - Edited by Audrea Lim Leading international voices argue for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. In July 2011, Israel passed legislation outlawing the public support of boycott activities against the state, corporations, and settlements, adding a crackdown on free speech to its continuing blockade of Gaza...

A Response to Norman Finkelstein
Dissident Voice: 23 Feb 2012 - Responding to bizarre statements always risks magnifying their exposure and importance. Hence I wouldn’t normally respond to Norman Finkelstein’s startling 32-minute video attack on the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, which was recently posted on YouTube to considerable fanfare by Zionist blogs. Some other good writers have taken him on, like Sean O’Neill , so I could leave it there. But having watched the whole video-taped interview as well as the 5-minute version that someone cobbled together of its “highlights”, I’m sufficiently irritated to respond. Partly I’m concerned to counter some fallacies he promotes that are floating around more widely, but I also feel obliged to challenge people who use the worst conceits of the academy—“it’s science!” “it’s law!”—to trash people’s work while abusing the real rigor and subtlety of academe. In fact, some of Finkelstein’s points are flat wrong, others partly wrong, some partly right and...more

Administrative detainees to boycott military courts
2/22/2012 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian prisoners society said Wednesday that administrative detainees are set to boycott Israeli military courts in protest against the practice of detention without charge. Detainees told the group that Khader Adnan's struggle has created an opportunity for them to fight against the practice of administrative detention. It is....

The boycott Israel movement's small victories are far from sweeping success
Ha'aretz - 22 Feb 2012

[uruknet.info] Palestinian prisoners to boycott Israeli military courts
Uruknet February 22, 2012 - Palestinian prisoners under administrative detention have shelved their differing political allegiances in order to jointly boycott Israeli military courts, announced the Palestinian Prisoner's club on Wednesday. This action taken by those who have been detained without charge or a trial, the club explained, is a rejection of the legitimacy of these courts...

Administrative Detainees to Boycott Israeli Courts
WAFA - 22 Feb 2012

Who’s who behind the Olympia Food Co-op lawsuit
Mondoweiss - The first court hearing in the lawsuit against the Olympia Food Co-op will commence on Thursday, February 23. The lawsuit seeks to force the Olympia Food Co-op, the first US grocery store to publicly honor the boycott of Israeli products, to nullify the boycott and once...

Webster Tarpley: "Iran can survive economic sanctions"
Voltaire Network 22 Feb 2012 - “Economic sanctions are a game that two can play,” Webster Tarpley told RT. Iran decided not to wait until July 1, when the EU oil embargo comes into effect, instead imposing its own “boycott on the offending powers, starting with the two biggest imperialist bullies on...

Never mind Johnny Rotten, real punks boycott Israel
Alexander Billet, Electronic Intifada 2/20/2012
      Chicago
     “If Elvis-fucking-Costello wants to pull out of a gig in Israel because he’s suddenly got this compassion for Palestinians then good on him. But I have absolutely one rule, right? Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won’t understand how anyone can have a problem with how they’re treated.”
     These words weren’t spoken by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. They didn’t crawl from the bile of AIPAC, Newt Gingrich or some hardened, right-wing ideologue from the heart of the Israel’s illegal settlements. They came from the mouth of John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols.
     Most devotees of punk rock stopped taking Lydon seriously well before he started shilling for Country Life butter. To be sure, any and all credibility he once had from his work with the Pistols, or, for that matter, later on with Public Image Ltd (PiL), flew out the window years ago.
     It’s also true that the Pistols idiotically paraded around in swastikas during their early years. Still, even taken with that grain of salt, Lydon’s words are profoundly troubling. Like it or not, the former Rotten is considered a granddaddy of punk rock. It’s not far fetched to imagine someone reading his words and thinking his flagrant racism, his willful defense of an apartheid state, are somehow the punk norm. It’s for this reason that Punks Against Apartheid exists.
     In the summer of 2011, Punks Against Apartheid came together as an ad hoc formation of BDS activists and punk fans (a formation that, in the interest of full-disclosure, includes this writer). The goal was initially modest: draft a letter and petition urging Jello Biafra, formerly of The Dead Kennedys, to cancel his gig in Tel Aviv with his band The Guantanamo School of Medicine. more.. e-mail

Rally Tomorrow to Support Olympia Food Co-op!
US Campaign to End the Occupation 22 Feb 2012 - Responding to the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, the Olympia Food Co-op voted in July 2010 to boycott Israeli products until Israel ends the occupation, respects Palestinian human rights, and complies with international law. Pro-Israel forces responded by filing a lawsuit...

US aide tells Israel sanctions on Iran need time
2/21/2012 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A top aide to US President Barack Obama told Israel's leaders this weekend that there is still time for diplomacy to keep Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon, the White House said on Tuesday, amid growing concerns that Israel might resort to a preemptive strike. National security adviser Tom Donilon told....

Never mind Johnny Rotten, real punks boycott Israel
Electronic Intifada: 20 Feb 2012 - Alexander Billet Chicago 20 February 2012 Working with the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, Punks Against Apartheid follows a firm tradition of anti-racism within the punk movement.more

US and UK urge Israel not to attack Iran
AlJazeera 19 Feb 2012 - Western allies call for more time for sanctions to work, as tensions run high following Iranian naval deployment.

Adalah, the NIF and BDS: End the secrecy
Jerusalem Post 20 Feb 2012 - NGO Monitor brought to NIF's attention that one of their major grantees was scheduled to speak at this year's "Apartheid Week.”

[uruknet.info] A Response to Norman Finkelstein
Uruknet February 19, 2012 - Responding to bizarre statements always risks magnifying their exposure and importance. Hence I wouldn't normally respond to Norman Finkelstein's startling 32-minute video attack on the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, which was recently posted on YouTube to considerable fanfare by Zionist blogs. Some other good writers have taken...

'Israel under pressure from all sides'
YNet News, 20 Feb 2012 - Senior Israeli official says 'Americans don't want to be surprised' by attack on Iran. 'They are telling us to be patient, see if sanctions will eventually work,' he says ....

Fighting the apartheid libel
Jerusalem Post 19 Feb 2012 - Many of the activists behind IAW and BDS are not interested in simply “reforming” Israel.

Israeli military action against Iran unwise, warns William Hague
The Guardian 19 Feb 2012 - Foreign secretary says economic sanctions and negotiations over nuclear programme must be given a chance to succeed William Hague has warned Israel that military action against Iran would not be "a wise thing". Amid rumours that...

Israel calls for tougher Iran sanctions
2/18/2012 - TOKYO (Reuters) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Saturday a nuclear-armed Iran would trigger an arms race in the Middle East and nations should impose "crippling" sanctions on Tehran to force it to give up its atomic program." A nuclear Iran is a threat to the whole world, not just to Israel. . . Other major....

[uruknet.info] BDS roundup: From Vancouver to Ramallah, no love for Israeli apartheid
Uruknet February 17, 2012 - A BDS motion passes at a Canadian university; the Olympia Food Co-op, heading to court, rallies supporters; Vancouver activists show no love for Israeli products on Valentine's Day; an appeal to the Irish president to reject a state invitation to Israel; and Palestinian youth urge France to stop selling weaponry to the...

Israel seeks tighter sanctions against Iran
Daily Star 18 Feb 2012 Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak Saturday called on the world to tighten sanctions on Iran before the country enters a "zone of immunity".

We’ve seen the threats against Iran before
Phyllis Bennis, Al Jazeera.com 2/18/2012
      Although political brinkmanship with Iran is nothing new, escalating tensions do not bode well for the region.
     Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Here we go again with the Iran hysteria. It is tempting to think this time will be just like previous periods of sabre rattling against Iran. But there are significant new dangers. The Arab Spring, Israel's position, changes in the regional and global balance of forces, and national election campaigns, all point to this round of anti-Iranian hysteria posing potentially graver risks than five or six years ago.
     We have seen all this before. The US ratchets up its rhetoric, Israel threatens a military attack, escalating sanctions bite harder on the Iranian people, Iran refuses to back down on uranium enrichment. But at the same time, top US military and intelligence officials actually admit Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, is not building a nuclear weapon, and has not decided whether to even begin a building process.
     There is certainly a big dose of déjà vu. In 2004 Israel's prime minister denounced the international community for not doing enough to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon. In 2005 the Israeli military was reported to "be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran". In 2006 the House Armed Services Committee issued a report drafted by one congressional staffer (an aide to hard-line pro-war John Bolton, then US ambassador to the UN), claiming that Iran was enriching uranium to weapons-grade 90 per cent. That same year a different Israeli prime minister publicly threatened a military strike against Iran. In 2008, George W Bush visited Israel to reassure them that "all options" remained on the table. more.. e-mail

Top Obama aide heads to Israel for talks on Iran
Jerusalem Post 17 Feb 2012 - White House says National Security Adviser Tom Donilon's visit part of "unshakable commitment to Israel's security"; 'Guardian' reports key US officials growing doubtful sanctions can deter Tehran's nuclear aspirations.

US officials believe Iran sanctions will fail, making military action likely
The Guardian 17 Feb 2012 - • Growing view that strike, by Israel or US, will happen • 'Sweet spot' for Israeli action identified as September-October • White House remains determined to give sanctions time Officials in key parts of the Obama...

[uruknet.info] In flinching move, Finkelstein slams boycott movement
Uruknet February 16, 2012 - The interview with Norman Finkelstein that circulated all over the web on Wednesday, in which he calls the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel a "cult" and compares it to Maoism is, I think, a milestone of sorts. Or, more accurately, the symptom of a milestone - a sign that...

David Wildman at PennBDS: Motorola and Caterpillar profited off apartheid South Africa before occupation
US Campaign to End the Occupation 17 Feb 2012 - Wildman David Wildman serves on the Steering Committee of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, which has supported the national boycott and divestment campaigns against Motorola and Caterpillar for much of the past decade. The following appeared on Mondoweiss . by Alex Kane on February...

The BDS movement: Power of the people at work
2/17/2012 - By Ramzy Baroud - The issue is not about hummus, chocolate bars or Dead Sea vacations. It is about civil society taking full responsibility for its own actions (or lack of). The issue is not exactly about Israeli products either, but rather about how even a seemingly innocent decision like buying Israeli dates may enable the....

The BDS movement: Power of the people at work
Ramzy Baroud, Ma’an News Agency 2/17/2012
      The issue is not about hummus, chocolate bars or Dead Sea vacations. It is about civil society taking full responsibility for its own actions (or lack of). The issue is not exactly about Israeli products either, but rather about how even a seemingly innocent decision like buying Israeli dates may enable the continued subjugation of the Palestinian people.
     Because the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement highlights this, the reaction it often generates is charged and vehement.
     Many also react to the BDS because it actually works. Israeli supporters have every right to be concerned that their carefully customized discourse on Israel’s infallibility (juxtaposed with Palestinian depravity) - which has been promoted for decades in various media and political outlets in the US and Western countries - is now simply falling apart.
     The recent University of Pennsylvania BDS conference, organized by student group, PennBDS, was the latest example to illustrate both the effectiveness of the global movement and also the real worry felt by supporters of Israel in the United States. Knowing fully that facing BDS allegations head on would most likely be unsuccessful, they organized around misinformation, name-calling and intimidation. However, the tired strategy is no longer bearing fruit.
     Israel’s Zionist supporters made every attempt to galvanize the Jewish community in Philadelphia into targeting the conference that called for Israel to be held accountable for its military occupation, racial discrimination and flagrant violations of international law.
     One of those angered by the conference is Ruben Gur, a professor of psychiatry at the university. In an article published in the Daily Pennsylvanian, he likened the conference organizers to ‘Nazis’. more.. e-mail

Seeking Israel’s destruction
YNet News, 14 Feb 2012 - Op-ed: Anti-Israel BDS campaign hides its ultimate goal of eliminating the entire Jewish State ....

In photos: PennBDS
Mondoweiss - Diverse PennBDS conference attendees. (Photo: Sara Jawhari) On February 4th, 2012, hundreds of students, professionals and academics gathered at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for a national BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) conference, organized by the University’s PennBDS student group. The conference gained plenty of attention...

Educators can’t stay silent about Israeli apartheid
J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Robin D.G. Kelley, Bill V. Mullen, Nikhil, Electronic Intifada 2/13/2012
      Today the systematic dispossession of the Palestinian people continues unabated and largely unchallenged by the United States and the European Union. Barriers to Palestinian mobility, social and political development are visible everywhere.
     While Jewish-Israeli citizens pass freely, more than 500 police and military checkpoints regulate Palestinian movement between the occupied West Bank and Israel. Passing through these checkpoints on a recent fact-finding tour organized by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, we witnessed Palestinians endure a daily ritual of subordination, humiliation and suspicion.
     Abutting the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem, the massive Israeli separation wall annexes Palestinian land for the expanding settlement of Gilo. For Palestinian families who find themselves on the “wrong” side of the wall, what had once been a short walk to school now takes several hours.
     Since 1992, Jewish-Israeli settlement within the West Bank has increased by more than 50 percent; some 500,000 Jewish settlers now live among 2.5 million Palestinians. Walled, gated and connected by a sophisticated road network that bypasses the dilapidated infrastructure used by Palestinians, these illegal settlements maintain privileged access to the most fertile lands, water and energy resources.
     In Hebron, a few hundred Jewish settlers backed by the Israeli military control the eastern part of the city inhabited by some 35,000 Palestinians. There we saw how settlers have seized houses above the souq, the main market street, and pummeled Arab merchants with garbage, excrement and acid in order to strangle the commercial life of the city and render it prone to future settlement. more.. e-mail

BDS: Power of the People at Work
Palestine Chronicle: 15 Feb 2012 - By Ramzy Baroud The issue is not about hummus, chocolate bars or Dead Sea vacations. It is about civil society taking full responsibility for its own action (or lack of). The issue is not exactly about Israeli products either, but rather about how even a seemingly innocent decision like buying Israeli dates may enable the continued subjugation of the Palestinian people. Because the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) highlights this, the reaction it often generates is charged and vehement. Many also react to the BDS because it actually works. Israeli supporters have every right to be concerned that their carefully customized discourse on Israel’s infallibility (juxtaposed with Palestinian depravity) - which has been promoted for decades in various media and political outlets in the US and Western countries - is now simply falling apart. The recent University of Pennsylvania BDS conference, organized by student group, PennBDS, was the...more

Scoundrel Time: The Situation in Syria
Palestine Chronicle: 15 Feb 2012 - By Jeremy Salt - Ankara Even though we are used to double standards, the moral posturing over Syria in recent weeks has been quite a spectacle. At the UN Security Council, Susan Rice bellows her disgust at the use of the veto by Russia and China, when the US has used the veto more than 60 times, mostly to protect Israel. Horror at the violence is sounded by the delegates of the same powers that have dismantled Libya and ended the lives of an estimated two million Iraqis through warfare and sanctions since 1991. When Saudi Arabia and Qatar call for political reform in Syria and an end to the violence, hypocrisy is displaced by farce. Their gulf ally, King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa of Bahrain, told Der Spiegel that Bashar al Assad should listen to his people. There is no opposition in Bahrain, according to His Majesty: 'we...more

Norman Finkelstein slams the BDS movement calling it ‘a cult’
Mondoweiss - Discuss.

Commemorating Palestinian Land Day: Join the BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012!
2/13/2012 - International Solidarity Movement - 10 February 2012, Palestinian BDS National Committee - Commemorating Land Day, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) invites people of conscience around the world to unite for a BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012 in solidarity with the Palestinian people's struggle for freedom, justice and equality and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until.... Related: Palestinian BDS National Committee

Commemorating Palestinian Land Day: Join the BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012!
US Campaign to End the Occupation 13 Feb 2012 - The following was posted yesterday at BDSmovement.net: Commemorating Land Day, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) invites people of conscience around the world to unite for a BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012 in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice...

Amid unease, Iran marks anniversary of Islamic Revolution
LA Times 12 Feb 2012 - Demonstrators chant slogans condemning the United States and Israel, and speakers vow the nation won't be swayed by sanctions over its nuclear program. Iran marked the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on Saturday with a public display of confidence that stood in sharp contrast...

Interesting Times: Democracy in the crosshairs
Jerusalem Post 9 Feb 2012 - Israel’s existence isn’t threatened by the New Israel Fund or the global boycott-Israel movement.

[uruknet.info] Yemen army kills two at anti-election protest
Uruknet February 9, 2012 - Yemeni troops killed two people on Thursday when they opened fire on a rally in the southern province of Dalea calling for a boycott of an election to replace outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, activists said. Weakened by months of protests against Saleh's rule, the Yemeni government has lost control of whole...

The Israel Lobby on campus in Illinois: A challenge for BDS
Mondoweiss - I only recently learned of Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s  trip to Israel  this past summer (2011) for a “week-long educational mission where he sealed two important agreements and received briefings from high-ranking Israeli officials, academic experts and business leaders on topics ranging from high-tech development (read...

Commemorating Palestinian Land Day: Join the BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012!
Global BDS 10 Feb 2012 - Commemorating Land Day, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) invites people of conscience around the world to unite for a BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012 in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equality and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until...

FM: If Iran sanctions fail, all options on table
Jerusalem Post 9 Feb 2012 - Russian official warns that Israel’s hard-line approach could have "catastrophic consequences" for the region.

In the face of BDS, Penn stays positive
Jerusalem Post 9 Feb 2012 - Pro-Israel university community points to Penn's support following Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions conference.

Israel's president sends message of peace to Iran
Daily Star 9 Feb 2012 Israel's president reached out to the Iranian people with a message of peace Wednesday, as the West tightened sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.

Washington Watch: Banging the war drums
Jerusalem Post 8 Feb 2012 - Netanyahu will be in Washington next month to speak to the AIPAC policy conference. Obama will tell the Israeli leader that sanctions are showing results and should be given more time to work.

[uruknet.info] Iraq: Shi'ite-Led Govt. Still Targeting Rivals, Even As Cabinet Drops Boycott
Uruknet February 6, 2012 - The Shi'ite-led government in Iraq has selected new targets for harassment: Iraqiya spokesman Haider al-Mulla and two other lawmakers. This comes despite recent efforts by Iraqiya to lessen political tensions that threaten to ignite a sectarian war. Meanwhile, at least two Iraqis were killed and 26 more were wounded over the last...

[uruknet.info] South Africa to step up cooperation with Palestine and increase sanctions against Israel
Uruknet February 6, 2012 - The South African government is looking at plans to step up its support for Palestine. The Minister of Arts and Culture, Paul Mashatile, made the announcement during a press conference in Pretoria last week to announce that a Palestinian delegation, including Mr. Mashatile's counterpart, Siham Barghouthi, had met with representatives of the...

Ashkenazi: Israel should press for sanctions on Iran, keep military option
YNet News, 7 Feb 2012 - ....

Jewish Forward Attack on Penn BDS Neglects Iarael Lobby’s Restraint on Free Press
Tikun Olam - This past week, Penn students held a three day conference on the BDS movement. The conference had been preceded by coverage from the local Jewish community pro-Israel newspaper and the Penn student newspaper which was not only antagonistic and unbalanced, but specifically, a professor penned an...

Faith-based communities provide fertile ground for boycott movement
Mondoweiss - Martin Luther King Jr Last Saturday at the Penn BDS Conference, Susan Landau moderated a panel of religious speakers who are supporting boycott and divestment. Here are her opening and closing remarks. INTRODUCTION. The road to equality and justice is well lit by people of faith....

Iraq bloc ends boycott of cabinet
BBC 7 Feb 2012 - Ministers from Iraq's Sunni-backed Iraqiyya bloc end their boycott of the cabinet, reducing fears that the national unity government might fall.

Educate & Mobilize Your Community During Apartheid Week 2012!
US Campaign to End the Occupation 7 Feb 2012 - By Anna Baltzer, National Organizer Are you looking for opportunities to educate your community and advance a campaign for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel? Or are you gearing up to launch such a campaign? Israeli Apartheid Week 2012 is a fantastic opportunity to do...

Israel's intentions toward Iran remain unclear
LA Times 5 Feb 2012 - Analysts differ on whether Israel's threat of a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities is a bluff to spur tougher sanctions, or a real warning. By ramping up its threat to attack Iran's nuclear development program, Israel appears to have galvanized international attention on an...

Take action: Support United Methodist Church divestment campaign
US Campaign to End the Occupation 6 Feb 2012 - UMKR and FOSNA are coalition members of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. United Methodist Kairos Response (UMKR) is an international movement in the United Methodist Church responding to the " Kairos Palestine Document ," an urgent plea from Christians in the Holy Land for decisive...

International strategy for Palestinian prisoners needed
2/4/2012 - International Solidarity Movement - By Joe Catron, 2 February 2012, Al Akhbar English - "Any movement that does not support its political internees is a sham movement."- US political prisoner Ojore Lutalo - Political prisoners, their families, and their concerns and causes enjoy massive support in Palestinian society. Palestinians who may have never joined a boycott campaign or acted to break.... Related: Source: Al Akhbar English

Organizers say pro-Israel filmmaker with controversial past deceives, disrupts Penn BDS conference
Mondoweiss - Filmmaker Martin Himel (Photo: Earthbook.tv) Organizers of the University of Pennsylvania's BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) conference acted to prevent a rightwing pro-Israel filmmaker from interviewing participants at the conference because he misrepresented himself and disrupted the event Saturday, they said.  The fracas started when organizers...

Live tweeting from the Penn BDS conference
Mondoweiss - @import "http://embed.tweetizen.com/embed.css"; Phil, Alex and Annie are in Philadelphia for the Penn BDS conference , and while we wait for their first report we thought we'd bring you up to speed on the story to this point. Here was our reporting in the lead up to the...

Should Alan Dershowitz refuse to take himself seriously?
Mondoweiss - As Alan Dershowitz forcefully inserts himself into the BDS debate, it is helpful to recall Dershowtiz’s own insight into who should and should not be accepted as a “serious” thinker on peace in the Middle East. In his 2005 volume The Case For Peace , Dershowitz offers...

Two US Delegations Endorse BDS and Call for Action in the US
US Campaign to End the Occupation 4 Feb 2012 - The Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel has been endorsed by two US delegations recently returned from fact finding missions to occupied Palestine and Israel. US Campaign member group US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) organized a...

Khamenei warns Israel, US over pressure
2/3/2012 - TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday the Islamic Republic would not yield to international pressure to abandon its nuclear course, threatening retaliation for sanctions aimed at Iran's oil exports. Khamenei's defiant speech to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution was the first.... Related: Israel: Quick Iran curbs may obviate need for strike and Report: Panetta thinks Israel may strike Iran this spring

Israel: Quick Iran curbs may obviate need for strike
2/3/2012 - MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) -- Iran "will blink" if sanctions aimed at deterring it from building a nuclear bomb are imposed rapidly, meaning outside powers may never need to decide on possible armed action, an Israeli minister said Friday. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Germany, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon added that the.... Related: Khamenei warns Israel, US over pressure and Report: Panetta thinks Israel may strike Iran this spring

Katz:‘Growing chance Israel will strike Iran in 2012'
Jerusalem Post 3 Feb 2012 - Military correspondent says that diplomacy will not work; the jury is still out on sanctions; failing that means Israel may take military action in the coming year.

[uruknet.info] BDS is Nazism and Omar Barghouti is Hitler says UPenn professor in shocking smear
Uruknet February 2, 2012 - Whenever you think that smears against the Palestinian solidarity movement cannot get more inflammatory or sickening, something new appears. In the latest shot against the upcoming boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) conference at the University of Pennsylvania next weekend, the movement is being openly compared to Nazism by a University of Pennsylvania...

Archbishop Desmond Tutu endorses PennBDS conference
Mondoweiss - Also see, from earlier today, Phan Nguyen's post - When Desmond Tutu got the ‘Penn BDS’ treatment

Dershowitz justifies war on Iran (and Iraq? again?)– and Mort Zuckerman rides shotgun– in fresh attacks on BDS conference
Mondoweiss - Alan Dershowitz at UPENN last night (Photo: Stephanie Nam/Daily Pennsylvanian) The Israel apologists are out in full force as the Penn BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) conference kicks off tonight. The usual suspects (plus a Philadelphia Daily News columnist) are employing the same tired smears to...

Alumni donor threats and more Nazi analogies as the world awaits Penn BDS conference
Mondoweiss - CohenDavid I went to the last BDS conference at Hampshire College in Massachusetts and nobody paid any attention to us. But this weekend! Holy moly! Isn't this an utter fulfillment of the Gandhi law of activism: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then...

Pro-Israel and Pro-BDS
The Magnes Zionist 2 Feb 2012 - Students at the University of Pennsylvania are hosting this weekend the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) Movement’s National Convention . May I take this occasion to wish the speakers and organizers a good conference, with a healthy debate on issues surrounding BDS. This is a wonderful opportunity...

Israel says Iran has material for four A-bombs
2/2/2012 - JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel estimated on Thursday that Iran could make four atomic bombs by further enriching uranium it has already stockpiled, and could produce its first within a year of deciding to build one. But in his rare public remarks, Major-General Aviv Kochavi, chief of military intelligence, held out the possibility stronger international sanctions might....

Ya'alon: Turkey is helping Iran bypass sanctions
Jerusalem Post 2 Feb 2012 - Deputy Prime Minister says Turkey allowing Iran use of banks; adds Israel needs "credible military option" against Tehran.

[uruknet.info] Leading Palestinians boycott UN head Ban Ki-moon in Gaza as rebuffed prisoners' families greet him with shoes
Uruknet February 2, 2012 - Leading Palestinian figures including prominent human rights advocates Dr. Eyad Sarraj, and Raji Sourani have boycotted a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Gaza today over the latter's refusal to meet with the families of Palestinian prisoners. Meanwhile Palestinians greeted Ban with shoes, beating them on his car as he...

Penn’s president condemns article likening BDS conference to Nazism as ‘counter to her personal values and civility’
Mondoweiss - Amy Gutmann Organizers of the BDS conference (boycott, divestment and sanctions) at the University of Pennsylvania this weekend are facing mounting incitement against the conference and rising security costs. Today they called on Penn president Amy Gutmann to c ondemn an article in the school newspaper...

Penn boycott conference is target in viral scare game
Mondoweiss - The game of “Jews Scaring Jews” is a viral smash hit! Whoever’s idea it was to take the Penn BDS conference —a conference organized by some university students to discuss a nonviolent tactic in which nobody dies, and a program featuring many Jews—and turn it into...

Double standard for the neighbor– Paul Auster and Turkey
Mondoweiss - Israeli President Shimon Peres talks to Paul Auster at the 2010 International Writers’ Conference in Jerusalem. Photo by Sasson Tiram. A fine stand American novelist Paul Auster is taking: boycott a country (in this case, in its entirety - no time for selective boycotts), and you...

Namibia: South Africa-Iran Oil Boycott in Limbo
allAfrica.com 2 Feb 2012 - [Namibian] NAMIBIA is holding its breath as South Africa considers its position regarding the Iranian oil embargo being encouraged by the United States and European Union.

PennBDS: Hate-fest or Human Rights Conference?
US Campaign to End the Occupation 2 Feb 2012 - Posted today by the Institute for Middle East Understanding... This weekend, the first national conference bringing together American supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement takes place at the University of Pennsylvania. We discuss the conference, the controversy surrounding it, and the growing international...

Short history of BDS in France
Alternative Information Center - As 2012 begins, a French activist looks at the short history of the French BDS movement, which mobilized in the wake of the Israeli assalt on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead.

[uruknet.info] BDS update: Peaceful blitzkreig and Israeli counterattacks
Uruknet January 31, 2012 - The Third Annual BDS Conference opened 17 December at Hebron's Children's Happiness Centre, "to expand Palestinian civil society's active implementation of BDS that is deeply rooted in the Palestinian struggle." European BNC coordinator Michael Deas affirmed, "BDS is now the main framework for solidarity. We are very close to closing the European...

Anti-Defamation League reprises debunked quote in attempt to discredit Helena Cobban and Penn BDS conference
Mondoweiss - Helena Cobban (Photo: Kevin Matthews/UCLA) The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is playing a leading role in the escalating debate over the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and this week's pro-BDS conference at the University of Pennyslvania. Over at the organization's "Access ADL" blog , the ADL has...

The BDS movement grows in Italy
Mondoweiss - The following statement was issued at the third national BDS meeting in Italy, held January 21 and 22 in Bologna, Italy: Over the weekend of January 21-22, the third national meeting of the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel was held in Bologna, Italy....

A Peaceful Blitzkreig and Israeli Counterattacks
Eric Walberg, CounterPunch 2/1/2012
      The BDS Movement
     The Third Annual BDS Conference opened 17 December at Hebron’s Children’s Happiness Centre, “to expand Palestinian civil society’s active implementation of BDS that is deeply rooted in the Palestinian struggle.” European BNC coordinator Michael Deas affirmed, “BDS is now the main framework for solidarity. We are very close to closing the European market to Israel.”
     A boycott bombshell in January was dropped by an 11th-grade American Jewish teenager, Jesse Lieberfeld, who won Dietrich College’s 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr Writing Award for his essay about his moral awakening when he realised his American Jewish culture was unavoidably identified with supporting Israel.
     “I once belonged to a wonderful religion,” says young Jesse. “I routinely heard about unexplained mass killings, attacks on medical bases, and other alarmingly violent actions for which I could see no possible reason. ‘Genocide’ almost seemed the more appropriate term… Whenever I brought up the subject, I was always given the answer that there were faults on both sides… I felt horrified at the realisation that I was by nature on the side of the oppressors. I was grouped with the racial supremacists.” Finally, at the synagogue, he asked, “I want to support Israel. But how can I when it lets its army commit so many killings?” and was told by the rabbi, “It is a terrible thing, isn’t it? But there’s nothing we can do. It’s just a fact of life.” “I thanked him and walked out shortly afterward. I never went back.” When American youth like Jesse are forced to give up being Jewish because of Israeli crimes, it cannot be long before Israel crumbles under the weight of its accumulated crimes.
     2011 witnessed the rise of Internet attacks on Israeli government sites by public-spirited BDSers determined to enforce a kind of “cyber boycott”..... more.. e-mail

BDS Update: Peaceful Blitzkreig and Israeli Counter Attacks
Dissident Voice: 1 Feb 2012 - The Third Annual BDS Conference opened 17 December at Hebron’s Children’s Happiness Centre, “to expand Palestinian civil society’s active implementation of BDS that is deeply rooted in the Palestinian struggle.” European BNC coordinator Michael Deas affirmed, “BDS is now the main framework for solidarity. We are very close to closing the European market to Israel.” A boycott bombshell in January was dropped by an 11th-grade American Jewish teenager, Jesse Lieberfeld, who won Dietrich College’s 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr Writing Award for his essay about his moral awakening when he realised his American Jewish culture was unavoidably identified with supporting Israel. I once belonged to a wonderful religion,” says young Jesse. “I routinely heard about unexplained mass killings, attacks on medical bases, and other alarmingly violent actions for which I could see no possible reason. ‘Genocide’ almost seemed the more appropriate term… Whenever I brought up the subject, I was...more

Europeans first victims of sanctions against Iran
Voltaire Network 31 Jan 2012 - The head of Italy's refiners' lobby, Mr. Piero de Simone, has revealed that Italy is preparing to close five refineries because of the European Union's unilateral sanctions against Iran and the boycott of its oil resources. At their last meeting in Brussels on 23 January 2012,...

BDS Update: Cyber Blitzkreig, Counterattacks
Palestine Chronicle: 31 Jan 2012 - By Eric Walberg – Cairo The Third Annual BDS Conference opened 17 December at Hebron's Children's Happiness Centre, 'to expand Palestinian civil society's active implementation of BDS that is deeply rooted in the Palestinian struggle.' European BNC coordinator Michael Deas affirmed, 'BDS is now the main framework for solidarity. We are very close to closing the European market to Israel.' A boycott bombshell in January was dropped by an 11th-grade American Jewish teenager, Jesse Lieberfeld, who won Dietrich College’s 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr Writing Award for his essay about his moral awakening when he realised his American Jewish culture was unavoidably identified with supporting Israel. “I once belonged to a wonderful religion,” says young Jesse. “I routinely heard about unexplained mass killings, attacks on medical bases, and other alarmingly violent actions for which I could see no possible reason. ‘Genocide’ almost seemed the more appropriate term... Whenever I brought...more

BDS and academia
Jerusalem Post 30 Jan 2012 - A close look at the BDS movement shows not legitimate criticism but a racist and anti-Semitic program.

[uruknet.info] Arab participation at Israeli security summit enrages BDS activists
Uruknet January 30, 2012 - The participation of Arab officials and institutions at a major Israeli security conference has drawn staunch criticism from Palestinian and human rights activists... Omar Barghouti of the Palestinian chapter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel slammed Arab involvement at the conference as "an act of complicity in the...

[uruknet.info] Jewish Voice for Peace Statement on BDS
Uruknet January 29, 2012 - JVP has grown dramatically in size and influence in the past two years. As part of the ongoing assessment sparked by this growth, JVP reviewed its BDS policy. On the basis of an organization-wide conversation about BDS, we have refined our position while maintaining our strategy. JVP shares the aims of the...

[uruknet.info] BDS roundup: Scholars' delegation to Palestine, UK museum slammed for links to Ahava
Uruknet January 29, 2012 - A delegation of five academic scholars recently participated in a week-long fact-finding mission to Palestine, and are calling on their colleagues in universities across the US to join the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. The delegation, organized by USACBI, the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, reported...

'Israel sees narrowing window for Iran strike'
YNet News, 30 Jan 2012 - International sanctions on Iran are constraining Israel from taking military action against Islamic Republic's nuclear sites, which must be mounted by summer, officials say ....

Sunnis End Boycott of Iraqi Parliament
New York Times 30 Jan 2012 - In the first sign that Iraq’s leaders may yet halt a sectarian political crisis that has raised fears of civil war, Iraq’s Sunni leaders said Sunday that they would end their boycott of Parliament.

Point Counterpoint: Aim to Promote Human Rights of the Palestinians
Global BDS 29 Jan 2012 - I am coming to the University of Pennsylvania this week to incite violence against the State of Israel – pro-Israel groups and commentators have contended – and, along with hundreds of students and other speakers who will attend the 2012 National Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Conference,...

Silencing dissent in Israel
Sergio Yahni, Alternative Information Center 1/26/2012
      “Im Tirtzu," an organization that defines itself as “an extra-parliamentary movement that works to strengthen and advance the values of Zionism in Israel," has embarked on a campaign calling on Tzavta theatre in Tel Aviv to boycott Palestinian artist and director, Muhammad Bakri.
     As part of this campaign, In Tirtzu has asked members to send letters to the theatre house protesting Bakri’s scheduled appearance in Federico Garcia Lorca’s “The House of Bernarda Alba.”
     Im Tirtzu has also scheduled a demonstration for January 30. The protest will begin one hour before the play starts.
     The right wing organization claims that the boycott is a response to Bakri’s movie “Jenin, Jenin,” which is based on real events. The movie reconstructs the 2002 battle in the Jenin refugee camp using the residents’ testimonies.
     The film was banned from public screening in Israel and reserve soldiers who had served in Jenin filed a defamation suit arguing that the movie had sullied their names. While the court dismissed the case, the judge claimed that Bakri had not shown "good faith” and that he had not proven that his interpretation of the events were supported by reports from human rights groups. In response, Bakri said that he "seen hundreds of films that deny and ignore what happened to Palestinians, yet [people haven’t] complained or tried to ban any film."
     The call to boycott the Palestinian artist is Im Tirtzu’s latest move in the broader they are waging against those they accuse of disloyalty, subversion, and treason against Israeli institutions. Among other things, Im Tirtzu activists have spied on classes in Tel Aviv University, reporting on professors and lecturers who disagree with the movement’s radical ideology. more.. e-mail

Call for World Social Forum Free Palestine, Nov. 2012 in Brazil
US Campaign to End the Occupation 30 Jan 2012 - Last week, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) issued an international call for the World Social Forum Free Palestine , scheduled to take place in November 2012 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In an email message to solidarity groups publicizing the call, the BNC wrote: This is a...

Take Action: Pro-BDS Op-Ed Needs Letters to Editor
US Campaign to End the Occupation 30 Jan 2012 - US Campaign member group WRITE! for Justice, Human Rights, and International Law in Palestine issued the following action alert yesterday. Please respond by writing a letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer in support of Ali Abunimah's op-ed promoting boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). *** Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer...

[uruknet.info] One State, Two States: Who Is the Subject of Palestinian Liberation?
Uruknet January 28, 2012 - One state or two? Boycott of Israeli goods or goods from the settlements? Is the lobby the genesis of American wrongdoing in Palestine or is it imperialism? The questions -- regarding vision, strategy, and analysis -- produce sharp cleavages on the Left. Indeed, generally ones much deeper than they need to be....

Iraqi Sunni-backed lawmakers end parliament ban
Daily Star 29 Jan 2012 An official with Iraq's Sunni-backed political alliance says its leaders have decided to end a parliament boycott, but the bloc's ministers will stay away from Cabinet meetings to protest arrests and prosecution of Sunni officials.

Sunnis End Boycott of the Iraqi Parliament, but a Political Crisis Remains
New York Times 29 Jan 2012 - In the first sign that Iraq’s leaders may yet halt a sectarian political crisis that has raised fears of civil war, Iraq’s Sunni leaders said Sunday that they would end their boycott of Parliament.

Abunimah and Woolsey debate BDS in the ‘Philadelphia Inquirer’
Mondoweiss - The PennBDS conference is a week away and today the Philadelphia Inquirer ran opposing Op-Ed's on BDS and the conference. In one corner we have Ali Abunimah, and in the other a tag team featuring former CIA-head James Woolsey and Foundation for Defense of Democracies's Jonathan...

Bloc ends Iraq parliament boycott
BBC 29 Jan 2012 - Iraq's opposition Iraqiyya bloc ends a boycott of parliament begun last month over an arrest warrant issued for the country's most senior Sunni politician.

Stop the Jewish National Fund Greenwashing
Global BDS 27 Jan 2012 - The Jewish National Fund has designated Sunday 5th February as ‘Green Sunday’, when it encourages people to donate money to ‘plant trees in Israel’.  The JNF claims to have environmental objectives.  Don’t be taken in.  The JNF’s tree planting is a cover for ethnic cleansing. The...

Left Zionism exposed
Leandros Fischer, Weekly Worker, Israeli Occupation Archive 1/28/2012
      Leandros Fischer reviews ‘False prophets of peace: liberal Zionism and the struggle’, Tikva Honig-Parnassfor, Palestine Haymarket Books, 2011, pp264, £14.99
     Zionism, the movement for an exclusivist Jewish state in Palestine, is today the last active project of colonisation. Its domination over the area from the Mediterranean to the Jordan is intertwined with the dispossession of the indigenous Palestinians. Not just the dispossession of those living in the West Bank and Gaza, but also that practised on the Palestinian citizens of Israel. It is a historical process that until this day ranges from institutional discrimination to blockades, land seizures and outright massacres.
     Tikva Honig-Parnass: False Prophets of Peace
     Yet a great deal of Zionism’s success in gaining legitimacy among western public opinion has historically stemmed from its ability to project a certain image abroad: that of a vulnerable liberal democracy with socialist leanings, in the midst of an Arab world ruled by authoritarian nationalist or religious dictatorships. This myth was carefully constructed, not by today’s dominant right and far right, but by liberal Zionism in the form of the once hegemonic labour Zionist movement, which laid the infrastructure of Israel’s legal system, including, among others, the law of return and the land laws. Despite being politically irrelevant today, its ideological premises have survived and constitute an essential part of Israel’s political culture, as well as propaganda machine, otherwise known as hasbarah. They also form the backbone of Israeli academia; the role of left Zionist intellectuals has been instrumental in conferring legitimacy – at home and abroad – on a series of left Zionist policies, from the Oslo process to the rampant neoliberalism dominating the Israeli economy. More critically, these myths are also used to stifle, hijack and divert leftwing or even liberal criticism of Israeli policies, away from the increasingly successful BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) campaign and towards a watered-down discourse which views the conflict as being merely about peace between two symmetrical opponents. -- See also: Source: Weekly Worker more.. e-mail

Israel prepares for war against Iran
Peter Symonds, World Socialist Web Site 1/27/2012
      A lengthy article, “Will Israel Attack Iran,” published in this week’s New York Times magazine confirms that Israel has made advanced preparations for military strikes on Iran. The author—Ronen Bergman, a well-connected political analyst with the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth—concluded: “After speaking to many senior Israeli leaders and chiefs of the military and the intelligence, I have come to believe that Israel will indeed strike Iran in 2012.”
     Bergman corroborated previous articles in the Israeli press reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak have been pressing for the country’s security cabinet to authorise an attack on Iran. Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon told Bergman last week: “It is a matter of months before the Iranians will be able to attain military nuclear capability… We are prepared to defend ourselves in any way and anywhere that we see fit.”
     Claims that Iran is on the point of constructing a nuclear weapon are not supported by facts. The latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report—a political document designed to justify the latest US and European sanctions against Iran’s oil exports—provided limited evidence of Iranian research related to aspects of building a nuclear bomb. Much of the “evidence” came from US, European and Israeli intelligence sources. Most of the research projects were discontinued after 2003. Iran continues to deny any plans to build nuclear weapons.
     Highlighting the bogus character of Israeli claims, veteran journalist Robert Fisk commented in the Independent: “The Israeli President [Peres] warns us that Iran is on the cusp of producing a nuclear weapon… Yet we reporters do not mention that Shimon Peres, as Israeli Prime Minister, said exactly the same thing in 1996… And we do not recall that the current Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in 1992 that Iran would have a nuclear bomb by 1999. -- See also: Ronen Bergman, New York Times: Will Israel Attack Iran? more.. e-mail

Israel urges action as Iran 'drifts' toward nuclear goal line
The National 27 Jan 2012 - The United Nations has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran, but veto-wielding Russia and China say they see no need for additional punitive measures.

Israel calls for tougher sanctions on Iran - video
The Guardian 27 Jan 2012 - Speaking in Davos, Ehud Barak, Israel's deputy prime minister and defence minister, warns of the dangers of Tehran's nuclear programme

Counterpunch: Uproar over upcoming BDS conference at Penn
Jewish Voice for Peace -

Minister of Detainees Calls for Boycott of Military Courts
IMEMC - Palestinian Minister of Detainees in the West Bank, Issa Qaraqe’, called for the boycotting of all Israeli military courts for their repeated rulings that confine thousands of detainees under administrative orders without filing any official indictments against them. ...

'Israel must have credible military option on Iran'
Jerusalem Post 26 Jan 2012 - Former IDF chief of staff Ashkenazi says "everything that can be done under the radar" must be done, alongside "painful, crippling sanctions."

Jewish Voice for Peace Statement on BDS
Global BDS 24 Jan 2012 - Summary: JVP has grown dramatically in size and influence in the past two years. As part of the ongoing assessment sparked by this growth, JVP reviewed its BDS policy. On the basis of an organization-wide conversation about BDS, we have refined our position while maintaining our...

ISIS report: Iran won't move toward nuclear weapon in 2012
Jerusalem Post 25 Jan 2012 - Draft report by Institute for Science and International Security says Iran unlikely to "dash" toward making nuclear weapons; asserts that sanctions, fear of military strike by Israel have worked as a deterrent.

Iran won't build nuclear weapon in 2012, says draft Isis report
The Guardian 25 Jan 2012 - Analysis by Institute for Science and International Security says sanctions and threat of Israeli attack are having effect Iran is unlikely to move towards building a nuclear weapon in 2012 because it cannot yet produce enough...

Iran sanctions need to be tougher, Israeli defence minister warns
The Guardian 25 Jan 2012 - Ehud Barak says the EU oil embargo alone is unlikely to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear plans Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, has warned that tougher sanctions need to be imposed on Iran despite the...

[uruknet.info] California professor under attack for opposing "study in Israel" scheme
Uruknet January 25, 2012 - A mathematics professor at the California State University at Northridge is the target of an attack campaign by various pro-Israel lobby groups and individuals because he maintains a website that supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, and for his outspoken criticism of Israeli policies. Recently, Dr. David Klein has come under...

Confronting Iran: Warmongering in the Middle East
Richard Falk, Al Jazeera.com 1/25/2012
      The last time Iran attacked a neighbour was over 200 years ago, so what is the problem with the country going nuclear?
     Santa Barbara, CA - The public discussion in the West addressing Iran's nuclear programme has mainly relied on threat diplomacy, articulated most clearly by Israeli officials, but enjoying the strong direct and indirect backing of Washington and leading Gulf states. Israel has also been engaging in low intensity warfare against Iran for several years, apparently supported by the United States, that has been inflicting violent deaths on civilians and disrupting political order in Iran.
     Many members of the UN Security Council, along with the membership of the European Union, support escalating sanctions against Iran, and have not demurred when Tel Aviv and Washington talk menacingly about leaving all options on the table, which is "diplospeak" for their readiness to launch a military attack. At last, some signs of sanity are beginning to emerge to slow the march over the cliff. For instance, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, commented harshly on this militarist approach: "I have no doubt that it would pour fuel on a fire which is already smoldering, the hidden smoldering fire of Sunni-Shia confrontation, and beyond that [it would cause] a chain reaction. I don't know where it would stop." And a few days ago even the normally hawkish Israeli Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, evidently fearful of encouraging international panic and perhaps worrying about a preemptive response by Tehran, declared that any decision to launch a military attack by Israel is "very far off", words that can be read in a variety of ways, mostly not reassuring.
     It is not only an American insistence, despite purporting from time to time to prefer a diplomatic solution, that only threats and force are relevant to resolve this long incubating political dispute with Iran, but more tellingly, it is the underlying stubborn refusal by Washington for more than three decades to normalise relations with Iran.... more.. e-mail

Al-Quds University student council boycotts classes
1/24/2012 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The student council of Al-Quds University said it was boycotting classes after it failed to reach an agreement with the administration over a financial dispute, the third such protest in a West Bank university in the past week. The council complained in a statement that the university administration had not responded....

Ana Moura's audience doesn't want her to play Israel
Alternative Information Center - The opinions of Ana Moura’s audience at her recent Glasgow performance were clear, “Don’t perform in Israel – support the appeal from Palestinian civil society for a cultural boycott of Israel.”

[uruknet.info] Connect with the Palestinian Students' Campaign for Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI)
Uruknet January 23, 2012 - A collective of students in Gaza has formed Palestinian Students Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI). These students are seeking to expand their collaboration and participation in events and activities with solidarity activists at international universities. PSCABI members participate in many activities here in Gaza and are heavily involved in...

EU imposes Iran oil embargo
LA Times 24 Jan 2012 - The European Union's oil boycott is part of a U.S.-led campaign of sanctions to pressure Iran to return to talks over its nuclear enrichment program. Europe slapped a boycott on Iranian oil Monday, signaling that the Islamic Republic's second-largest market is likely to dry up...

Palestinian youth and students condemn UK student propaganda tour of Israel
Global BDS 24 Jan 2012 - Open letter to UK student activist participants in propaganda tour of Israel from Palestinian students and youth We, Palestinian students and youth organisations, were shocked and disappointed to learn of your all expenses paid junket to Israel, involving prominent Labour party student activists and organised by...

"We won't be silenced," say students arrested over Peres boycott call
Electronic Intifada: 24 Jan 2012 - Yara Sa'di 24 January 2012 Three Palestinian students at the College of Engineering in Jerusalem have been put under house arrest for a week after calling for a boycott of a speech by Israeli President Shimon Peres.more

Connect with the Palestinian Students' Campaign for Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI)
1/23/2012 - International Solidarity Movement - 23 January 2012, US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel - A collective of students in Gaza has formed the Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI). These students are seeking to expand their collaboration and participation in events and activities with solidarity activists at international universities. PSCABI members.... Related: US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

Arab students banished for boycotting Peres speech
Alternative Information Center - The Arabs48 news website reported on Wednesday that three Arab students, studying at the [Jerusalem College of Engineering] in [West] Jerusalem, have received police warrants exiling them from the city for seven days after they called...

Likud hawks call to boycott party primary
Jerusalem Post 22 Jan 2012 - Activists protesting Netanyahu policies hope to force another vote.

UN envoy urges Iraq bloc to 'fight in parliament'
Daily Star 22 Jan 2012 The main Sunni-backed bloc should work to resolve Iraq's political crisis within parliament rather than stick to its boycott, the UN's special representative to the country told AFP on Sunday.

Likud activists: Boycott Netanyahu
YNet News, 22 Jan 2012 - Party's rightist camp launches campaign calling voters to boycott primaries in protest of prime minister's intention to evacuate Migron outpost ....

After its diplomats slam Israel’s illegal settlements, can EU continue funding them?
Mondoweiss - Only days after the European Union’s top diplomats in Jerusalem and Ramallah  publicly condemned Israel’s continued settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian West Bank and called for state-level boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against it, the EU itself drew attention for funding one of the most notorious...

(en) Media, Special to Daily News - Egyptian anarchists seek self-governed society
A-infos 22 Jan 2012 - CAIRO: They do not believe in governments, they boycotted the elections, they demand “direct democracy” and they’re associated with chaos and have been targeted by the military and some Islamists. ---- Egypt’s anarchists are anticipating a crackdown before the first anniversary of the January 25 uprising....

[uruknet.info] High Court sanctions looting: Israeli quarries in the West Bank
Uruknet January 20, 2012 - The resources of an occupied territory are supposed to be used to benefit the local population, unless they are needed for an urgent military purpose. However, in a judgment given on 26 December 2011, Israel's High Court of Justice established a new rule enabling the state and private Israeli enterprises to loot...

London's Natural History Museum Blasted for Collaborating with Ahava
US Campaign to End the Occupation 20 Jan 2012 - In the summer of 2009, US Campaign coalition member group CODEPINK launched the Stolen Beauty Campaign against Israeli cosmetics manufacturer Ahava Dead Sea Labaratories . Since then, the boycott campaign against Ahava has grown into an international campaign that continues to raise awareness about Ahava's deceitful business...

Three Arab Students Exiled from Jerusalem for Seven Days
IMEMC - The Arabs48 news website reported on Wednesday that three Arab students, studying at the Engineering Academy in occupied Jerusalem, have received police warrants exiling them from the city for seven days after they called for a boycott of a speech by Israeli President, Shimon Peres. ...

British museum refuses call to boycott Ahava lab
Jerusalem Post 19 Jan 2012 - Anti-Israel artists and academics push for end to scientific research cooperation.

'Arab students arrested over call to avoid Peres lecture'
YNet News, 19 Jan 2012 - Three JCE students claim they were arrested over calls to boycott lecture by President Peres. Student activist warns: We won't remain silent in the face of academic terror ....

'Sanctions not only option against Iran'
YNet News, 19 Jan 2012 - US ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro says Washington has alternatives ready should sanctions on Islamic Republic fail ....

EU diplomats propose boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israeli colonialism
Mondoweiss - The Israeli settlement of Har Homa overlooking Bethlehem. (Photo: IMEMC ) A report sent to the European Union on Monday by its member countries’ top diplomats in Jerusalem and Ramallah proposed state-level boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel’s illegal colonial infrastructure in the occupied West Bank. These...

Israel-America-Iran Dangers Grow
Rami G. Khouri, Agence Global 1/19/2012
      BEIRUT -- The events and tensions that revolve around Iran and its multi-faceted relations with its immediate neighbors -- and its antagonists further afield in the United States, Israel and some Western countries -- are increasing in number and complexity so that two things become clear. First, chances are much greater that we might witness an unintended misstep that triggers armed conflict, a regional Armageddon-type conflict, and a global energy and economic catastrophe. Second, these same reasons suggest that the many elements in the political arena could easily provide entry into some kind of negotiated agreement that calms things down for many years to come.
     Events are moving in overdrive speed, as Israel-America leads a political drive to choke off the Iranian economy by preventing other countries from buying Iranian oil, while increasing sanctions and constantly hinting at a future military strike against Iran. The Iranians retaliate by threatening to close the Straits of Hormuz if Iranian oil exports are choked off by Israel-America’s sanctions or if Iran is attacked. This would create massive global dislocation because 20 percent of all traded oil passes through the straits. Other Iranian retaliations would be expected, and wider Iranian-Israeli and Iranian-Arab conflicts could erupt, if only at the level of exchanging missiles, not to mention regional conflagrations related to Iranian-Arab or Sunni-Shiite tensions.
     This is not your usual Middle Eastern little flare-up or local war that the region has experienced and survived for so many decades. Saudi Arabia now leads those Arab governments and people who see Iran as a serious strategic threat that must be fought in every way possible, while many people in the region side with Iran in its insistence on developing a full nuclear energy capability for peaceful purposes. It is possible that Iran’s government will prove to be of the same ilk as those of Saddam Hussein, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Moammar Gaddafi, Husni Mubarak, Zein el-Abedine Ben Ali, Ali Abdulla Saleh and Bashar Assad, i.e., they are militant in their rhetoric and steadfast in their positions, but ultimately prove to be weak and vulnerable when seriously challenged by their own people or foreign coalitions.... more.. e-mail

U.S. rejects Israeli assessment that Iran sanctions are ineffective
Ha'aretz - 18 Jan 2012

Israel Says No Decision Yet to Attack Iran
New York Times 18 Jan 2012 - Israel’s defense minister said on Wednesday that a decision on a possible attack was “very far off,” as Russia signaled renewed aversion to tighter sanctions on Iran.

Economic, military pressures on Iran escalate global tensions
WSWS - The march towards sweeping economic sanctions against Iran together with continuing military threats against the country from both the US and Israel are ratcheting up global tensions to an increasingly dangerous level.

BDS: UK museum attacked over links to Israel's Ahava
1/17/2012 - LONDON (Reuters) - Experts at a leading British museum should pull out of a European-funded study into tiny particles because one of their partners is an Israeli company that operates in the occupied West Bank, British scientists and public figures said on Tuesday. More than a dozen scientists, some from leading British universities, wrote an open....

Boycott Law constitutional despite 'difficulties'
Jerusalem Post 17 Jan 2012 - Legislation won’t prevent public opposition to policies in the West Bank, state tells High Court.

Yeshiva head quits over IDF policy banning boycotts of events with women singers
Ha'aretz - 15 Jan 2012

High Court sanctions looting: Israeli quarries in the West Bank
B'tselem 15 Jan 2012 - The natural resources of an occupied territory must be used to benefit local residents, unless they are needed for urgent military purposes. Yet on 26 Dec. '11, an Israeli High Court of Justice ruling given by President Justice Dorit Beinisch allowed the state and Israeli entrepreneurs...

Israel 'disappointed' with Obama on Iran
1/15/2012 - JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- A senior Israeli official voiced disappointment in the Obama administration on Sunday, saying "election-year considerations" lay behind its caution over tough Iran sanctions sought by US legislators. While Washington has been talking tougher about Iran's nuclear work and threat to block oil export routes out of the Gulf if hit with....

[uruknet.info] UAE evades Israel boycott in stalled arms deal
Uruknet January 15, 2012 - A UAE attempt to buy Israeli drones is "shameful", a leading BDS activist told Al-Akhbar. "The UAE establishment was caught several times normalizing relations with Israel, in sports, in diamonds, in retail, and even in academia, but this is by far the worst instance of this shameful normalization," said Omar Barghouti, Palestinian...

U.S. Ambassador to Israel: U.S. Ready for Iran Strike
Tikun Olam - Time Magazine publishes a new report  that the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, has reinforced the unity approach between Israel and the U.S. toward Iran.  He puts in the starkest terms yet our expectation of the economic contagion we’re hoping to result from economic sanctions:...

Netanyahu says Iran sanctions starting to work
1/13/2012 - JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that harsh international economic sanctions against Iran, which Israel fears is developing a nuclear weapon to threaten it, have started to have an effect. In an interview in Saturday's "The Australian" newspaper, Netanyahu said: "For the first time I see Iran wobble. . . under the....

Iran's ruling clergy uses funeral of nuclear scientist to urge unity
The Guardian 13 Jan 2012 - Tehran regime calls on Iranians to reject boycott of elections and help face down west over threats to nuclear programme Iran's ruling clergy has used the funeral of an assassinated nuclear scientist to urge Iranians to...

Israel's Mercy is Inhumanely Strained
Palestine Chronicle: 11 Jan 2012 - By Vacy Vlazna There is a growing campaign to urge the London Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to cancel Israel's Habima Theatre's performances of 'The Merchant of Venice' on 28-29th May 2012 at the Shakespeare Globe to Globe Festival. The Habima Theatre, the National Theatre of Israel, has no moral qualms about performing in the illegal settlement colonies on stolen Palestinian lands. These colonies and their extremist residents have a tragic daily and long-term impact on Palestinian lives with their rabid theft of land, water, livelihood and homes that consequently have impoverished Palestinian families... You take my house when you do take the prop That doth sustain my house; you take my life When you do take the means whereby I live. OCHA reported that the weekly average racist attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties and property damage has increased by 40% in 2011. Settler terrorism with its 'strange apparent cruelty' is sanctioned...more

Egypt votes in final round as liberal party pulls out
1/10/2012 - CAIRO (Reuters) -- Egyptians headed to polls as the final phase of parliamentary voting began on Tuesday, after a secular party's plan to boycott next elections for the upper chamber threatened to weaken the liberal bloc. Islamist parties said they were on track to take most votes in Egypt's lower house of....

Report: Third National BDS Conference, Hebron, December 17
1/10/2012 - International Solidarity Movement - 9 January 2012, Palestinian BDS National Committee - On 17 December 2011, Palestinians gathered in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank for the Third National Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions  (BDS) Conference. The event took place against the backdrop of continuous Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, and a growing resistance against injustice worldwide as....

Boycott threat looms over last stage of Egypt vote
Jerusalem Post 9 Jan 2012 - Liberal party, saying vote has become "religious competition," threatens to boycott final stage of 3-round election.

Formula One urged to quit Bahrain
Jerusalem Post 9 Jan 2012 - Human rights groups’ pressure for boycott to highlight continuing unrest.

Israel-Palestinian breakthrough could change Iran equation
Jerusalem Post 9 Jan 2012 - There's little indication of how much sanctions will be able to achieve, let alone any unintended consequences they may have.

Boycott threat overshadows last stage of Egypt vote
YNet News, 9 Jan 2012 - ....

Anti-BDS campaigner out of step with pro-BDS consensus of her Catholic order
US Campaign to End the Occupation 9 Jan 2012 - As Mondoweiss' Alex Kane reports, in upcoming assemblies of the national United Methodist and Presbyterian church bodies, leading the fight against resolutions of divestment from companies profiting from Israel's occupation and settlements will be Sister Ruth Lautt, the national director of Christians for Fair Witness on...

The US-Iran economic war
Pepe Escobar, Asia Times 1/7/2012
      NEW YORK - Here's a crash course on how to further wreck the global economy.
     A key amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act signed by United States President Barack Obama on the last day of 2011 - when no one was paying attention - imposes sanctions on any countries or companies that buy Iranian oil and pay for it through Iran's central bank. Starting this summer, anybody who does it is prevented from doing business with the US.
     This amendment - for all practical purposes a declaration of economic war - was brought to you by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), on direct orders of the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu.
     Torrents of spin have tried to rationalize it as the Obama administration's plan B as opposed to letting the Israeli dogs of war conduct an unilateral attack on Iran over its supposed nuclear weapons program.
     Yet the original Israeli strategy was in fact even more hysterical - as in effectively preventing any country or company from paying for imported Iranian oil, with the possible exceptions of China and India. On top of it, American Israel-firsters were trying to convince anyone this would not result in relentless oil price hikes.
     Once again displaying a matchless capacity to shoot themselves in their Ferragamo-clad feet, governments in the European Union (EU) are debating whether or not to buy oil from Iran anymore. The existential doubt is should we start now or wait for a few months. Inevitably, like death and taxes, the result has been - what else - oil prices soaring. Brent crude is now hovering around $114, and the only way is up. more.. e-mail

West Bank Village Appeals for Boycott of Settlements' Funder
WAFA - 11:22-NEW YORK, January 7, 2012 (WAFA) – Palestinian residents of the West Bank village of Jayyous Friday appealed in a letter to fashion icons and to cancer research institute not to accept donations from ...

[uruknet.info] UK's student body endorses divestment
Uruknet January 6, 2012 - In a historic move, the National Union of Students (NUS) in the UK has thrown its weight behind campaigns targeting companies complicit in Israel's occupation and breaches of international law. A new page on the NUS website that went online today calls on students to campaign against the campus presence of Eden...

[uruknet.info] Take Action: Tell the Members of the MN State Board of Investment to Stop Investing in Israeli Apartheid!
Uruknet January 4, 2012 - You do not need to be a Minnesota resident to participate in this action! . On November 29, 2011, the MN Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) is serving a lawsuit on the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI), seeking an order from the court directing the SBI to immediately divest from Israel...

Christian group dedicated to derailing divestment bankrolled by settler-funding philanthropy
Mondoweiss - When United Methodists converge on Tampa, Florida this Spring , and the Presbyterian Church (USA) holds its general assembly in early July , the question of divestment from companies that profit off of the Israeli occupation will once again attract significant attention. Delegates at these church wide meetings...

Join Phyllis Bennis for a Discussion About the Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS!
US Campaign to End the Occupation 5 Jan 2012 - Join Phyllis Bennis, US Campaign Steering Committee Member , and Omar Barghouti , Tuesday, January 10th in San Diego, CA! Phyllis Bennis and Omar Barghouti will be discussing the Palestinian Civil Society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and universal...

Parsi: Israeli pressure helped scuttle Obama overtures to Iran
Mondoweiss - Barack Obama signed the Iran sanctions bill into law on Saturday , significantly intensifying economic pressure on the country. The latest news from the Financial Times is worrisome: Iran made a fresh move to ratchet up tensions with the west on Tuesday, sending oil prices higher when...

Israeli authorities give ‘legal’ status to illegal settlement outpost
IMEMC - An illegal settlement outpost established on stolen Palestinian land in 2001 by individual Israelis with no government sanction has been given legal status by the Israeli government, after Israeli authorities agreed to give in to the settlers demand of recognition, and petitioned the Israeli High Court on behalf of the settlers. ...

Hamas: Palestinian, Israeli talks 'reproducing failure'
1/2/2012 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri said on Monday that Palestinians envoys meeting their Israeli counterparts this week were "reproducing a failed policy."Hamas calls on the Palestinian Authority to boycott the meeting, set for Tuesday in the Jordanian capital, Abu Zahri said. The only beneficiary of the summit will be.... Related: Erekat says will demand settlement freeze, recognition and PLO official: Israeli, Palestinian envoys to meet Tuesday

Hamas calls on Palestinian Authority to boycott peace talks with Israel
Ha'aretz - 2 Jan 2012

[uruknet.info] Israeli authorities give legal' status to illegal settlement outpost
Uruknet January 2, 2012 - An illegal settlement outpost established on stolen Palestinian land in 2001 by individual Israelis with no government sanction has been given legal status by the Israeli government, after Israeli authorities agreed to give in to the settlers demand of recognition, and petitioned the Israeli High Court on behalf of the settlers. Israeli...

[uruknet.info] Activists campaign against sale of Israeli drones to France
Uruknet January 1, 2012 - A group of activists involved in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign in France have launched a campaign calling on the French government to call off a deal to purchase five hundred million dollars worth of Heron TP Predator drones manufactured by the Israeli company IAI. The campaign in France follows a...

(en) US, Anarkismo.net: Which way forward for the 99%? Occupy May 1st! - Build Power & Show Power through Mass Participatory Bold Action
A-infos 2 Jan 2012 - To show our power, on May 1st, 2012, we will be organizing for such a mass participatory and bold collective action: a national general strike, mass boycott, student strike/ walk-out and mass day of action. We will be organizing within our unions- or informal workplace organizations...

Activists campaign against sale of Israeli drones to France
IMEMC - A group of activists involved in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign in France have launched a campaign calling on the French government to call off a deal to purchase five hundred million dollars worth of Heron TP Predator drones manufactured by the Israeli company IAI. ...

Campaign launched against French purchase of Israeli drones
Global BDS 30 Dec 2011 - French boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigners have called on their government to abandon a €318 million deal to buy Heron TP drones from Israel Aircraft Industries. Meanwhile, senior members of France’s Senate have called publicly for the country to abandon the purchase on grounds that...

Occupation economy: taking from the very land they stand on
Mondoweiss - Betar Illit quarry photo by Dror Etkes I couldn't help but think of the boycott campaign against Ahava cosmetics produced with materials mined in the occupation when Avraham Burg wrote this week in Haaretz "let the right-wing MKs, the Katzes and the Elkins, travel around the...

Muslims upset by NY police to boycott mayor event
YNet News, 29 Dec 2011 - ....

[uruknet.info] Boycott Campaigners Claim Credit For Denial Of London Contract To Company Invested In Settlements
Uruknet December 26, 2011 - A French transportation company, Veolia, that has been the target of a campaign by human rights groups around the world for its investment in Israeli settlements, has been denied a contract in West London - leading supporters of the boycott campaign to claim credit. Over the last six months campaigners lobbied Councillors...

[uruknet.info] Bethlehem mayor calls for boycott of Israel
Uruknet December 25, 2011 - The growing boycott, divestment and sanctions movement received a boost this holiday season as the mayor of Bethlehem called on the international community to boycott Israel. Speaking after giving his traditional annual Christmas address, Victor Batarseh echoed widespread criticisms of Israeli policy, comparing it to that of apartheid-era South Africa. Mayor Batarseh,...

Introducing Freedom Funnies – ‘My Name is Samia Halaby’
Mondoweiss - This is the first in a monthly series of comics Ethan Heitner will be producing for Mondoweiss. Heitner is freelance illustrator and cartoonist who also volunteers with Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel. More of his work can be seen on his...

BDS Success!
Rachel Corrie Foundation 26 Dec 2011 - Cindy Corrie speaks at protest outside the National Building Museum in Washington DC. Photo courtesy of Jewish Voice for Peace The Rachel Corrie Foundation proudly supports the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS seeks to hold Israeli companies, institutions, and their international collaborators accountable...

Boycott campaigners claim credit for denial of London contract to company invested in settlements
IMEMC - A French transportation company, Veolia, that has been the target of a campaign by human rights groups around the world for its investment in Israeli settlements, has been denied a contract in West London – leading supporters of the boycott campaign to claim credit. ...

BDS comes to Penn
Mondoweiss - (Graphic: pennbds.org ) The past few years have seen the BDS movement electrify campus activism – a bright spot on the landscape of Palestine advocacy. The movement has enabled students around the country to engage constructively with the big moral question of our era – apartheid in...

Veolia Takes Severe Blow As It Fails To Win 485 Million Pound Contract In West London
Global BDS 23 Dec 2011 - Human rights campaigners are celebrating after the West London Waste Authority (‘WLWA’) excluded French multinational Veolia from a £485 million contract covering 1.4 million inhabitants of  the London boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond-upon-Thames, for treatment of residual domestic waste. The reasons behind...

BDS victory: Veolia loses huge waste-treatment contract in London boroughs
Mondoweiss - Veolia logo The following press release went out yesterday concerning Veolia, the French company that built the tramline serving settlements in occupied East Jerusalem: Human rights campaigners are celebrating after the West London Waste Authority ('WLWA') excluded French multinational Veolia from a £485 million contract covering...

The Cultural Boycott Israel vs. South Africa
21 Dec 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - “Just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in South Africa in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity, so it would be wrong for Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel.”1 - Desmond Tutu, 26 October 2010

UN holds 'minute' of silence for Kim Jong-il
Jerusalem Post 22 Dec 2011 - General Assembly commemorates North Korean dictator, though western delegations boycott move.

[uruknet.info] On His Uneasy One-Year Anniversary as Premier, Maliki Escalates Iraq's Political Conflict
Uruknet December 21, 2011 - ...At a press conference today, Maliki himself seemed unworried about these shortcomings. Indeed, he appeared to be taunting his opponents, saying he expected to appoint acting ministers for Iraqiyya ministers that are boycotting the sessions of parliament, as well as installing a new vice premier and a new vice president to replace...

BRIDES BOYCOTT AHAVA AND SODASTREAM
Intifada-Palestine: 21 Dec 2011 -   Flash mob, brides and all, boycott AHAVA and SodaStream at a Bed Bath and Beyond store in Marin County, CA Words to music by Jane Jewell and Sue Blackwell below… Ode to Boycott Israel, end your occupation, There’s no peace... more

Technion to collaborate with Cornell in new NYC science campus
Neged Neshek - Haifa-based Technion is teaming with Cornell University  to building a science and engineering campus on New York City’s Roosevelt Island. The Palestinian Boycott National Committee notes that “ multiple levels of systemic violence and oppression that are committedat, and fostered by the Technion University .” [ Click...

Belgian NGO Vredesactie files complaint against Barco Co. for illegal weapons trade with Israel
Global BDS 20 Dec 2011 - On Tuesday December 20 th , Vredesactie filed an official complaint at the Ghent police office against technology company Barco. Barco developed a flight simulator for the Israeli air force, but never requested an export permission, although Belgian legislation on arms trade requires this. “Illegal arms trade”,...

Bed Bath & Beyond flash mob: Stop selling illegal Israeli settlement products
Mondoweiss -  On Saturday, December 10, International Human Rights Day, a flash mob took over the wedding registry section of the Bed Bath & Beyond in Larkspur, Calif. The flash mob consisted of a mock wedding in which four brides committed to boycott illegal Israeli settlement products, namely...

Culture and the Right Hand of the State
Dissident Voice: 20 Dec 2011 - Between 24-27 November 2011, the Government of Israel held “Israeli Film Days” at Filmbase in Temple Bar, Dublin’s “cultural quarter”.In advance of this event, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) requested Filmbase to reconsider its decision to host the festival : At a time when Irish peace activists have been illegally imprisoned in Israel after their humanitarian ship the MV Saoirse was hi-jacked in international waters by Israeli commandos, hosting these ‘Israeli Film Days’ sends out the worst possible message: that Filmbase is indifferent to its exploitation as a site of propaganda for the state that perpetrates such atrocities.  To cancel the event at this point would… be perceived worldwide as an honourable gesture of solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people who have called for an international cultural boycott of the Israeli state. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) also issued an “ Open Letter...more

Activists Hold Third Annual Conference on Boycott of Israel in Hebron
IMEMC - The Palestinian branch of the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel held its third annual conference in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, with several hundred Palestinian and international activists gathering for the event. ...

Third Annual BDS Conference Highlights Progress, Challenges
PNN - PNNOn Saturday, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) held its third annual conference in the West Bank city of Hebron. Panelists addressed the challenges and opportunities facing the BDS...

[uruknet.info] In blow to Israel, French BDS activists acquitted of crime in calling for boycott
Uruknet December 18, 2011 - Twelve French activists from a group called Boycott 68 have been acquitted on charges of "inciting discrimination and racial hatred" for calling on French shoppers to boycott Israeli goods. The court judgment in the eastern city of Mulhouse deals a blow to efforts by French prosecutors and Zionist groups to outlaw the...

[uruknet.info] Wissam Nassar / Maan Images In blow to Israel, French BDS activists acquitted of crime in calling for boycott
Uruknet December 18, 2011 - Twelve French activists from a group called Boycott 68 have been acquitted on charges of "inciting discrimination and racial hatred" for calling on French shoppers to boycott Israeli goods. The court judgment in the eastern city of Mulhouse deals a blow to efforts by French prosecutors and Zionist groups to outlaw the...

[uruknet.info] Third Annual BDS Conference Highlights Progress, Challenges
Uruknet December 18, 2011 - On Saturday, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) held its third annual conference in the West Bank city of Hebron. Panelists addressed the challenges and opportunities facing the BDS campaign and the current state of its efforts. The BDS campaign began in 2005 through a call by over 170...

Beit Surik and Stop the Wall thank Rho city council for condeming Pizzarotti for Complicity with Israeli Apartheid
Global BDS 19 Dec 2011 - For background on the issue, this is from a recent Press release from the Italian Coalition Stop That Train: On 30 November, the City Council of Rho, in the province of Milan, approved a resolution expressing “moral and political condemnation of Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A. for...

Key Iraq bloc to boycott parliament as U.S. quits
Daily Star 17 Dec 2011 Secular Iraqiya bloc, which won most of the votes of Iraq's disenchanted Sunni Arab minority, walks out of Parliament, sparking a political crisis days after U.S. forces ended their mission.

Arab Americans Organize Boycott of US Department Store
WAFA

Iraqi Parliament Boycott Threatens Coalition
New York Times 17 Dec 2011 - A standoff pits Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki against his most nettlesome partners in Iraq’s government, the Iraqiya coalition.

Bethlehem mayor: Boycott Israel until we get state
12/16/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The mayor of Bethlehem said Thursday after his annual Christmas address that the international community should boycott Israel until it accepts Palestinian aspirations for independence."We have a right to self-determination," Victor Batarseh told reporters in Bethlehem." We are peaceful people. We want peace," he said after announcing the start of....

Bethlehem mayor calls for cultural boycott of Israel
Jerusalem Post 15 Dec 2011 - Victor Batarseh tells reporters boycott only way to get Israel back to negotiations; "It worked with South Africa."

Syrian activist urges diplomatic boycott, pressure on Russia
Daily Star 15 Dec 2011 A leading Syrian human rights activist urged the international community to cut diplomatic ties with Damascus and up pressure on Russia to stop blocking UN action against the regime there.

U.S.: Former Top Aide Offers Insight on Mideast and Iran
IPS In his first public address since departing from the White House, Dennis Ross, former top Middle East aide to U.S. President Barack Obama, called for increased sanctions on Iran, a careful approach to new Arab regimes and a low-key approach to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

[uruknet.info] BDS update: BDS unites East and West
Uruknet December 14, 2011 - Just in case there was an iota of doubt left in your mind, Israel was officially declared an apartheid state during a session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in Cape Town on 7 November. Among depositions, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza cited the Fourth Geneva Convention and the...

Ex-top US aide offers insight into Iran
Mitchell Plitnick, Asia Times 12/15/2011
      WASHINGTON - In his first public address since departing from the White House, Dennis Ross, former top Middle East aide to United States President Barack Obama, called for increased sanctions on Iran, a careful approach to new Arab regimes and a low-key stance in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
     Speaking to an audience at the strongly pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near Policy (WINEP) [1], Ross indicated that the Obama administration was keeping all options open and would take further steps, up to and including the use of force, to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
     "[A nuclear Iran] poses a threat to vital American security interests," Ross said. "A nuclear Iran will trigger a regional arms
     race and undermine non-proliferation ... It will lead to a situation where people can't afford to wait."
     "President Obama has said all options are on the table. Force is not the first choice, but it is on the table, and time remains for diplomacy and pressure," he stressed.
     On the recent electoral victories of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Ross said that the Brotherhood had "evolved and are not the same as the Salafists", the fundamentalist Muslim group that placed a strong second to the Brotherhood in the first round of parliamentary elections earlier this month.
     "We should not view [the Brotherhood] as we have in the past, though we should keep a wary eye and not dismiss their ideology." more.. e-mail

BDS Update: BDS Unites East and West
Palestine Chronicle: 14 Dec 2011 - By Eric Walberg – Cairo Just in case there was an iota of doubt left in your mind, Israel was officially declared an apartheid state during a session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in Cape Town on 7 November. Among depositions, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza cited the Fourth Geneva Convention and the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which prohibits “the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” This was just in time to honour the UN-endorsed International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, marked on 29 November to coincide with the anniversary of the UN vote for the Partition Plan, and first celebrated in 1976. Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists in 10 European countries staged more than 60 actions as part of a Day of Action calling...more

Just one minister attends meeting to discuss exclusion of Israeli women
Ha'aretz - Ministerial Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women in Israeli Society, was put in charge of organizing a task force to consider imposing sanctions against businesses that discriminate against women.

Can Free Municipal Elections be organized by a “dictatorship”?
Voltaire Network 13 Dec 2011 - • In the face of the municipal elections of Monday, December 12, Washington's cue to the press was to support the Syrian National Council's call for a general strike and for an election boycott. This line has been completely adhered to by both the Western and...

Syrian opposition refuse to stand in 'utterly meaningless' elections
The National 12 Dec 2011 - Syria hold municipal elections amid continued violence that killed at least 10 people, and a boycott of voting by opposition groups.

Syria holds elections amid crackdown – Monday 12 December 2011
The Guardian 12 Dec 2011 - • Clashes between Syrian defectors and army spread • Low turn-out expected in local vote as opposition calls for boycott • Speculation of Homs assault mounts ahead of 'deadline' • Read the latest summary 8.46am: Good...

Lowe’s faces boycott after pulling ads from ‘TLC’ show on Muslims
Mondoweiss -   The home improvement chain Lowe's has come under fierce criticism for pulling its advertisements from the TLC reality show "All-American Muslim" after a right-wing Christian group pressured the company. In response, calls for a boycott of Lowe's have grown, and nearly 8,000 people have signed...

Barak calls for 'paralyzing' sanctions on Iran
12/11/2011 - VIENNA (Reuters) -- Iran's ruling clerics could use nuclear weapons to strengthen their grip on power and the world must urgently impose crippling sanctions to prevent them from building such arms, Israel's defense minister said on Sunday. Ehud Barak also predicted that Syria's ruling Assad family could fall within weeks....

Israel calls for 'paralyzing' sanctions against Iran
Ha'aretz - Defense Minister Ehud Barak says in Vienna that steps should be taken to target Iranian oil trade and central bank.

Israeli Hasbara Minister Edelstein Patrols Park Slope’s Mean Streets on Lookout for BDS and Delegitimizers
Tikun Olam - Israeli minister Yuli Edelstein (l.) & Standwithus' Avi Posnick (r.) at Park Slope food coop patrolling Brooklyn's mean streets  …We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the...

AIPAC Economic Warfare Also Targets US
Grant Smith, Antiwar.com 12/10/2011
      From Stolen US Trade Secrets to Iran's Central Bank
     The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is trumpeting tough new sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank. This financial blockade will likely drive up global energy prices as Iran struggles to sell petroleum to wholesalers fearful of secondary boycotts. That the sources of this latest step toward US military action against Iran are mainly Israel lobbying groups or beneficiaries of their campaign finance network has been well-established. The lobby justifies the campaign based on unsubstantiated allegations that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons although no evidence from credible sources has emerged. Less well known is that Israel and its lobby frequently deploy tactics from same menu of economic warfare — such as capturing assets — against the United States. Newly declassified documents extracted from a very reluctant US Trade Representative are a case in point.
     In 1984 the captured assets in question were also of the intangible variety — trade secrets, strategies, and classified industry data. The victims were more than seventy US corporations and business organizations that responded to US International Trade Commission solicitations in 1984 to participate in negotiations that would open the US market to Israeli exports. After delivering up their confidential business data in opposition to the preferences, participants were appalled that the Israeli government pilfered all the USTR’s classified report and passed it to AIPAC to lobby against US industries. But what made this captured US intellectual asset so valuable and timely? After a multi-year battle that began in 2009, the US Trade Representative was finally forced to publicly release (PDFs) the majority of the secret report surreptitiously obtained by AIPAC decades ago. The secret document reveals all. more.. e-mail

Turkish President shuns event attended by Israel's Defense Minister
Ha'aretz - Abduallah Gul boycotts lunch at international conference in Vienna after finding out Ehud Barak will be attending.

Gul boycotts Vienna event over Israel
YNet News, 10 Dec 2011 - Turkish president decides not to attend luncheon organized by Austrian....

Invitation: Third National BDS Conference
Global BDS 10 Dec 2011 - The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) cordially invites you to “Third National BDS Conference”   Saturday December 17, 2011 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Children’s Happiness Center, Hebron This conference aims to expand Palestinian civil society’s active implementation of BDS as an effective...

Muslim Brotherhood to boycott military panel on new constitution
The National 8 Dec 2011 - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group dominating parliamentary elections, says it will boycott a council appointed by the country's military rulers to oversee drafting of the new constitution.

Natasha Mozgovaya / For Palestinians and settlers, the West Bank is two different places
Ha'aretz - Each time there's a call to boycott our wines, we sell more, says Israeli settler, as Palestinians foresee the rise of Hamas.

IAF strikes Hamas base in Gaza, Palestinians report civilian casualties
Ha'aretz - Medical officials say the target was a Hamas training base, but that shrapnel flew into nearby houses, killing a civilian and wounding 13 others., Grad missile lands near southern city of Be'er Sheva, Qassam lands in open field in western Negev; Palestinians report first IDF airstrike of Gaza City since 2009., King Abdullah II is trying to get Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks that Abbas abandoned in September 2010., UN says more than 4,000 people were killed in the 9 month crackdown, but Assad says only a 'crazy' leader kills his own people and that most of those killed were government supporters., Palestinian medics report two killed, several hurt in Israeli strike on car in central Gaza City., Ambassador Dan Shapiro rebuffs previous claims by U.S. officials that Israel would not alert Washington ahead of a strike on Iran., Mughrabi Bridge in Jerusalem's Old City in danger of collapse, says engineer; Netanyahu had in the past ordered delay of bridge's demolition due to warnings from Egypt and Jordan., Senior Palestinian source accuses Hamas of trying to torpedo election since Israel expected to object to May presidential, parliamentary elections in East Jerusalem., French President explains events leading up to his 'Netanyahu is a liar' remark, says he was frustrated by Israel's refusal to use French helicopter to transport Shalit from Egypt to Israel., Foreign Minister meets with Putin in Moscow, discusses Mideast security matters and urges him not to support unilateral steps by Palestinians at UN., Mayor of Burkina village says flaming tires thrown into mosque's entrance, with assailants scrawling the words 'Hero of Ariel' on its walls., Senators John McCain and Carl Levin say uncertainty stokes concern in Washington, where preferred course for now is sanctions and diplomatic pressure., IDF pledges to 'continue to take action against those who use terror against the state of Israel.', In meeting with State Comptroller, Maj. Gen. (res.) responds to claims that the Defense Minister backed his candidacy over his views on a possible military actions against Iran's nuclear facilities., Anyone who has a clue about our relationship with Israel understands that a robust, wide-ranging foreign aid program benefits U.S. interests in the region., Detention of 3 soldiers come 2 days after 7 female Jewish settlers were arrested on suspicion of vandalizing army property and damaging Palestinian-owned trees.

Wary US uncertain of Israel's Iran plans
12/7/2011 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Obama administration does not know Israel's intentions regarding potential military action against Iran, and the uncertainty is stoking concern in Washington, where the preferred course for now is sanctions and diplomatic pressure. Although Israel remains one of the United States' closest allies and the two countries' officials are....

Obama administration in the dark on Israel's Iran plans, U.S. officials say
Ha'aretz - Senators John McCain and Carl Levin say uncertainty stokes concern in Washington, where preferred course for now is sanctions and diplomatic pressure.

Kuwait opposition group urges voters to boycott polls
Daily Star 7 Dec 2011 A Kuwaiti opposition group called on voters Wednesday to boycott upcoming parliamentary elections over what it called a lack of political and legislative reforms necessary for fair polls.

Aoun says bloc ministers to attend Cabinet session
Daily Star 7 Dec 2011 Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun said his ministers would attend Wednesday’s Cabinet session after the parliamentary grouping threatened to boycott meetings of the executive branch of government.

Veolia blows it again through normalization sports event
Global BDS 5 Dec 2011 - French multinational Veolia is known for its involvement in several Israeli colonization projects in the occupied West Bank. In a public relations effort to sell a supposed commitment to peace, the company has lend its name to the Veolia Desert Challenge, an Israeli biking event held...

Commemorating the anniversary of the First Intifada in the no go zone
12/6/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Nathan Stuckey, 6 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza - Twenty four years ago, on December 9, 2011 a revolution began.   The revolution began in Gaza, it was the First Intifada.   After twenty years of Israeli occupation Palestinian resistance exploded in full force.   Boycotts, demonstrations, tax refusal, all of these were the strategies of the....

[uruknet.info] Jewish Identity and Palestinian Rights - Book Review
Uruknet December 5, 2011 - The mainstream media does not cover this kind of topic and only hints at it in the form of criticism of those calling for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. David Landy's academic study of the trends within the Jewish diaspora provides a beginning insight into the social climate within the...

[uruknet.info] South African activist: "Palestine casts light on our own history"
Uruknet December 5, 2011 - Israel was declared an apartheid state during a session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in Cape Town on 7 November. Among those following the tribunal's deliberations was a group of young South Africans, including Mbuyiseni Ndlozi of BDS South Africa, a group campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, and...

[uruknet.info] Campaign of Death Threats, Stalking and Vandalism Against Anti-Occupation Leaders Continues as Israeli Press Faces More Gag Rules
Uruknet December 4, 2011 - ...The Israeli Knesset has either approved or is considering a raft of legislation that would fundamentally change the democratic character of the state of Israel. It has already passed a law which would criminalize public support for the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement. Other bills would prohibit foreign funding of Israeli nongovernmental...

South African activist: "Palestine casts light on our own history"
Electronic Intifada: 5 Dec 2011 - Adri Nieuwhof The Electronic Intifada South Africa A South African activist working for the global boycott movement against Israeli apartheid connects the ongoing anti-colonialist struggles from Johannesburg to Palestine.more

O Captain My Captain: America’s Aid for Israel’s Political ‘Continuum’
Sabbah report 5 Dec 2011 - The question for the Obama administration, Congress, is if, the American public, who should be asked first, were informed of the extent, nature and illegality of U.S Aid to Israel, would the American public then sanction any military aid to Israel at all?

Jewish Identity and Palestinian Rights – Book Review
Palestine Chronicle: 5 Dec 2011 - Reviewed Jim Miles (Jewish Identity & Palestinian Rights - Diaspora Jewish Opposition to Israel. David Landy. Z Books, London/New York, 2011.) The mainstream media does not cover this kind of topic and only hints at it in the form of criticism of those calling for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. David Landy's academic study of the trends within the Jewish diaspora provides a beginning insight into the social climate within the Jewish community, in particular in Great Britain, Europe and the United States, and the nature of the discussions in opposition to Zionism. The study is pretty much a current affair, recognizing that while there have always been voices within Judaism that counter the Israeli/Zionist expressions of the religion, the true opposition started after the second intifada. In short, Landy says that there is a slowly growing number of Jewish diaspora members who are successfully questioning the Israeli/Zionist...more

Israel blames Palestinians for peace stalemate
12/3/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel on Saturday blamed the Palestinians for stalled peace talks, in a rebuttal to US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who said Israel must take concrete steps to revive the process." To our regret the Palestinians are the ones who decided to boycott the negotiations," said Mark Regev, the spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister.... Related: US: Israel must start talks, end isolation

Israel’s true fear re Iran is… balance of power
Mondoweiss - Danielle Pletka Vice President, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute   Yesterday we learned the EU was slapping new sanctions on Iran , today U.S. Senate Passes Iran Oil Sanctions . But perhaps the most astonishing info I've read lately about Iran is revealed in MJ...

Israel, Occupy Wall Street, and anti-Zionism
Brian Kwoba, Israeli Occupation Archive 12/2/2011
      The Occupy Wall Street movement in the US is reverberating around the world. In Tel Aviv, Israel, for example, a tens-of-thousands-strong protest on October 29 “showed influences from the Occupy Wall Street movement, including signs saying ‘we are the 99%,’ and one sign that read ‘Occupy Oakland!’” (Jerusalem Post). Though much smaller in scale, this protest revives the recent memory of the summer’s July 14 (J14) movement in Israel, which received much criticism from the Palestine solidarity community for its failure to condemn the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, let alone the issue of Zionism itself.
     As one such activist argued, “the hypocrisy of J14 is that while it may have supposedly been about social justice, it simply refused to address the occupation of Palestine.”
     On this basis, many progressives and Palestine solidarity activists withheld support from the movement, instead criticizing it for its weaknesses and limitations. I think this was and is a big mistake, even though the “mainstream” of the Israeli protest movement was and still is largely silent on the oppression of Palestinians. Let me explain.
     Occupy Wall Street, NOT Palestine
     First of all, let’s be clear: Israel is a colonial-settler and apartheid state. Internationally, it must be boycotted, sanctioned, and divested from with all the vigor we can muster until (at minimum) it ends of the occupation, grants full equality to all of its citizens, and cedes the right of return to the Palestinians of the diaspora. more.. e-mail

Barak: Israel isn't looking for war with Iran over its nuclear program
Ha'aretz - In interview with Israel Radio, Defense Minister says would be 'happy' if economic sanctions, diplomacy would convince Tehran to drop military nuclear program.

Mikati: Cabinet to discuss demands of Aoun’s bloc
Daily Star 2 Dec 2011 PM Najib Mikati promised that the Cabinet will discuss demands by Michel Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc in order to avoid a boycott by the bloc’s ministers similar to last week’s no-show.

Aoun boycott threat remains unless demands are met
Daily Star 1 Dec 2011 The funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon saga might be finished, but the government’s next scheduled meeting could very well be derailed by ministers from the Free Patriotic Movement.

Chairman of Joint Chiefs: Israel Disagrees Sanctions Can Be Effective, May Strike Iran Without Warning
Tikun Olam - Pro-Israel uber-hawks in Congress like to say there isn’t an ounce of daylight between the positions of the U.S. and Israel whenever an Israeli PM comes to Washington.  But that’s apparently not the case regarding our respective views of Iran.  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of...

US uncertain Israel would advise before Iran strike
Jerusalem Post 30 Nov 2011 - US still convinced sanctions, diplomacy right path to take take on Iran, Israel may not share that perspective, top US military officer says; US fears fallout on world economy if Israel strikes Iran.

Israel unfreezes Palestinian Authority tax millions
The Guardian 30 Nov 2011 - West warned against punitive measure for Unesco vote to admit Palestinian Territories as a member Israel is to release millions of dollars in Palestinian tax revenues it had frozen as a punitive sanction for the past...

[uruknet.info] Boycott Israel campaign grows among UK unions, despite Zionist backlash
Uruknet November 30, 2011 - Over the last few years, UK trade unions have expressed solidarity with Palestine more and more explicitly. Union after union has overturned a previous orthodoxy of balance between "two sides" when it comes to policy on Israel and the Palestinians. So many unions have now passed motions in support of the Palestinian...

Boycott Israel campaign grows among UK unions, despite Zionist backlash
Electronic Intifada: 29 Nov 2011 - Asa Winstanley The Electronic Intifada London So many UK trade unions have now passed motions in support of the Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that even the often conservative Trades Union Congress has been compelled to change policy.more

Israel sanctions mean Palestinian Authority cannot pay employees' wages
The Guardian 28 Nov 2011 - Refusal to release tax revenue will hit one-third of Palestinians, who go to the polls with rest of West Bank and Gaza on 4 May Around 153,000 employees of the Palestinian Authority will not be paid...

Israeli war minister sanctions plans to build 119 housing units in Ramallah
PIC - The Israeli ministry of war approved two plans to build 119 housing units in Shiloh settlement to the north of Ramallah city.

Activists charge World Health Organization with being ‘blind to apartheid’
Mondoweiss - Israeli activists confront attendees to WHO meeting in Jerusalem. (Photo: Boycott from Within) A press release from Boycott from Within , a coalition of Israeli citizens, who support the Palestinian-led campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel: This morning a group of Palestinians and Israeli activists...

The Sheikh Raed Affair
Zulaikha Abdullah, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) 11/27/2011
      Introduction
     On 25 June 2011, the celebrated Palestinian social, political and civil rights leader Sheikh Raed Salah arrived at London's Heathrow airport at the invitation of the independent media research and information organisation, the Middle East Monitor (MEMO). The purpose of his visit was to take part in a widely publicised ten-day programme of speaking engagements across the UK. During his visit, Sheikh Raed was scheduled to address the British public and parliamentarians on issues related to the Middle East and the plight of Palestinians living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Three days into his trip, Sheikh Raed was arrested and detained by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and then told that he would face deportation.
     Following Sheikh Raed's arrest, it was claimed by the Home Office that he had been subject to a UK exclusion order at the time of his entry into the country as the Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Home Secretary), Theresa May, had deemed his presence to be "not conducive to the public good". This assessment was made on the basis of alleged anti-Semitic statements and/or statements that support violence. On learning that Sheikh Raed was, in fact, in Britain, Mrs May personally sanctioned his immediate arrest and detention. However, neither Sheikh Raed, the Israeli authorities, the airline carrier that brought him to the UK nor immigration officers at Heathrow airport had been informed of his alleged proscribed status. No official opposition to his visit was ever made and there was no attempt to prevent his entry at the border.
     The rash decision taken by the Home Secretary to detain such a high-profile and well-respected Palestinian figure unleashed an international storm of criticism and condemnation from across the political, religious and social spectrum..... more.. e-mail

Europeans hold 60 ‘Boycott Israel’ actions in 10 countries
IMEMC - In a European Day of Action under the banner ‘Take Apartheid off the Menu’, human rights activists in ten countries held actions on Saturday calling on consumers to boycott food products made in Israeli settlements, and urging supermarkets to stop carrying Israeli settlement-made products. ...

BDS success or health problem? MF DOOM mysteriously cancels Tel Aviv show
Alternative Information Center - The Israeli news site Walla! reports that British-American rapper MF Doom canceled his Tel Aviv show, less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to take to the stage.

Fayyad: Israeli sanctions have 'devastating impact' on Palestinian economy
Ha'aretz - Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad says he will be unable to pay the salaries of tens of thousands of civil servants due to Israel's withholding of tax revenues it collects on behalf of PA.

Palestinian PM: Israeli sanctions starting to bite
YNet News, 27 Nov 2011 - Fayyad says PA says suspension of tax transfers has 'immediate impact on lives....

European bank pulls out of Israel after pressure from boycott campaign
IMEMC - The French bank BNP Paribas has decided to pull out of its operations in Israel, after the bank was targeted by the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which aims to use economic pressure to get Israel to adhere to its obligations under international law. ...

[uruknet.info] European bank pulls out of Israel after pressure from boycott campaign
Uruknet November 26, 2011 - The French bank BNP Paribas has decided to pull out of its operations in Israel, after the bank was targeted by the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which aims to use economic pressure to get Israel to adhere to its obligations under international law. Although the bank stated that its withdrawal...

London Boycott Israel Committee Launches ‘Take Apartheid off the Menu’
WAFA

Netanyahu: Israel, Egypt share vested interest in maintaining peace treaty
Ha'aretz - In joint press conference with Romanian PM, premier urges Fatah to break off reconciliation talks with Hamas, urges more effective sanctions against Iran's nuclear program.

Is it possible to have a unity government with zero risks?
Maher Abukhater, Bitterlemons 11/21/2011
      If there is going to be a Palestinian unity government, what will that mean for Palestinians and the peace process?
     Concerning the peace process, Palestinians in general would say: "what peace process?" No one seems worried about impacting a peace process that is obviously long gone.
     As for the Palestinian people, the issue is more serious. On the one hand, a unity government would lead to reunification of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which means strengthening the home front in light of a bleak and uncertain future. In general, there is strong support for this move.
     But, on the other, there is apprehension concerning its ramifications on Palestinian daily life.
     The United States and Israel are warning that a unity government that includes Hamas would have serious long-term negative repercussions on the Palestinian people in general, and that makes people stop and think.
     It wasn't long ago that Palestinians experienced what this means. Tens of thousands of Palestinians went for more than a year without pay when main donors suspended their aid following Hamas' victory in the 2006 legislative elections and its subsequent formation of a government headed and run by Hamas members.
     If it hadn't been for handouts and charity from the European Union and some Arab countries that allowed people to put food on the table, the outcome would have been disastrous. Even the short-lived unity government between Fateh and Hamas that came to salvage the situation was not enough to convince the West to end these sanctions and allow a resumption of aid. more.. e-mail

Group: Prison sanctions Ashkelon prisoners
11/23/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israel's Ashkelon prison has imposed sanctions on some prisoners in section no. 18 for refusing to stop their prayers in order to be counted, the prisoners society said Tuesday. Inspectors entered the section during prayers and an officer demanded they stop, but the prisoners refused, according to the society....

Iran no-show 'unhelpful' at UN Mideast nuclear forum
11/22/2011 - VIENNA (AFP) -- Iran's boycott of a rare UN atomic agency forum on creating a Middle East free of nuclear weapons was "not helpful to their cause," the chairman of the event said Tuesday." I think it is to be regretted that Iran did not participate," Norwegian ambassador Jan Petersen told reporters at the....

Even with Unity Agreement, Islamic Jihad to Boycott Upcoming Elections
PNN - PNNIslamic Jihad leader Ahmed al-Modalal told PNN on Sunday that the Gaza-based movement would not participate in any upcoming elections, even if Hamas and Fatah formed a unity government, citing the Oslo...

Frightened of BDS, pro-Israel groups push holiday shoppers to Buy Israel
Alternative Information Center - The American holiday shopping season begins on "Black Friday," the massive shopping day that follows Thanksgiving. Frightened by the growing BDS movement, pro-Israel groups are promoting a "Buy Israel Week," which will take place the following...

Iran: Middle East nuclear talks 'waste of time'
Jerusalem Post 22 Nov 2011 - M. East foes stick to positions in rare nuclear talks; atmosphere calm, little "fiery" rhetoric; Iran boycotts "superficial" meeting.

[uruknet.info] Right-wing Israeli group creates booklet listing businesses that employ Palestinians
Uruknet November 21, 2011 - A grandson of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, best known for his belief that Arabs should be ethnically cleansed from historic Palestine, is leading a movement to document and boycott all businesses in Israel that employ Palestinians. The plan was discovered when 19-year old Meir Ettinger was reported to the police for...

Activists in France launch campaign against Mehadrin
Global BDS 22 Nov 2011 - Activists in France launched the campaign against Mehadrin with a large demonstration outside the comapny’s French headquarters in Chateaurenard  in the south of the country. In the wake of the collapse of Agrexco, Mehadrin has become Israel’s largest agricultural produce exporter. Mehadrin sources produce from growers in...

Take Apartheid off the Menu!
Global BDS 22 Nov 2011 - View Take Apartheid off the Menu! in a larger mapClick here to send a polite message to Google about the way they describe Palestine in their maps. Export of Israeli agricultural produce is at the heart of Israel’s apartheid regime over the Palestinian people. It is...

Confronting Arava UK – Act one of Apartheid off the menu
Global BDS 21 Nov 2011 - Campaigners today visited the sales office of Arava UK/ aka Mills Associates, at their (previously) sleepy offices in the South Yorkshire countryside. Our aim was to deliver a letter to the company, to confront them about their business practices and to give them the clear message...

Right-wing Israeli group creates booklet listing businesses that employ Palestinians
IMEMC - A grandson of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, best known for his belief that Arabs should be ethnically cleansed from historic Palestine, is leading a movement to document and boycott all businesses in Israel that employ Palestinians. ...

Iran boycott mars rare Middle East nuclear talks
Daily Star 21 Nov 2011 Israel and its Arab neighbors sat in the same room on Monday for rare discussions on banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East, although the meeting was marred by the absence of boycotting Iran.

‘J Street’ distances itself from board member who met with Hamas officials
Mondoweiss - Kathleen Peratis J Street board member Kathleen Peratis, a NY lawyer, had the guts to debate boycott and she has had the guts to go as a "tourist" to Gaza, as she reported in the Forward, and have a great time and talk to unnamed Hamas...

[uruknet.info] A message from Kairos Palestine about BDS A Frantic Counter BDS Campaign Under Way in Israel
Uruknet November 18, 2011 - Anything but subtle - that sums up the desperate campaign recently launched by an assortment of anti-Palestinians conglomerates. Buy Israel Week, to be held from November 28 to December 4, is an apparent attempt to hijack Christmas shoppers and divert attention from the success of the ongoing BDS campaigns around the world....

Israeli media paving the way for an attack on Iran
Sabbah report 19 Nov 2011 - Neve Gordon argues that while the Israeli media frenzy supporting an attack on Iran may be orchestrated to pressure the international community to impose harsher sanctions against Iran, it is nonetheless helping to produce the necessary conditions for a military campaign.

Report: US warns Palestinians on unity deal
11/18/2011 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- The US may sanction the Palestinian Authority if Fatah and Hamas implement a reconciliation deal signed in May, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday. Israel HaYom reported that US deputy secretary of state Bill Burns was in the region to relay a sharp message from the US president, Barak Obama....

Envoy: Iran to boycott Middle East nuclear talks
11/18/2011 - VIENNA (Reuters) -- Iran will not take part in rare IAEA-hosted talks next week for countries in the Middle East to discuss efforts to free the world of nuclear weapons, a senior Iranian official said on Friday, in a further sign of worsening ties between the UN atomic agency and Iran. Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran'....

Support RCF, and Double Your Gift!
Rachel Corrie Foundation 17 Nov 2011 - The Rachel Corrie Foundation has felt the impact of the economic crisis. While we steadfastly continue our work on exciting projects like Olympia’s first Arab Fest, a student pen pal project in Gaza, and support for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) efforts locally and beyond, we...

UNESCO distances itself from Israeli government youth conference
Global BDS 18 Nov 2011 - The Palestinian BDS National Committee ( BNC ), the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society struggling to uphold Palestinian rights, recently discovered that the Israeli Ministry of Education was claiming to be organizing a youth conference in Jerusalem “in cooperation with UNESCO (United Nations),” as the Ministry’s website  claims . Specifically,...

Barak: Iran nuclear program not aimed solely at Israel
Ha'aretz - Defense minister says Israel must convince world leaders to impose tough sanctions on Iran since its nuclear program threatens the entire world order.

Sanctioning Syria: The Long Road to Damascus
Intifada-Palestine: 17 Nov 2011 - Maidhc Ó Cathail In 1996, an Israeli think tank, the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, prepared “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm” for incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In that seminal report , the Richard Perle-led... more

Critics of Palestine solidarity within Occupy Wall Street rely on distortion
Mondoweiss - Activists from Adalah-NY sing songs promoting BDS at Occupy Wall Street on November 13, 2011 (Photo: Alex Kane) "New York is different," Riham Barghouti, a well-known member of Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, told me last weekend at the end of...

The road not taken
Graham Usher, Al-Ahram Weekly 11/17/2011
      The block on Palestinian UN membership represents not a failure of strategy but the lack of one.
     The Palestinians' efforts to win full membership as a UN member state ground to a halt on 11 November after it became clear they didn't have a majority on the Security Council.
     This leaves Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a snare. He could press for a Security Council vote in any case. But this would face certain defeat and risk anger from supposed allies on the council like France and Britain, as well as reprisals from adversaries like the United States.
     He could go for the lesser goal of Palestine becoming a non-member observer state: this requires only a majority vote by the 193-member General Assembly and, unlike the Security Council, cannot be blocked by a US veto. But many Palestinians would see this as a "consolation prize" after the hopes raised by full membership, says a Western diplomat.
     It could also trigger sanctions to add to the nearly $300 million in frozen revenues and contributions levied by Israel and the US as punishment for Abbas turning to the UN.
     Or he could do nothing. But that would risk the very real charge that -- absent civil protests in the occupied territories and mobilisation in the region -- the PA's turn to the UN represents not a new political strategy but the absence of one. Asked what the Palestinians would do if their bid remains blocked on the council, PA aide Saeb Ereikat said: "We can try again -- and again and again." more.. e-mail

Sanctioning Syria: The Long Road to Damascus
Palestine Chronicle: 17 Nov 2011 - By Maidhc Ó Cathail In 1996, an Israeli think tank, the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, prepared 'A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm' for incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In that seminal report, the Richard Perle-led study group suggested that Israel could 'shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria.' Comprised mainly of American-based pro-Israel advocates, the group stressed, “Most important, it is understandable that Israel has an interest supporting diplomatically, militarily and operationally Turkey’s and Jordan’s actions against Syria, such as securing tribal alliances with Arab tribes that cross into Syrian territory and are hostile to the Syrian ruling elite.” Although Netanyahu didn’t act on their advice at the time, Perle and two of his co-authors, Douglas Feith and David Wurmser, found George W. Bush more receptive to “securing the realm” – for...more

Syria's economic woes threaten support for regime
Jerusalem Post 16 Nov 2011 - Business elite turning backs on Assad as international boycott expands, economists and political analysts say.

Palestinian Freedom Riders Challenge Israeli Apartheid
Global BDS 14 Nov 2011 - Occupied Palestine, 15 November 2011 — The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) salutes the brave Palestinian Freedom Riders who today challenged through civil disobedience the Israeli occupation and apartheid [1]. With creative tactics inspired by the U.S. civil rights movement and with resolve stemming from a...

Syrian athletes may yet attend Arab Games
Jerusalem Post 15 Nov 2011 - Damascus's Olympic chief says boycott could be rescinded if the Arab League ends Syria's suspension.

Hamadeh: March 14 will not boycott Parliament session Wednesday
Daily Star 15 Nov 2011 March 14 coalition lawmakers will not boycott a parliamentary session scheduled for Wednesday over Lebanon’s stance in the Arab League vote on Syria, an opposition MP said Tuesday.

PACBI to MF DOOM: Don't entertain a doomed apartheid regime!
Alternative Information Center - As British-American hip-hop artist MF Doom prepares for his November 26 concert in Tel Aviv, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) has published an open letter asking Doom, "Don't entertain...

Israel to transfer Palestinian funds held over UNESCO membership bid
Ha'aretz - Netanyahu, top ministers expected to approve the thawing of $100 million in Palestinian tax money; cabinet to formulate policy regarding sanctions against PA in case of future unilateral moves in the UN.

Finkelstein highlights international law as powerful weapon for boycott
Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods, Israeli Occupation Archive 11/14/2011
      Professor Norman Finkelstein stormed UK campuses in the week to November 11, lecturing to packed auditoriums in London, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham on How to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict.
     His main message was that since Israeli settlement, occupation and denial of rights to Palestinian refugees are all acknowledged as illegal under international law, the campaign on these points is as good as won.
     He said that Tzipi Livni, when serving as Israel’s foreign minister, had declared: “I’m a lawyer – and I’m against the law, international law in particular.” She had good reason for saying that because under international law “Israel loses, on Jerusalem, on the West Bank and Gaza, on settlements and right of return for refugees,” said Finkelstein.
     The relevance of this to the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) was teased out in discussion between Finkelstein and Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, chair of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) on Friday afternoon, Nov 11, at UCL.
     Jonathan Rosenhead, BRICUP
     Rosenhead opened with a review of the history of boycott as a weapon available to the weak oppressed by the strong, as in Ireland in the 1880s and in South Africa in 1960s-90s.
     He said boycotts targeting Israel, begun in 2004, combine “symbolic protest, material intervention and political action.” The overall aim was ending the Israeli system of oppression, as called for by Palestinian civil society.
     Rosenhead said freedom of expression in academia was a vital principle, but it was not absolute and could conflict with a higher principle, such as freedom and self-determination for an oppressed people. -- See also: Source: Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods, J-BIG more.. e-mail

Palestinian Freedom Riders to Board Settler Buses to Jerusalem
Global BDS 14 Nov 2011 - Palestinian activists will attempt to peacefully board segregated Israeli public transportation in the occupied West Bank to travel to East Jerusalem in action reminiscent of the Civil Rights Movement’s Freedom Rides to the U.S. South When: Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. Where: Cultural Palace,...

Road to Damascus: Pro-Israel Groups Plot Intervention
Palestine Chronicle: 14 Nov 2011 - By Maidhc Ó Cathail On November 8, the Foreign Policy Initiative and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies jointly issued a discussion paper that outlines “policy options for the United States and like-minded nations to further assist the anti-regime Syrian opposition.” Entitled “Towards a Post-Assad Syria,” the paper advocates imposing “crippling sanctions” on the Assad government, providing assistance to Syrian opposition groups, and imposing no-fly/no-go zones in Syria. Founded in 2009, the Foreign Policy Initiative is the successor organisation to the Project for the New American Century, a neoconservative advocacy group that relentlessly pushed for war with Iraq from its inception in 1997. FPI’s board of directors consists of PNAC co-founders, Robert Kagan and William Kristol; Dan Senor, a former intern at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; and Eric Edelman, a Paul Wolfowitz protégé at the Pentagon who, thanks to support from Richard Perle, succeeded the scandal-ridden Undersecretary of...more

Campaigners push for Israeli products boycott
11/13/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Campaigners passed out leaflets and erected posters in central Bethlehem on Sunday in a new push to boycott Israeli products. The campaign, organizer by political party Palestinian National Initiative and the Bethlehem-based International Solidarity Initiative, urges residents to stop buying Israeli products available in the West Bank. The boycott seeks to....

Israel to pass over Palestinian funds held over UNESCO membership bid
Ha'aretz - Netanyahu, top ministers expected to approve the thawing of $100 million in Palestinian tax money; cabinet to formulate policy regarding sanctions against PA in case of future unilateral moves in the UN.

Top IDF officers urge Barak to fight religious discrimination of women
Ha'aretz - Appeal comes in response to a series of recent events, including the boycotting of military ceremonies by religious cadets due to women singing.

Kiryat Motzkin chief rabbi questioned on incitement
Jerusalem Post 13 Nov 2011 - Police question Rabbi David Meir Druckman on 2008 letter calling for boycott of Arab labor.

(en) Workers Solidarity* #123 - Greece bargin outlet - by Mario
A-infos 13 Nov 2011 - Don’t visit Greece this summer, boycott it. This is not an order by the invisible hand of the markets, but a mere suggestion from someone who was born in the so-called Greek territory. ---- Why travel to a country that treats its own citizens as an...

The Russell Tribunal On Palestine: Summary Of Findings
Global BDS 10 Nov 2011 - The Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) is an international citizen-based Tribunal of conscience created in response to the demands of civil society (NGOs, charities, unions, faith-based organisations) to educate public opinion and put pressure on decision makers. In view of the failure to implement the Advisory...

Erdogan: ’Why no UN sanctions for Israel?’
Eric Walberg, Al-Ahram Weekly 11/3/2011
      With the new campaign by Palestine to gain the world's official recognition 63 years after the fact, BDS activities in Europe and North America -- the main holdouts -- have gained new momentum.
     The Boycott, Divests and Sanctions (BDS) movement is growing relentless. On the boycott front, a Finnish campaign is under way to cancel a new deal to purchase Israeli drones. Like Canada, the US, Turkey and Russia, Finland has been attracted by Israeli know-how in lethal weapons. The Finnish Defence Ministry recently signed an agreement on drone purchases, in defiance of EU regulations. This prompted Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja to break ranks with his colleagues and declare, in reference to Israel, that "No apartheid state is justified or sustainable." Earlier while in opposition, Tuomioja himself signed a petition calling for an end to the arms trade with Israel. As foreign minister, Tuomioja could demand the suspension of EU-Israel Association Agreement, which gives Israel special trade access to EU markets, but on condition that Israel respects human rights.
     The EU's "common foreign policy" has been a bitter disappointment, especially with respect to Israel, as consensus prevents principled nations within the EU from acting, and attempts to enforce EU regulations are easily buried in bureaucratese. For instance, the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) provides research funds for universities and companies from Israel as a result of the Association Agreement. Despite Israel's consistent violation of the Agreement's human rights clause, Israeli companies such as Ahava, "academic" institutions such as Technion, and worse, Elbit Systems and Israeli Aerospace Industries receive European funding through FP7 on an equal footing with EU member states.
     EU Scientific Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn insisted that there was no reason to exclude Israel's Motorola company from EU-related activities since she did not have "any information about any radar systems Motorola Israel might or might not have installed in the West Bank".... more.. e-mail

Take Apartheid off the Menu! A European Day of Action Against Israeli Agricultural Produce Exporters – November 26, 2011
Global BDS 11 Nov 2011 - Occupied Palestine, 11 November 2011 - Export of Israeli agricultural produce is at the heart of Israel’s apartheid regime over the Palestinian people. It is an integral component of the ongoing process of colonisation and environmental destruction of Palestinian land, the theft of water, and the abuse...

Boycott campaign takes to streets of Jenin
11/10/2011 - JENIN (Ma'an) -- Students and volunteers on Sunday campaigned on the streets of Jenin to encourage residents to boycott Israeli products. Activists distributed flyers encouraging people not to buy Israeli produce as part of a nationwide campaign organized by the Palestinian National Initiative. Launched during the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, organizers say the campaign....

UN members split over Iran sanctions
YNet News, 10 Nov 2011 - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Thursday for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with Tehran in an apparent reaction to media speculation that Israel ... ....

Israel calls on world to stop Iranian nuclear work
11/9/2011 - JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel on Wednesday called on the international community to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons following a report by the UN nuclear watchdog that said Tehran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb." The significance of the report is that the international community must bring about the cessation of Iran'.... Related: Iranians fear sanctions, not war, after UN report

Iranians fear sanctions, not war, after UN report
11/9/2011 - TEHRAN (Reuters) -- When a huge thunder storm rattled windows across Tehran on Sunday night, some of the Iranian capital's jumpier residents awoke thinking Israel was finally making good on its threat to attack. Ahead of Tuesday's leak of the latest UN report on Iran's nuclear program, Israeli and western....

U.S. calls UN report on Iran nuclear program 'alarming,' vows further sanctions
Ha'aretz - Speaking in wake of damning IAEA report, State Department official says U.S. looking into 'additional ways to apply pressure on Iran'; France: Israel won't stand alone against nuclear Iran.

Russia says wont back new Iran sanctions over nuclear program
Ha'aretz - Iranian army general: Dimona nuclear site could be targeted in response if Israel attacks Iran.

Sarkozy: Israel has no better security partner than France
Jerusalem Post 9 Nov 2011 - French president responds positively to request by World Jewish Congress official to push for unprecedented sanctions against Iran.

Global week of action against Israel’s wall in the West Bank
Nora Barrows-Friedman, Electronic Intifada 11/9/2011
      Since the beginning stages of Israel’s implementation and continued construction of its illegal wall in the occupied West Bank nearly ten years ago — and compounded with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling in 2004 that the wall is in violation of several international laws — activists on the ground in Palestine and in numerous countries around the world have engaged in sustained and creative protest.
     The Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign/Stop the Wall (STW) has organized a global week of action against Israel’s wall and its policies of apartheid and settler-colonialism in Palestine, which begins today and runs through 16 November.
     Activist groups, boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) committees, student coalitions and grassroots organizations from 18 countries on five continents have signed on to officially participate in the global week of action.
     In Palestine, STW has organized three separate demonstrations in addition to the regular, weekly Friday actions against the wall in different villages.
     From their website:
     13 November: Demonstration in the southern West Bank village of Tarqumiya — The demonstration takes place to commemorate the massacre of the people of al Sammou, south of Hebron. Exactly 45 years ago, on November 13 1966 Israeli forces raided this village, destroyed 125 houses, the village clinic and school as well as 15 houses in a neighboring village. 18 people were killed and 54 wounded. more.. e-mail

Warmongers Eager for More Blood-letting
Palestine Chronicle: 8 Nov 2011 - By Stuart Littlewood You can read about it on a British government website. 'The UK and many other countries have serious concerns about the Iranian Government’s policies,' says the Foreign Office, 'its failure to address serious international concerns about its nuclear programme; its support for terrorism and promotion of instability in its region; and its continued denial of human rights...' I really thought they were talking about Israel and had got the names muddled up. But no... "On Iran’s nuclear programme, we are actively seeking a solution through diplomatic engagement and sanctions to encourage compliance by Iran with the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and six UN Security Council resolutions." Wow, does this means that Israel, which Iran is supposed to be threatening, is an innocent victim of Iranian aggression, is a menace to no-one, is suddenly co-operating with the IAEA and is now in full compliance...more

France FM: Israeli strike on Iran could cause irreparable damage
Ha'aretz - Alain Juppe says France would back further UN sanctions, but not military action, if IAEA report indicates Iran is building atomic weapons; China tells Iran to show 'flexibility and sincerity'.

Analysis: Last chance to stop Iran non-militarily
Jerusalem Post 8 Nov 2011 - IAEA report means Israel will likely move military strike to back burner, will instead focus on getting the world to impose sanctions on Iran.

IAEA report: sanctions likely as fear grows over Israeli action
The Guardian 8 Nov 2011 - US and Israel to call for tougher penalties after UN nuclear watchdog suspects Iran over nuclear weapons The US and Israel are expected to press for tougher sanctions against Tehran after a report by the UN's...

Israel poised to call for tougher sanctions against Iran
The Guardian 8 Nov 2011 - Netanyahu government to issue statement amid fears Israel could be preparing for attack on Iran's nuclear installations Israel is expected to call for increased sanctions against Tehran in response to an imminent report by the UN's...

'IAEA report on Iran will echo US concerns'
YNet News, 7 Nov 2011 - Israel expects the international community to impose "debilitating sanctions" on Iran following the findings presented by the IAEA in its new report on Tehran's nuclear ... ....

’Attack Iran’ and AIPAC’s infamous chutzpah
MJ Rosenberg, Al Jazeera 11/5/2011
      Lobbying for a US war with Iran, AIPAC is pushing a bill that would prohibit diplomacy between the two nations.
     Wasting no time after its success in getting the administration to oppose Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, and still celebrating the UNESCO funding cutoff, AIPAC has returned to its number one priority: Pushing for war with Iran.
     The Israelis have, of course, played their own part in the big show. In the past few weeks, Israel has been sending out signals that it is getting ready to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities (and embroil the United States in its most calamitous Middle East war yet).
     But most observers do not believe an Israeli attack is imminent. (If it were, would Israel telegraph it in advance?) The point of the Israeli threats is to get the United States and the world community to increase pressure on Iran with the justification that unless it does, Israel will attack.
     Naturally, the United States Congress, which gets its marching orders on Middle East policy from the lobby - which, in turn, gets its marching orders from Binyamin Netanyahu - is rushing to do what it is told. If only Congress addressed joblessness at home with the same alacrity.
     The House Foreign Affairs Committee hurriedly convened this week to consider a new "crippling sanctions" bill that seems less designed to deter an Iranian nuclear weapon than to lay the groundwork for war.
     The clearest evidence that war is the intention of the bill's supporters comes in Section 601: (c) RESTRICTION ON CONTACT - No person employed with the United States Government may contact in an official or unofficial capacity.... more.. e-mail

Will Israel strike Iran?
Alternative Information Center - Despite the objections of the Israeli military establishment, Israeli leaders are beating the war drums by calling for an attack on Iran. While their words might be intended to pressure the international community into sanctioning Iran,...

[uruknet.info] Will Israel Bomb Iran?
Uruknet November 3, 2011 - ... President Obama, while pushing to isolate Iran and impose even tougher sanctions, isn't likely to attack Iran. (That's not true for some of his Republican rivals in 2012.) In addition, since 2007, under both President Bush and President Obama, the Pentagon has delivered strong warnings to Israel not attack Iran under any circumstances, because...

Israel sanctions 107 States by punishing Palestinians
Voltaire Network 4 Nov 2011 - The Israeli cabinet announced the freezing of its annual contributions to the UNESCO budget, the temporary suspension of the reimbursement of customs duties and VAT levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports and airports, as well as the escalation of colonization...

US food co-op fights back against boycott opposition
Jerusalem Post 3 Nov 2011 - Olympia Food Co-op files motion to strike lawsuit brought against them by members who objected to decision to initiate boycott of Israeli goods.

[uruknet.info] BDS Update: 'Why No UN Sanctions for Israel?'
Uruknet November 2, 2011 - The Boycott, Divests and Sanctions (BDS) movement is growing relentless. On the boycott front, Natacha Atlas, who won a 2007 BBC Music award for her fusion of Arabic and Western styles, cancelled a planned concert in Israel: "I had an idea that performing in Israel would have been a unique opportunity to encourage and...

BDS update: Erdogan `Why no UN sanctions for Israel?’
Intifada-Palestine: 3 Nov 2011 -  by Eric Walberg With the new campaign by Palestine to gain the world’s official recognition 63 years after the fact, BDS activities in Europe and North America — the main holdouts — have gained new momentum. The Boycott, Divests and Sanctions (... more

Elisra and Elta lose Indian radar tender
Neged Neshek - Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary Elta Systems narrowly lost an Indian radar contract worth an estimated $186 million dollars. The loss of the contract is unfortunately not related to the boycott divestment sanctions movement. Where possible I will now post information about contracts not awarded to Israeli...

PLO to pursue statehood despite Israeli measures
11/2/2011 - RAMALLAH (Reuters) -- Israel's tough responses to a successful Palestinian bid to join UNESCO -- financial sanctions and a faster settlement drive in the occupied West Bank -- are unlikely to halt a quest for recognition as a state at the United Nations. A senior Palestinian official said Wednesday that Israel was trying to undermine the....

Olympia Food Coop Files Anti-SLAPP Motion Seeking Dismissal of Stand With Us BDS Lawsuit
Tikun Olam - Yesterday, the Olympia Food Coop finally announced its legal representation and strategy regarding the lawsuit filed against it by Stand With Us in collaboration with the State of Israel and its Pacific NW consul, Akiva Tor.  Though the suit argued that the organization violated its bylaws...

BDS Update: 'Why No UN Sanctions for Israel?'
Palestine Chronicle: 2 Nov 2011 - By Eric Walberg – Cairo The Boycott, Divests and Sanctions (BDS) movement is growing relentless. On the boycott front, Natacha Atlas, who won a 2007 BBC Music award for her fusion of Arabic and Western styles, cancelled a planned concert in Israel: “I had an idea that performing in Israel would have been a unique opportunity to encourage and support my fans’ opposition to the current government’s actions and policies, but after much deliberation I now see that it would be more effective a statement to not go to Israel until this systemised apartheid is abolished once and for all.” Atlas, who grew up in Belgium, is of Egyptian, Moroccan and Palestinian ancestry and has Jewish roots. She was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Conference Against Racism in 2001, which was boycotted by the United States and Israel, for raising issues about US treatment of African Americans...more

Turkish PM Erdogan: Why No UN Sanctions for Israel?
Dissident Voice: 2 Nov 2011 - The Boycott, Divests and Sanctions (BDS) movement is growing relentless. On the boycott front, Natacha Atlas, who won a 2007 BBC Music award for her fusion of Arabic and Western styles, cancelled a planned concert in Israel: “I had an idea that performing in Israel would have been a unique opportunity to encourage and support my fans’ opposition to the current government’s actions and policies, but after much deliberation I now see that it would be more effective a statement to not go to Israel until this systemised apartheid is abolished once and for all.” Atlas, who grew up in Belgium, is of Egyptian, Moroccan and Palestinian ancestry and has Jewish roots. She was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Conference Against Racism in 2001, which was boycotted by the United States and Israel, for raising issues about US treatment of African Americans and Israel’s treatment of Palestinians....more

Abbas aide: Israel isn't serious about peace
11/1/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) - Sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, which the Israeli government is said to be considering, would be a clear violation of international conventions and initiatives, a political adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday. Nimir Hammad says that as Israel is reported to be considering sanctions because Palestine won membership in UNESCO....

Israel to expedite settlement construction in response to Palestinian UNESCO membership
Ha'aretz - Netanyahu and top ministers decide to impose sanctions on Palestinian Authority after it was accepted to UN cultural body; Palestinians slam decision as 'destructive to peace process' and 'inhumane.'

BNC to participate in South Africa session of Russell Tribunal on Palestine
Global BDS 1 Nov 2011 - BDS National Committee to participate in South Africa session of Russell Tribunal on Palestine – Cape Town, 5-7 November 2011 Live webcast begins 8am local time Saturday 5 November : http :// www . russelltribunalonpalestine . com / en Representatives of the Palestinian BDS National Committtee (BNC), the broad Palestinian civil...

Following P.A Admission to UNESCO; Netanyahu’s Government To Discuss Sanctions
IMEMC - After the UNESCO voted Monday to allow Palestine to become a full member, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, decided to convene with his “cabinet of eight” on Tuesday to discuss a series of sanction against the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. ...

Israel to mull sanctions on Palestinian Authority following UNESCO vote
Ha'aretz - Netanyahu to convene meeting with senior ministers to discuss punitive measures against Palestinians after they were granted full membership from the UN cultural body.

Boycott,Divestment and Sanctions Victory: French Transportation Giant Alstom Loses $10 billion contract due to BDS pressure
Nora Barrows-friedman, Electronic Intifada, Intifada-Palestine 10/28/2011
      Israel’s illegal Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR) project explicitly aims to “Judaize Jerusalem,” according to official Israeli statements.
     After several years’ worth of pressure by boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activists worldwide, French transportation multinational Alstom has officially lost a significant contract bid with the Saudi Haramain Railway Project in Saudi Arabia. Alstom and Veolia, another French urban systems corporation, are involved with the illegal Jerusalem Light Rail project that links West Jerusalem with settlement colonies in the occupied West Bank, and boycott activists have been campaigning heavily across Europe and in Saudi Arabia to encourage governments to cut contracts with Alstom and Veolia, and award bids to other companies.
     This comes on the heels of Veolia’s loss of more than $10 billion due to severed contracts in Europe, after BDS activists launched strategic campaigns targeting local governments who contracted with the corporation.
     The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) released a press statement today on the BDS victory:
     The BDS National Committee (BNC) has declared a long sought-after victory as Alstom lost the bid for the second phase of the Saudi Haramain Railway project, worth $10 billion US dollars, after pressure from the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, including effective campaigning from the newly launched KARAMA, a European campaign to Keep Alstom Rail And Metro Away. more.. e-mail

[uruknet.info] BDS Victory: Alstom loses Saudi Haramain Railway contract worth $10B
Uruknet October 27, 2011 - The BDS National Committee (BNC) has declared a long sought-after victory as Alstom lost the bid for the second phase of the Saudi Haramain Railway project, worth $10 billion US dollars, after pressure from the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, including effective campaigning from the newly launched KARAMA, a European campaign to...

Boycott,Divestment and Sanctions Victory: French Transportation Giant Alstom Loses $10 billion contract due to BDS pressure
Intifada-Palestine: 28 Oct 2011 - Electronic Intifada Wissam Nassar / Maan Images by Nora Barrows-Friedman After several years’ worth of pressure by boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activists worldwide, French transportation multinational Alstom has officially lost a significant contract bid with the Saudi Haramain Railway Project in... more

BDS claims victory after Alstom project derails
10/27/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement has declared victory against the Alstom group after it lost a nearly $10-billion bid for part of a railway project in Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, authorities announced that several Spanish companies beat the French rival to the contract, which will build a high-speed railway....

Exclusive: US media moguls fight boycott of Israel
Jerusalem Post 27 Oct 2011 - Creative Community For Peace to use personal touch to counteract campaigns that pressure artists to cancel appearances here.

BDS Victory: Alstom loses Saudi Haramain Railway contract worth $10B
Global BDS 27 Oct 2011 - The BDS National Committee (BNC) has declared a long sought-after victory as Alstom lost the bid for the second phase of the Saudi Haramain Railway project, worth $10 billion US dollars, after pressure from the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, including effective campaigning from...

Cambridge University students vote to break contract with Veolia
Global BDS 26 Oct 2011 - 58% of students vote to break contract with company implicated in Israeli human rights abuses Students at Cambridge University in the UK have voted to call on the University to cut ties with a company implicated in Israeli human rights abuses. The vote calls on CUSU (...

Boycott Israel group seeks help after businessman sues for concert losses
Daily Star 25 Oct 2011 A group that is being sued by Lebanese businessman Jihad Murr for holding a boycott in 2010 against a concert he organized called Tuesday for Arab civil society organizations to pressure him to drop the lawsuits.

UAE court verdict on rights activists next month
Daily Star 23 Oct 2011 An Emirati court said Sunday that it will next month issue its verdict in the trial of five activists accused of insulting top officials as the defendants continue to boycott the hearings.

An open letter from Palestinian students to their peers in Europe
10/22/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 21 October 2011, Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel, Gaza - We Palestinian students of the Gaza Strip wish to send a message to all European student groups in solidarity with the Palestinians to do all they can to increase Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel this academic year. We also reiterate....

The first national SJP conference adopts BDS principles as point of unity
Global BDS 21 Oct 2011 - Israel was being discussed as a settler-colonial project in one classroom, while in another a workshop about the Arab uprisings and Palestine took place. In the hallways of New York’s Columbia University, activists huddled together and talked about recent travels or the Palestinian Authority ’s role...

An Open Letter from Palestinian Students to Their Peers in Europe
Global BDS 21 Oct 2011 - An Open Letter from Palestinian Students to Their Peers in Europe: “Time Now to Boycott Israeli Apartheid on University Campuses” Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine 21.10.2011 We Palestinian students of the Gaza Strip wish to send a message to all European student groups in solidarity with the...

Doubts Shadow Egyptian Election
IPS Egypt's interim government has begun accepting candidacy applications for parliamentary polls slated to begin Nov. 21. But as the country prepares for its first post-Mubarak elections, a number of political parties say they are considering boycotting the contest.

Gary Ackerman blasts NYU divestment campaign, NYU students and faculty blast back
Mondoweiss - Gary Ackerman, the top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, has issued a statement attacking an effort by New York University students and faculty to divest from TIAA-CREF over its investments in companies benefiting from the Israeli occupation. An open...

Cambridge students to begin vote on company with Israeli settlement ties
Global BDS 19 Oct 2011 - Students at Cambridge will start voting Friday in a referendum calling on the University to cut ties with a company implicated in Israeli human rights abuses. The referendum, scheduled for 21-24 October, calls on CUSU (Cambridge University Students Union) to campaign to have the University cut...

UZBEKISTAN: Forced Child Labour Kills
IPS A 13-year-old boy has become the latest victim of state-sponsored forced child labour in Uzbekistan as its regime continues to ignore boycotts and international condemnation of its practices during the country's annual cotton harvest.

Don’t Collaborate with Apartheid – a call from Palestinian civil society on European universities, academics, students and people of conscience
Global BDS 19 Oct 2011 - The State of Israel practises a system of occupation, colonialism and apartheid over the Palestinian people, but it does not do so unaided. Israeli military companies are the main enablers of Israel’s persistent and grave violations of international law. They provide the weaponry and technology that allow...

Yall Peace: Getting mad at the wrong people
Jerusalem Post 18 Oct 2011 - My advice to Mr. Areikat is to drop the ATFP boycott and instead confront the fanatics who hold the Palestinian leadership hostage.

Israeli High Court allows prisoner swap to go ahead; prisoners hunger strike suspended
Mondoweiss - High Court sanctions Shalit deal Ynet 17 Oct 23:01 -- The High Court of Justice rejected the petitions filed by four bereaved families against the Shalit deal, saying that it saw no room to intervene in the government's decision.  The petitions were filed as part of...

Opened in São Paulo the Brazilian movement for BDS against Israel
Global BDS 13 Oct 2011 - Answering a call of the Palestinian civil society, the Front in Defense of the Palestinian People of São Paulo and the Palestinian Front in the University of São Paulo celebrated  in September 20, at the Students Hall in the Law School of University of São Paulo,...

RED CARD UEFA CAMPAIGN ENTERS NEW PHASE
Global BDS 13 Oct 2011 - The Red Card Israeli Apartheid campaign is launching a new phase of its activities aimed at persuading UEFA, football’s European governing body, not to grant Israel the privilege of hosting the Under-21 competition in 2013. Following publication in the Guardian newspaper of the letter below, signed...

Occupy Wall Street not Palestine!
10/14/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 13 October 2011, Palestinian BDS National Committee - Occupy Wall Street not Palestine!  We are part of the world's 99% yearning for freedom, justice and equal rights! "If a people one day wills to live fate must answer its call. And the night must fade and the chain must break" - Abou-Al-kacem El-Chebbi (Tunisia) - The.... Related: Palestinian BDS National Committee

[uruknet.info] Occupy Wall Street not Palestine!
Uruknet October 14, 2011 - The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition struggling for Palestinian rights, is proud to stand in solidarity with the movements struggling for a new world based on democracy, human rights and economic justice. From New York to Athens, from Madrid to Santiago, from Bahrain to Rome,...

Boycott update: Champion fencer Sara Besbes stands down rather than plays Israeli
Mondoweiss - Sara Besbes, a Tunisian champion fencer, boycotted a competition in Italy rather than fence Israeli Noam Mills. Besbes , who comes from a family of great fame in fencing, reached the final round where she had to play against an Israeli player. However, she stood still on...

Supporters around the world are fasting today in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike
Mondoweiss - I've been fasting since yesterday. The following text from the BDS National Committee explains why. I'm hungry for justice in Palestine. The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) supports the legitimate demands of Palestinian political prisoners in their open-ended hunger strike, and calls for...

Turkey's double-faced policy
Voltaire Network 11 Oct 2011 - As he warned that Israel “is a nuclear threat” in the Middle East, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that despite the UN failure to adopt anti-Syria resolution, Turkey would impose its own sanctions. During a trip to South Africa, Erdogan said Israel...

BNC supports palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike, and calls for intensifying BDS
Global BDS 11 Oct 2011 - The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) supports the legitimate demands of Palestinian political prisoners in their open-ended hunger strike, and calls for stepping up the global BDS campaign to end Israeli impunity Occupied Palestine 11-10-2011 For the fifteenth day in a row, our...

JTA: BDS backer bumped from Heroes contest
Jewish Voice for Peace -

A Presbyterian take on divestment from the Israeli occupation
Mondoweiss - "What does the Lord require of you? To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8) This is what inspires the work of the PC (U.S.A.)’s investment policy committee, Mission Responsibility Through Investing (MRTI). MRTI’s record in its mission has...

Palestine: Justice First, Negotiations Later
Palestine Chronicle: 10 Oct 2011 - By Stuart Littlewood Law, justice, liberty and human rights, we were taught, are non-negotiable. Perhaps Obama, La Clinton, Cameron and Hague missed that important part of their education. Restore the Palestinians’ lands, homes and resources, as required by law, by convention and by numerous United Nations resolutions, then see what's left to negotiate. That is the route to peace. If Israel digs its heels in, the UN knows what to do. It must resort to sanctions, obviously, like it does against any other delinquent nation. This will be a simple test of the great organisation’s high-minded principles, and for its not-so-high-minded members. If it cannot rise to the moral challenge it doesn’t deserve to survive. And the world is doomed. The Palestinians may not wish to swap bits of land. If they do, they should not have to bargain with a gun to their head or a military jackboot on...more

Analysis: Egypt’s floundering revolution
Jerusalem Post 9 Oct 2011 - The Muslim Brotherhood and the liberal Wafd party say they will boycott the November 28 election unless emergency laws are repealed.

[uruknet.info] Sleep easy, war criminals
Uruknet October 8, 2011 - Israel has violated innumerable UN resolutions and international laws over the past 50 years without any sanction being incurred - whether legal, economic, political or military. Most blatant is its disregard for the overwhelming opinion of the international court of justice in The Hague, which in 2004 declared the erection of a wall through...

“Land Grab” – a new documentary by PSP
Palestine Solidarity Project 9 Oct 2011 - Do you know where the food you buy come from? Do you know what to answer when people ask you why you boycott Israeli goods? Watch PSP`s new short documentray about Israeli Occupation, lack of water and a new apartheid road . Watch and read more about...

This Occupation is Brought to You by A Pattern of Racial Bigotry
Sabbah report 9 Oct 2011 - The decision makers in these US institutions have been manipulated into sanctioning the racial bigotry that has allowed the Zionist leaders of the state of Israel to corrupt American foreign policy.

Egypt military gives in to parties, amends election law
10/8/2011 - CAIRO (AFP) -- Egypt's military amended a controversial election law on Saturday to allow parties to contest a third of the seats in parliament reserved for independents after a boycott threat, state media reported. The military decree is a concession to the parties, which also insist on a law banning corrupt politicians from running....

European rights group accuses Alstom of ‘direct involvement’ in Judaizing J’lem
PIC - A European rights group has called on Saudi Arabia to boycott French transportation giant Alstom, saying the company “clearly defied international law” by participating in the Jerusalem Light Rail.

Abbas battling on many fronts
Saleh Al-Naami, Al-Ahram Weekly 10/6/2011
      The Palestinian president is caught between the anvil of domestic public opinion and the hammer of US economic sanctions as the UN bid for recognition proceeds.
     Omar did not expect his family to be so distraught and despondent when he came home Friday to his home in the town of Al-Khedr on the outskirts of Bethlehem. His father's health took a sharp blow after occupation forces seized large sections of family land to expand the Jewish settlement of Nogdeem, where Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman lives. Omar, a university student and an activist in Al-Shebiba movement, the on-campus student arm of Fatah, was one of thousands of Palestinians who welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas upon his return from New York, in an expression of support of what he said in his speech to the UN General Assembly.
     Omar, whose family is in shock, believes that Abbas should now insist on refusing to return to the negotiating table if Israel does not freeze settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Also, that he should reject the suggestion by the Quartet to resume talks with Israel. Omar's position represents a majority of Palestinians who believe that Abbas's address at the UN signaled the end of negotiations with Israel if Tel Aviv does not commit to freezing settlements. This is something that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has finally realised.
     Complicating matters further for the PA is the fact that the Israeli government announced at the end of last week a plan to build 1,100 new residential units in the settlement of Gilo in occupied Jerusalem. Yasser Abed Rabbo, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said that it was impossible to combine settlements on Palestinian land and continuing negotiations with Israel. more.. e-mail

Sleep easy, war criminals | Michael Mansfield
The Guardian 7 Oct 2011 - Britain's insulting new rules on arrest warrants will only encourage Israel's view of itself as above international law Israel has violated innumerable UN resolutions and international laws over the past 50 years without any sanction being...

Boycotting Israel – a crime against humanity
Jerusalem Post 5 Oct 2011 - The gap between vibrant, researching, developing and contributing Israel and the country portrayed in the media and in academic papers is vast.

[uruknet.info] US academic and cultural BDS campaign condemns convictions of Irvine 11
Uruknet October 4, 2011 - The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) released a press statement on 3 October condemning the recent convictions of the Irvine 11. They are urging scholars and academic institutions nationwide to admonish the guilty charges and stand in solidarity with the Irvine 11 students, who were convicted on 23...

[uruknet.info] Ismael Mohamad / United Press International US academic and cultural BDS campaign condemns convictions of Irvine 11
Uruknet October 4, 2011 - The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) released a press statement on 3 October condemning the recent convictions of the Irvine 11. They are urging scholars and academic institutions nationwide to admonish the guilty charges and stand in solidarity with the Irvine 11 students, who were convicted on 23...

Palestinian protesters accost U.S. diplomats during West Bank visit
Ha'aretz - Following Congress cut of PA aid funds, Palestinian protesters urge boycott of U.S. products, saying Washington 'cannot blackmail us with your money.'

Emboldened by key victory, Israeli social activists move to expand consumer boycotts
Ha'aretz - Itzik Alrov, who started the cottage cheese boycott campaign, a few months ago, joined other social activists in a visit to Strauss headquarters on Tuesday.

Egypt parties retract boycott threat after army concessions
10/3/2011 - CAIRO (Reuters) -- Egyptian political parties accepted on Sunday concessions on election rules offered by the military, pulling back from threats to boycott Egypt's first multi-candidate vote since former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted. The parties, seeking to keep past allies of Mubarak out of parliament, had threatened to boycott the polls unless the....

UAE activists boycott 'unfair' trial
AlJazeera 3 Oct 2011 - Anti-government campaigners petition the UN to try their president at the International Criminal Court.

Muslim Brotherhood threatens to boycott Jordan elections
The National 3 Oct 2011 - The Muslim Brotherhood wants the Jordanian government to fulfil its pledge that cabinet members will be elected by parliament and no longer be appointed by the king, and greater powers given to parliament.

Israeli dairy giant Tnuva lowers prices after chairwoman resigns
Ha'aretz - Tnuva, which suffered prolonged boycotts leading to Israel's massive social protests, calls on marketing chains to do their part to lower prices.

Low turnout in round two of Bahrain vote
Daily Star 2 Oct 2011 Voters turned out in low numbers for a second round of by-elections in Bahrain Saturday boycotted by the Gulf state's Shiite opposition, witnesses said.

Egypt military rulers agree to amend election law
10/1/2011 - CAIRO (AFP) -- Egypt's military rulers agreed on Saturday to amend a controversial electoral law following threats of a poll boycott by dozens of political parties and a rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square for reforms. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took power when President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in....

Muslim Brotherhood-led bloc threatens Egypt vote boycott
Daily Star 29 Sep 2011 The credibility of Egypt’s first elections since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak was thrown into question Thursday after a coalition led by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood threatened a boycott.

Egypt parties threaten poll boycott, protest planned
Daily Star 29 Sep 2011 Political parties from across Egypt's political spectrum threatened to boycott elections scheduled to start in November unless the country's military rulers amend the election law.

Egypt political parties threaten poll boycott
AlJazeera 29 Sep 2011 - Bloc led by Muslim Brotherhood demands changes to election rules, as trials of former NDP officials continue.

Parties threaten Egyptian election boycott over 'reserved seats' for independents
The National 29 Sep 2011 - Democratic Coalition of two dozen groups including Islamist Muslim Brotherhood said its members would not stand in November¿s elections if an article in the new electoral law reserving a third of the seats in parliament for independent candidates was not amended.

Egyptian parties threaten boycott of November elections
Daily Star 29 Sep 2011 Political parties from across Egypt’s political spectrum threatened to boycott elections scheduled to start in November unless the country’s military rulers amend the election law.

Egypt: Muslim Brothers, others threaten election boycott
Jerusalem Post 28 Sep 2011 - Group of 60 political parties demands military rulers enact law effectively preventing many Mubarak supporters from running for office.

Kurdish lawmakers end 4-month boycott of Turkish parliament
Daily Star 28 Sep 2011 A pro-Kurdish party Wednesday said it is ending its four-month-old boycott of Turkey’s parliament, despite growing tensions over a rise in attacks by separatist rebels.

Egypt bloc in poll boycott threat
BBC 28 Sep 2011 - Political parties in Egypt threaten to boycott planned parliamentary elections unless the country's military rulers alter an election law.

Abbas’s choice
Graham Usher, Al-Ahram Weekly 9/22/2011
      The decision to take Palestine to the United Nations Security Council may be the start of a new Palestinian strategy.
     This Friday -- barring something extraordinary -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will submit an application to the United Nations Security Council for Palestine to become the 194th member state of the world body. "We have only one choice," he said en route to New York: "Going to the Security Council".
     The choice will fail. The Obama administration has vowed to veto the bid in the name of an imaginary "peace process", or bribe, bully and cajole enough council members to vote against or abstain and so make an American veto redundant.
     But either move would still be catastrophic for America's already tarnished stature in the region: not only would the US president be vetoing his own policy (last year he waxed lyrically about "a new member of the UN -- an independent sovereign state of Palestine"); he would be defending Israel's occupation and denying Palestinians their most basic national rights at the very moment when the Middle East has seen its peoples cast aside dictators in the name of freedom.
     Every Western capital knows the price Washington will pay for again shielding Israel from the consequences of its actions: embassies in Cairo and Tunisia have been stormed for less. Saudi Arabia's former ambassador to the US Turki Al-Faisal last week warned that if Washington vetoes a Palestinian state, it would lose Saudi Arabia, its oldest and closest Arab ally.
     The choice is even more remarkable because Abbas is the Palestinian leader most associated with Oslo: a US controlled model of negotiations that granted him and the elite around him the trappings of statehood while allowing Israel, shielded by the US from any legal sanction, to triple the number of its settlers in the occupied territories to a cool 600,000. more.. e-mail

Erdogan: UN sanctions on Israel could aid Mideast peace process
Ha'aretz - In interview with TIME, Turkish Prime Minister says sanctions are promoted when dealing with Iran and Sudan, but taboo with regards to Israel.

Erdogan warns Iran against helping Assad
Jerusalem Post 27 Sep 2011 - Turkish leader questions why UN sanctions targeted Islamic Republic instead of Israel, chastises Tehran for supporting Syria crackdown.

Erdogan urges UN sanctions on Israel
YNet News, 27 Sep 2011 - In interview with Time magazine Turkish PM says Israeli-Palestinian conflict....

Palestinians stepping up anti-Israel boycott
YNet News, 27 Sep 2011 - Fatah official says Palestinians planning to boycott all Israeli products, not....

UN debates Palestine statehood bid
AlJazeera 26 Sep 2011 - Nine parliamentary seats to go to polls again on October 1 after Shia boycott led to low voter turnout on Saturday.

Israel threatens 'repercussions' if Palestine statehood bid succeeds
The National 25 Sep 2011 - Steep financial sanctions by Israelis against Palestinian Authority possible as right-wing foreign minister issues warning over UN request for statehood.

Bahraini court jails Shiite activists
9/25/2011 - DUBAI (AFP) -- A Bahraini special court jailed Sunday the head of the teachers' union for 10 years and his deputy for three, among other Shiites over their role in anti-regime protests, BNA state news agency said. The verdicts came a day after the kingdom held by-elections boycotted by the Shiite-led opposition to replace 18....

Bahrain’s majority Shiite voters boycott by-elections
Daily Star 25 Sep 2011 Fewer than one in five voters cast ballots in Bahraini by-elections over the weekend, a government website showed, after the Shiite majority in the Gulf Arab state boycotted the polls following the crushing of a protest...

Bahrainis boycott by-elections
9/24/2011 - DUBAI (AFP) -- Bahraini by-elections boycotted by the Shiite opposition after it walked out of parliament over violence against pro-democracy activists registered a poor turnout on Saturday, witnesses said. Only a dozen people were present on Saturday morning when the polling station opened in the fifth northern district, near the Shiite village of Saar outside Manama....

Shia opposition boycotts Bahrain by-elections
AlJazeera 24 Sep 2011 - Main opposition boycotts poll held to fill seats vacated by its members during a crackdown on pro-reform protests., Military rival accuses Saleh of "driving the country into civil war" as protest camp in Sanaa draws sustained fire.

BAHRAIN: Elections Will Test Shia Resolve
IPS Bahrain's by-elections on Saturday are a test of will to see if majority Shias will turn out to vote in areas where they are dominant or heed a boycott call by the powerful opposition Al-Wefaq (National Islamic Society) party.

Heavy security in Bahrain for Parliament elections
Daily Star 24 Sep 2011 Bahraini police set up checkpoints and patrolled key roads Saturday in a massive show of force during highly charged parliamentary elections that Shiite-led opposition groups have vowed to boycott.

Bahrain Protesters and Police Clash During Election
New York Times 24 Sep 2011 - Police and hundreds of protesters clashed during parliamentary elections, which the opposition boycotted.

Israel Labor Court rules train workers' strike illegal
Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv District Labor Court rules sanctions imposed by Israel Railway workers following breakdown of talks with management are illegal; delays continue in 78% of train services.

[uruknet.info] BDS Update: Buttressing an Independent Palestine
Uruknet September 22, 2011 - A new Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) campaign was launched this summer by the United Church of Canada, which will try to persuade six companies operating in Canada - Caterpillar, Motorola, Ahava, Veolia, Elbit Systems and Chapters/Indigo - to stop supporting the Israeli occupation. "The Campaign follows similar campaigns launched some time ago by...

BDS Update: Buttressing an Independent Palestine
Palestine Chronicle: 22 Sep 2011 - By Eric Walberg A new Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) campaign was launched this summer by the United Church of Canada, which will try to persuade six companies operating in Canada — Caterpillar, Motorola, Ahava, Veolia, Elbit Systems and Chapters/Indigo — to stop supporting the Israeli occupation. “The Campaign follows similar campaigns launched some time ago by the US Presbyterian Church and the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church. We have launched ‘Occupied with Peace’ after almost two years of discernment and information gathering,” says spokesperson Jean Lee. The UK’s Trades Union Congress voted to reconsider its ties with Israel’s national trade union federation Histadrut, reaffirming its policy to encourage affiliates, employers and pension funds to disinvest from, and boycott the goods of companies who profit from illegal settlements, the Occupation and the construction of the Wall. In a most unusual boycott move, on 1 September, London cultural...more

Train service disrupted across Israel following workers' sanctions
Ha'aretz - Israel Railways says company will turn to labor courts after talks with rail workers' union break down; workers protesting plans to outsource maintenance on new trains

Durban III opens amid boycott by major democracies
Jerusalem Post 22 Sep 2011 - Controversial UN anti-racism event missing key European nations, US, Australia; Ban Ki-moon condemns use of platform for anti-Semitism.

BDS protests compels closure of Israeli retailer in London
PIC - The boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign (BDS) effectively closed down Israeli beauty product supplier Ahava in London after two years of bi-weekly protests.

Youth group protesters block traffic in Manama
The National 21 Sep 2011 - Protesters managed to force traffic to a slow crawl on main roads leading to central Manama as part of a call for political reforms, a constitutional monarchy and a boycott of by-elections.

After TheMarker revealed gouging in periphery: Tens of thousands threaten to boycott Super-Sol, Mega
Ha'aretz - Super-Sol Deal's prices were 30% higher in Sderot than Jerusalem, and were also 30% more in Dimona and Nes Tziona than in Ramat Gan.

Israeli Foreign Ministry Sponsoring U.S. BDS Lawsuits
Tikun Olam - Electronic Intifada and I have been reporting on the Olympia Food Coop BDS lawsuit brought by five members who claim the business violated its procedures by approving a boycott on nine Israeli products in its stores.  Up till now, we knew that Stand With Us and...

Ban on women taking part in Saudi elections brings call for a boycott
The National 19 Sep 2011 - More than 60 Saudi intellectuals and activists have called for a boycott of Saudi Arabia's upcoming municipal elections after women were banned from participating.

Deputy FM Ayalon warns Palestinians of Israeli sanctions
Ha'aretz - "Future assistance and cooperation could be severely and irreparably compromised," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told the Palestinian Donors Conference

Suspension of orchestra members could set dangerous precedent
The Guardian 18 Sep 2011 - Whatever one feels about cultural boycotts (I am almost always opposed), it was astonishing to read ( Report , 17 September) that the LPO has suspended four musicians for signing a letter to the press that urged a...

BDS and the Nature of the Future Israeli State
Tikun Olam - Does BDS mean Israel's destruction? There are two groups who see the goal of the BDS movement as the destruction of Israel: anti-Zionists and right-wing Israelis.  That ideological dichotomy is remarkable and indicates that while one group opposes and another supports BDS, they both agree it...

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann changes her mind on the boycott
Mondoweiss - On the eve of a significant Open Jewish Conversation about Cultural Boycott of Israel reported here last month Stolen Beauty has published a letter from highly regarded Rabbi Ellen Lippmann, founder of the the Progressive Jewish congregation Kolot Chayeinu in Park Slope , which is hosting the...

Israel, Turkey and the Palmer Report
Graham Usher, CounterPunch 9/12/2011
      Failure All Around
     On 2 September Turkey expelled its Israeli ambassador as a first response to Israel’s refusal to apologise for the killing last year of nine Turkish activists by Israeli commandos on a ship trying to breach its naval blockade on Gaza.
     The sanction followed the premature publication by the New York Times of an oft-postponed United Nations report into the raid, the so-called Palmer Report, named after its head, ex-New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer. It had been set up to mend the rift between the erstwhile allies. Its leak served only to tear them apart.
     The Palmer Report contained few surprises. It called the commandos’ action on the Turkish ship “excessive and unreasonable”, condemned the loss of life as “unacceptable” and found Israel’s treatment of passengers on the ship “abusive”.
     But, critically, it said Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza was a “legitimate security measure" to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with international law”, a conclusion at odds with a 2010 fact-finding mission by the UN Human Rights Council which found both raid and blockade illegal under international law.
     Both Israel and Turkey had issues with Palmer. But it was clear which side felt exonerated. Palmer’s judgement on the legality of the blockade proved “Israel has a right to defend itself,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told his cabinet on 4 September. Turkish President Abdullah Gul shrugged. “The report is null and void for us,” he said. more.. e-mail

TUC Votes For Palestine And Review Links With Organisations Complicit With Israel's Occupation
IMEMC - Thursday September 15, 2011 - 00:58, The Trades Union Congress, representing 6.5 million workers in the UK, voted overwhelmingly today (14 September 2011) to deplore the 'anti-democratic law' passed by the Israeli Knesset banning individuals and organisations in Israel from calling for the boycott of Israel.

Tnuva fights back with discounts as boycott starts to hurt
Ha'aretz -

Congressman raps Saudis for anti-Israel boycott
Jerusalem Post 14 Sep 2011 - “This new information about Saudi Arabia’s ongoing disregard of their commitments is deeply disturbing,” Joseph Crowley tells 'Post.'

U.S. drops Israel's Ofer Brothers company from Iran sanctions list
Ha'aretz - Move comes as Yuli Ofer, Israel's richest man, is laid to rest; company was cleared of selling Iran a tanker for millions of dollars.

Tnuva boycott making its mark as dairy's sales drop
Ha'aretz - The boycott against Israel's largest dairy, motivated by skyrocketing prices, is being sponsored by 14 student unions and is scheduled to last a week, from last night through next Monday.

US lifts sanctions on Ofer group for Iran trade
Jerusalem Post 13 Sep 2011 - Israeli conglomerate had been blacklisted for deal which provided Tehran with oil tanker. The group had claimed ignorance of Iran's involvement.

Australian parliament debate erupts over BDS
YNet News, 13 Sep 2011 - The Australian parliament was up in arms on Tuesday with one of the most heated debates it has witnessed as senators wrangled over their support and opposition to the ... ....

US lifts sanctions on Ofer brothers' firm in Iran sale
YNet News, 13 Sep 2011 - The United States is lifting sanctions it slapped on an Israeli holding company accused of selling an oil tanker to Iran, Israel's mortal enemy and the object of ... ....

Presbyterian Church committee recommends church divest from Caterpillar, HP and Motorola over Israeli human rights abuses
Mondoweiss - The Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment has recommended that the church divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions due to their relationship to Israeli human rights abuses in the occupied territories. This decision comes as the result of a corporate engagement process...

Dairy giant Tnuva subject of nationwide boycott
Jerusalem Post 12 Sep 2011 - University student unions call on consumers not to buy company products until Rosh Hashana.

Lawsuit aims to punish Olympia Food Co-op for boycott of Israeli goods
Sabbah report 10 Sep 2011 - Olympia Food Co-op: We can assure you that this lawsuit will not diminish our commitment to the rule of law and universal human rights for all people.

Israeli Consul, StandWithUs Engage in Lawfare Against Olympia Food Coop
Tikun Olam - Akiva Tor: Israeli Pacific NW consul harrasses U.S. businesses supporting BDS The eavesdropping transcripts Shamai Leibowitz leaked in 2009 contained information about covert Israeli penetration of the American political environment. If I had transcripts of current Israeli diplomatic traffic now, I’d be hearing conversations concerning the...

Lawsuit aims to punish Olympia Food Co-op for boycott of Israeli goods
WAFA

Why it is important for Jews to discuss the cultural boycott of Israel
Mondoweiss - A Jewish journalist recently asked me whether having a panel of Jews about the cultural boycott of Israel ( see flyer below ) privileges Jewish voices over those of Palestinians. This is a serious question deserving of serious consideration. Of course we always have to be thinking about...

Sacramento food co-op becomes battleground over Israeli products
LA Times 8 Sep 2011 - Some members seeking a boycott over treatment of Palestinians sought a referendum on the issue. When the board refused, the group launched a bid for some board seats and a political campaign ensued. Reporting from Sacramento -- Its aisles brimming with a rainbow of ripe...

Students demand Tnuva reduce prices by 30%
Ha'aretz - By dint of threatening a boycott, the students of Tel Aviv University persuaded Israel's biggest retail chain, Super-Sol, to lower prices of some staples.

Arab League Calls For Serious Boycott Of Israel
IMEMC - Wednesday September 07, 2011 - 08:10, The Arab League called on Wednesday for instating a comprehensive and serious popular and official boycott of Israel due to its ongoing violations, and stances that obstruct peace talks.

PM lauds navy's Gaza blockade; no apology to Turks
Jerusalem Post 7 Sep 2011 - Netanyahu's comments come after Erdogan shrugs off economic cost of sanctions against Israel: "Turkish pride won’t be trampled."

Arab League hosts first 'boycott Israel' meeting in 10 years
Middle East Monitor 7 Sep 2011 - Liaison officials for regional boycott Israel offices have convened their first meeting in over ten years at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo despite the League holding session in Damascus twice annually.   This is the first time the Arab League has hosted such a meeting...

Group: UN report on Gaza Freedom Flotilla 'biased'; Israel must be sanctioned
6 Sep 2011 - Gaza, (Pal Telegraph) - Governments around the world should respond to the new UN report calling the blockade of the Gaza Strip “legal and appropriate” by following Turkey’s lead and imposing sanctions on the state of Israel, says the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza (ECESG).

Turkey clarifies: Trade sanctions against Israel include only defense industry
Ha'aretz - Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, aide to Turkey PM Erdogan clarifies earlier remarks by the Turkish premier, according to which all trade with Israel would be suspended.

Erdogan: Turkey suspends all defense ties with Israel
Jerusalem Post 6 Sep 2011 - Clarifies private trade will continue; says he may visit Gaza, warns of more sanctions and vows more navy presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Erdogan: Turkey to enforce more sanctions against Israel
Jerusalem Post 6 Sep 2011 - Turkish PM says he may visit Gaza but will make decision after talks with Egypt; vows Turkish ships will be seen more in Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey suspends military ties with Israel
The Guardian 6 Sep 2011 - Turkish prime minister warns further sanctions likely after Israel refuses to apologise for 2010's deadly raid on aid flotilla Turkey has pursued its diplomatic offensive against Israel by confirming it is suspending defence industry contracts and...

[uruknet.info] Turkey warns of more sanctions against Israel
Uruknet September 6, 2011 - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said today his nation's navy will step up its surveillance of the eastern Mediterranean Sea since Israel has refused to apologise for last year's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound protest flotilla there. Erdogan also said his government may impose more sanctions against Israel since it has refused...

[uruknet.info] Uncovered: Israel's role in planned US lawsuit to fight BDS
Uruknet September 6, 2011 - A group of pro-Israel activists, backed by StandWithUs, a national US pro-Israel US organization is planning to take legal action to force the Olympia Food Co-op to rescind its historic decision to boycott Israeli products. The Electronic Intifada has obtained a copy of a 31 May 2011 letter sent to the Board of Directors...

Boycott Israel conference held at AL headquarters for first time in a decade
PIC - The Arab League’s Office for the Boycott of Israel is holding its 86th conference at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo for the first time in ten years.

Turkey vows new Israel sanctions
BBC 6 Sep 2011 - Turkey says it is 'totally suspending' all defence ties with Israel after its refusal to apologise for last year's deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.

Uncovered: Israel's role in planned US lawsuit to fight BDS
Electronic Intifada: 6 Sep 2011 - Ali Abunimah The Electronic Intifada An exclusive investigation finds that pro-Israel activists, backed by an Islamophobic pro-Israel group and with the knowledge of the Israeli government is planning to take legal action to force the Olympia Food Co-op to rescind its historic decision to boycott Israeli products.more

Divesting from Israel's Occupation
Palestine Chronicle: 6 Sep 2011 - By Ida Audeh – Boulder, Colorado In September, the University of Colorado Board of Regents will be presented with a petition urging it to remove from the university's stock portfolio all companies that profit from Israel's occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. Launched by CU-Divest and signed by nearly 2,000 students and human rights activists, the petition states that the university's $1.7 billion investments "may violate the University's commitment to human rights and social justice." Similar divestment campaigns are underway in dozens of campuses across the country, following the successful efforts of Hampshire College students in 2009. (The retirement plan giant TIAA-CREF is the focus of a separate national divestment campaign.) In 2005, Palestinian civil society issued a call to the international community to apply boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it upholds international law and Palestinian rights. The appeal resonated with...more

Wikileaks: U.S., Saudis reached 2010 compromise over Israeli-made Cadillac parts
Mondoweiss - According to a 2010 cable from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh disclosed by Wikileaks, the U.S. is extremely pleased with ongoing Saudi efforts to reduce the extent of the Saudi economic boycott of Israel, including a historic compromise over fuel filters made in Israel that are...

Kurdish legislators push for autonomy in Turkey
Daily Star 4 Sep 2011 Kurdish legislators vowed Sunday to press on with a boycott of Turkey’s parliament and backed a recent declaration of autonomy in the country’s Kurd-dominated southeast.

Russia criticises EU ban on Syria oil
AlJazeera 3 Sep 2011 - Foreign minister says "sanctions rarely solve anything", as EU blocks trade with more businesses amid protest crackdown., Demonstrations held in major cities across Israel, as organisers say half-million people march in the streets.

Germany to boycott UN anti-racism conference
Ha'aretz - German FM announced Friday that Germany will not attend anti-racism conference in New York later this month; decision explained as “an expression of our special responsibility for Israel."

The end of civilization: no ‘dignity’ in remaining silent at BBC Proms
Mondoweiss - In a Guardian review of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) at the BBC Proms, and referring to the boycott protests  that disrupted their concert in London's Royal Albert Hall on Thursday, classical music critic Erica Jeal praises IPO conductor, Zubin Mehta, as 'the model of composure'....

Germany accepts Israeli position: will boycott UN anti-racism conference
Ha'aretz - The German Foreign Ministry announced Friday it will not attend anti-racism conference in New York this fall. The decision was explained as “an expression of our special responsibility for Israel."

Future boycotts rare visit by Mufti Qabbani to south
Daily Star 2 Sep 2011 Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani made a rare tour of south Lebanon Friday, a visit welcomed by southerners but boycotted by the Future Movement in a sign of a growing rift between the mufti and MP...

Turkey in warning to Israel: You have one day to apologize for Gaza flotilla raid
Ha'aretz - Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu says UN-authored Palmer report on the 2010 incident must be published by September 2 as scheduled, and threatens sanctions if Israel doesn't apologize beforehand.

Palmer: Gaza blockade lawful, IDF used ‘excessive’ force
Jerusalem Post 1 Sep 2011 - 'NY Times' obtains copy of UN report on 'Marmara' raid; Turkish FM issues ultimatum to Israel: Apologize or face sanctions.

Swedish chain boycotts ‘Sodastream’ (West Bank fizzy-water device sold at Brooklyn’s Park Slope coop)
Mondoweiss - link to www.haaretz.com link to electronicintifada.net link to www.alternativenews.org link to electronicintifada.net link to www.youtube.com link to www.guardian.co.uk link to www.palestine-info.co.uk link to www.nilin-village.org link to www.ynetnews.com link to www.ynetnews.com link to www.ynetnews.com link to www.youtube.com link to www.palestine-info.co.uk link to www.haaretz.com link to www.ynetnews.com link...

Israel to Cut Relations with Qatar, Sanction Al Jazeera: Israeli Media Report
Alternative Information Center - Israel is planning to cut relations with Qatar due to the latter’s “extensive anti-Israeli actions”, reports the Israeli online news source nrg . Israel is further considering not allowing in reporters from the Qatari-based Al Jazeera news...

WJC calls for Germany to boycott Durban III
Jerusalem Post 27 Aug 2011 - Germany’s Jews say their country must show understanding for ‘Israel’s struggle for existence.’

Aipac uses fear of Palestinian statehood initiative to raise money
Mondoweiss - From an AIPAC fundraising letter, full text below, from Lee Rosenberg, who first brought Barack Obama to Israel in 2006 and whom the president calls Rosey: "Israelis could be dragged into foreign courts and charged with human rights violations...nations could implement sweeping economic sanctions...the Jewish presence...

[uruknet.info] French giant Veolia cut down to size for abusing Palestinian rights
Uruknet August 26, 2011 - The French corporation Veolia once appeared unassailable; today it is ailing. It is faced not only with the global economic crisis but also the growing impact of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against its involvement with Israeli apartheid infrastructure and transport projects. A recent merger between Veolia's transport division and a subsidiary...

Murdoch Press and the Fictional Jewish Chocolatier
Palestine Chronicle: 26 Aug 2011 - By Samah Sabawi The Murdoch press in its zeal to attack the Palestinian Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign has misrepresented facts and even ran an entire article quoting a fictional character that simply does not exist. The invention of Max Brenner the Jewish chocolatier demonstrated the lack of integrity and journalistic ethics employed within the Murdoch press's campaign against the pro-Palestinian advocacy groups who have called for a boycott of the Israeli owned Max Brenner chocolate franchise. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, senior reporter Cameron Stewart (The Australian: August 20, 2011) still referred to the protests against the Max Brenner franchise as “marching on a Jewish-owned chocolate shop” and repeated the claim that BDS aim to “harm a legal Jewish business”. This deliberate misrepresentation of the corporate Israeli franchise directly link to the military and of the BDS protests is part of a larger campaign by The Australian that...more

83 candidates to run in Bahrain poll shunned by Shiites
Daily Star 25 Aug 2011 Eighty-three candidates are to contest Bahrain’s Sept. 24 elections that are being boycotted by the Shiite opposition which quit parliament in protest at the suppression of pro-democracy protests.

FPM to boycott Cabinet sessions unless electricity plan endorsed
Daily Star 23 Aug 2011 Ministers affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement will start boycotting Cabinet sessions from now on if Wednesday’s session fails to endorse an electricity plan...

Rallying for freedom
Abdullah Abu Rahme, Bitterlemons 8/22/2011
      We in the West Bank village of Bilin are just one part of a coordinated plan for September, when Palestinians will seek statehood from the United Nations. I have been named coordinator of activities for the Palestinian Campaign for the 140th State. This means I will be coordinating between all the governorates and the various committees that have been established to rally around this cause. There is also a committee that is trying to raise the funds that are needed for the media effort, and a committee that coordinates between the governorates and is in contact with the Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Committee.
     We have one program: to carry out marches and activities in September, and to hold one major demonstration on September 21, the opening of the United Nations session in New York.
     These steps are intended to show that the public stands with the PLO in its United Nations bid, and that we as a people support complete recognition of Palestine at the UN. It is true that after September 21 and the UN session, we are not going to see the state of Palestine magically appear. But this is a first step to freedom, and very important at this stage. This is what will allow us to reach independence and freedom in the future and rid ourselves of all aspects of Israel's occupation.
     We hope that there is no veto of the resolution when it is put before the Security Council, and instead, countries are willing to stand up and say that we also have rights to statehood. We are asking the international community to rid us of this occupation, perhaps through the wielding of sanctions, preventing investment or boycotting the occupation.
     If there is a veto, however, we will not abandon everything. We will seek to become an observer country. This will give us access to numerous organizations, such as the International Criminal Court at The Hague, UNESCO and others. This way we can fight the occupation and its settlements in court. Either way, this step has positive outcomes for the Palestinian people. more.. e-mail

Co-oping BDS, part II: Filling up the Israeli boycart
Mondoweiss - The Park Slope Food Coop is probably the only grocery store in America where non-members must: a) accompany a legit member and b) sign in with a photo ID, pledging not to buy any products. There’s just something about exclusivity that makes the kale chips taste...

Profile of MK Danny Danon, Israel’s Rising Star of the Right
Jack Weston, Alternative Information Center 7/31/2011
      A key promoter in Israel’s recently passed anti-BDS and other anti-democratic legislation, Knesset Member Danny Danon is a rising star of the Likud party. Jack Weston profiles the man who some say wishes to be prime minister of Israel.
     A joint proposal by Israeli Knesset Members Danny Danon (Likud) and Faina Kirschenbaum (Yisrael Beitenu) to investigate funding and land purchases by leftist organizations was rejected by Israel’s Knesset on 20 July. After government crackdowns on activists involved in the "Welcome to Palestine" campaign, and the recent passing of anti-boycott legislation in the Knesset, this is a small victory for the left. MK Danon and MK Kirschenbaum's move to probe left-wing organizations is over for now, but their message is clear. "These are political organizations outside the consensus," Danon said. And to him, this is unacceptable: "Funding from the EU for [left-wing] organizations that fight against Israel, it is something we should stop. I think they are not part of the system."
     Danon was born in Ramat Gan and now lives with his wife and three children in Moshav Mishmeret. Chairman of the Immigration Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee and Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, Danon expresses a strong will to preserve Israel as a democratic state. Recent remarks, however, tell a different story however: "We [Israel] are very democratic. Even too democratic…We have a strong democracy, it should be a strong democracy, but we have to set some limits."
     Political speech is one limit Danon seems to be referring to. In a recent interview, Danon asserts that leftist opposition to the recently passed anti-boycott legislation, deemed undemocratic by many, is hypocritical. As the democratically chosen representative of the Israeli people, Danon said, Likud has the right to pass this law, which bans public advocacy for "a boycott against the state of Israel[1]. more.. e-mail

Boycott Call for Gaza Solidarity
PNN - Nablus – PNN – The People’s Party of Palestine (PPP) organized a march in Nablus yesterday, calling for a boycott Israeli goods to show solidarity with the people of Gaza. Khalid Mansour,...

JINSA says that Israel has been all for an Arab state since Partition
Mondoweiss - The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs' latest email report is pure propaganda: Since 1947, Israel [sic] has agreed to a "two state solution" in which there would be a Jewish State of Israel and a Palestinian Arab State. Through wars and intifadas and BDS movements,...

[uruknet.info] Australia cracks down on BDS
Uruknet August 16, 2011 - IN ONE of Australia's most severe crackdowns on civil liberties in decades, four pro-Palestine activists were arrested in dawn raids on August 9 in the city of Melbourne. The raids are part of an ongoing attempt by the Victorian government, the Victoria Police and the Zionist establishment to target activists involved in the boycott,...

Waging Nonviolence: Co-oping BDS: Progressive except Palestine
Jewish Voice for Peace -

Co-oping BDS, part I: Progressive except Palestine
Mondoweiss - Once, in the bulk goods aisle of the Park Slope Food Coop, a wild-haired woman stood next to me and scrutinized the coffee-grinder settings. “I’m using it for an enema,” she explained. “It needs to be very fine.” I suggested the espresso grind. This is exactly...

BDS Action at Palestinian-Israeli Controlled Bethlehem Checkpoint
Alternative Information Center - Checkpoint 300, separating Bethlehem from Jerusalem, worsens. On the second Friday of Ramadan, Palestinian police join the Israeli army in controlling the movement of Palestinian residents from the Bethlehem district who are allowed to reach an...

Scores of Activists Call for Boycott of Israeli Goods in Ramallah
Stop The Wall - Aug 14, 2011-- More than forty activists, at the invitation of the Palestinian, Grassroots, Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign with the participation of the Independent Youth Movement, sit at al-Manara Square in Ramallah after a field trip to local shops. At the shops, demonstrators called for the participation of the shop owners, traders, and citizens to boycott the goods of the occupation and settlement institutions. [

Boycott rally held in Jenin
8/13/2011 - JENIN (Ma'an) -- Activists in Jenin held a rally Saturday urging shopkeepers and residents to boycott Israeli goods. The local campaign against the wall and settlements and the Independent Youth Movement organized the march, which toured the West Bank city's streets. Demonstrators held banners with slogans saying the boycott was a national....

Official: Shiite opposition to boycott Bahrain vote
8/13/2011 - DUBAI (AFP) -- Bahrain's main Shiite opposition party will boycott next month's by-elections to replace MPs who resigned in protest against a crackdown on demonstrators, a party official said Friday. The party, Al-Wefaq, "has decided to boycott the by-elections" September 24 to replace its 18 MPs who walked out in February, shortly....

Bahrain's main opposition to boycott by-polls
AlJazeera 13 Aug 2011 - Al-Wefaq to stay away from September 24 polls, saying the "parliament does not represent will of the people".

Why boycott Israel?
8/13/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - Al Jazeera English, Lisa Taraki and Mark LeVine - A founding member of the campaign for the academic and cultural boycott outlines the motivation behind the movement. Author and history professor Mark LeVine speaks with sociologist Lisa Taraki, a co-founder of the Palestinian campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Mark LeVine: What is.... Related: Source

Clinton: Syria would be better off without Assad
Jerusalem Post 13 Aug 2011 - Turkish president urges reforms "before it’s too late"; 20 killed nationwide; pressure grows for oil boycott.

[uruknet.info] BDS activists in Israel stand with Australian counterparts facing repression [ 80440 ]
Uruknet August 12, 2011 - Boycott from Within, a coalition of citizens of Israel, both Palestinian and Jewish, organizing in support of the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) issued a statement today expressing their solidarity with Australian BDS activists facing severe state repression. The full statement is below. Kim Bullimore reported for The Electronic Intifada on...

[uruknet.info] Why boycott Israel?
Uruknet August 13, 2011 - ...The BDS movement can be summed up as the struggle against Israeli colonisation, occupation and apartheid. BDS is a rights-based strategy to be pursued until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and complies with the requirements of international law. Within this framework, the academic and cultural boycott...

[uruknet.info] Shi'ite Opposition to Boycott Bahrain Election
Uruknet August 12, 2011 - Bahrain's main Shiite opposition party will boycott next month's by-elections to replace MPs who resigned in protest against a crackdown on demonstrators, a party official said Friday. The party, Al-Wefaq, "has decided to boycott the by-elections" September 24 to replace its 18 MPs who walked out in February, shortly after a month-long anti-government protest...

Why boycott Israel?
Lisa Taraki and Mark LeVine, Al Jazeera 8/13/2011
      A founding member of the campaign for the academic and cultural boycott outlines the motivation behind the movement.
     Author and history professor Mark LeVine speaks with sociologist Lisa Taraki, a co-founder of the Palestinian campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
     Mark LeVine: What is the "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" movement and how is it related to the academic and cultural boycott movement? How have both evolved in the past few years in terms of their goals and methods?
     Lisa Taraki: The BDS movement can be summed up as the struggle against Israeli colonisation, occupation and apartheid. BDS is a rights-based strategy to be pursued until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and complies with the requirements of international law.
     Within this framework, the academic and cultural boycott of Israel has gained considerable ground in the seven years since the launching of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) in 2004. The goals of the academic and cultural boycott call, as the aims of the Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions issued in 2005, have remained consistent: to end the colonisation of Palestinian lands occupied in 1967; to ensure full equality of Palestinian citizens of Israel and end the system of racial discrimination; and to realise the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.
     The logic of the BDS movement has also remained consistent. The basic logic of BDS is the logic of pressure, not diplomacy, persuasion, or dialogue. Diplomacy as a strategy for achieving Palestinian rights has proven to be futile, due to the protection and immunity Israel enjoys from hegemonic world powers and those in their orbit. more.. e-mail

‘BDS brides’ bring boycott to Bed Bath & Beyond
Mondoweiss -

PA rejects Israeli sanction threats
8/12/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) --Adviser to President Abbas, Nimir Hammad, said Thursday that the PA will not be intimidated by threats, after Israeli media reported that the government is considering sanctions against the PA if it continues with the September UN bid." The Palestinian Authority considers the Israeli sanction threat to be an expression of....

In photos: Boycott activists rally in Ramallah
8/11/2011 - Protesters in Ramallah's Manara square call on businesses and shoppers to boycott Israeli goods, holding signs reading "Don't pay for their bullets" and "Boycott their goods, boycott their terrorism."The campaign is part of a nationwide effort throughout the occupied territories during Ramadan to educate Palestinians about local efforts to boycott....

How Palestinian Authority’s UN “Statehood” Bid Endangers Palestinian Rights
Intifada-Palestine: 11 Aug 2011 - by Ali Abunimah / The Electronic Intifada The Palestinian Boycott National Committee (BNC), the steering group of the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, has issued further guidance in the run up to the Palestinian Authority’s effort to gain UN membership... more

Analysis: Solution for Jerusalem
aoud Kuttab, Ma’an News Agency 8/11/2011
      Chambers of commerce in some Palestinian cities held elections over the past few weeks and municipal elections are planned for October. One Palestinian city that will not see any local elections just happens to be Palestine’s capital in waiting.
     For the past 44 years, East Jerusalem has been prevented from carrying out any activity that might represent any sort of local government.
     Israel’s unilateral annexation of occupied East Jerusalem and the forced municipal unity with Israeli West Jerusalem has left the holy city in limbo. Palestinians rejected the annexation and unification of the city, and have boycotted municipal elections since 1967.
     A number of US-Israeli-Palestinian agreements give the PLO permission to hold offices in East Jerusalem and stipulate that Israel should not close down existing Palestinian organizations and institutions. But Israel has been ignoring these understandings and effectively ensured that Palestinians in the city remain leaderless.
     In addition to banning East Jerusalem municipal elections, Israel closed down the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce, the Orient House and many other Palestinian institutions.
     Any public event Palestinians consider holding in East Jerusalem is quickly dubbed a “Palestinian Authority” event and therefore illegal, according to Israel’s draconian emergency laws.
     Last spring a celebration in honor of the West Bank champion football team, which happens to be from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher, was canceled by the Israeli police.... more.. e-mail

[uruknet.info] Australia's repression of BDS movement coordinated with Israel
Uruknet August 9, 2011 - In the largest show of support for the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign so far in Australia, more than 350 persons marched on 29 July in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle - and in opposition to an attempt by Victorian Police to criminalize Palestine solidarity activism in Melbourne. A month earlier, on...

Veolia, major target of Palestinian BDS campaign, in financial crisis
Stop The Wall - Aug 10, 2011-- Only days after losing out on another lucrative contract in London, French waste and water company Veolia on Thursday announced it would scale back its operations in several countries after

Asqalan Prisoners Boycott Clinic, Medicine for Eighth Day
WAFA

Progressive Jewish congregation will host ‘conversation’ on boycott (a year after it decided issue was too hot)
Mondoweiss - This is significant. A year after a very progressive Brooklyn congregation decided to sidestep a boycott debate as too inflammatory, it will have that debate after all. At the time, I remember writing, Why is it that churches have to host these debates? What's wrong with...

BDS in Action: Peace Works ’11
Rachel Corrie Foundation 9 Aug 2011 - by Zora Djenohan Conference goers celebrate the installation of a BDS leaf at the Olympia Rafah Solidarity Mural. To purchase this picture, view videos, and read the summary report click here - Photo courtesy of Robert Whitlock. With the bittersweet passing of the 2011 Peace Works...

TruthToTell: BOYCOTTS AND ISRAEL: Laws and Influence
Jewish Voice for Peace -

Does the Mideast’s ’only democracy’ see ’democratic’ values as a threat?
Karina Piser, Palestine Note 8/8/2011
      I am consistently flabbergasted by the U.S.'s unprecedented ability to befriend the world's most anti-democratic leaders while touting its identity as the ultimate democratic state.
     It becomes increasingly difficult to take democracy seriously when the House of Representatives supports President Obama's use of his diplomatic capital to block the Palestinian bid for statehood at the U.N., in favor of the U.S.'s longstanding relationship with Israel--"the only democracy in the Middle East"--whose boycott law, along with last week's proposed bill to institutionalize second-class status for Arab citizens, makes me question its democratic character.
     The recently proposed Knesset bill is not the first example of Israel's institutionalized discrimination against its Arab citizens. The last decade has seen a slew of laws promoting inequality, like a 2011 bill that allowed community segregation and another from 2003 that was extended in 2008, blocking a Palestinian's ability to gain Israeli citizenship through marriage.
     The new bill, which has a fair chance of passing, would give "Jewish values" an essential trump-card over "democratic values." Ha'aretz reports that the bill also seeks to eliminate Arabic's standing as one of Israel's national languages, and would promote entirely Jewish communities. Farewell, democracy. It looks like Prime Minister Netanyahu waved goodbye to what was already a fragile democratic identity.
     The bill is particularly shocking and serves as yet another action that shatters Israel's "villa-in-a-jungle" identity. This should shed light on the disconcerting link between Netanyahu's increasing ignorance towards democracy and the Obama administration's continued commitment to Israeli policy and willingness to shoot down Palestinian attempts at even symbolic international recognition. more.. e-mail

July 2011 Monthly Media Digest
Middle East Monitor 9 Aug 2011 - July 2011 saw a coordinated reactionary attempt to obstruct the global BDS movement. The sabotage and damage of ships belonging to the international Flotilla II, the passing of the Boycott bill by Israel and the UK pro-Israel campaign against Raed Salah are highlighted this month, together...

Australia's repression of BDS movement coordinated with Israel
Electronic Intifada: 8 Aug 2011 - Kim Bullimore The Electronic Intifada Melbourne Nineteen Melbourne activists are facing fines of up to $32,000 for participating in an action in support of the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions.more

Company targeted by boycott campaign announces losses
8/8/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A French multinational company at the center of a global boycott campaign announced major financial losses on Thursday, a statement from Palestinian civil society groups said Monday. The boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign targets international companies with links to illegal Israeli settlements." Veolia is paying the price for its involvement in....

Israeli Activists Support South African Student Call to Boycott Israeli Propaganda Mission
Alternative Information Center - This morning an Israeli based human rights group that goes by the name of "Boycott!" delivered a letter to South African student groups, university administrations and the South African National Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

Aussie minister examines boycott of Max Brenner
Jerusalem Post 8 Aug 2011 - Campaign orchestrated in Melbourne to impose secondary boycott on the commercial activities of businesses with Israeli ownership.

South African Student Bodies Endorse Nationwide Israel Boycott
WAFA

[uruknet.info] South African students endorse nationwide boycott against Israel
Uruknet August 5, 2011 - Representatives of South Africa's oldest and largest student bodies in Johannesburg hosted a press conference on Thursday in which they denounced the upcoming visit by a delegation of Israeli officials and propagandists to South African college campuses. In the past five years, Israeli public relations professionals and governmental officials have traveled across the world...

Community board of leftwing radio station in Houston is so freaked out by boycott it calls for boycotting 21 countries, including US
Mondoweiss - Last December the Pacifica radio station in Houston, KPFT, offered a programming segment to the Israeli consulate. The move angered activists and led to a proposal to join the international boycott call against Israel. Rob Block is one of the activists. We had a really weird...

[uruknet.info] Ten NGOs Withdraw from UK Torture Inquiry, Citing Lack of Credibility and Transparency
Uruknet August 4, 2011 - As I reported last month, ten NGOs, including Amnesty International, Liberty and Reprieve, announced their intention to boycott the government's proposed inquiry into UK complicity in torture following the 9/11 attacks, on the first anniversary of Prime Minister David Cameron's announcement that an inquiry would take place. Although the inquiry was initially greeted with...

TruthToTell August 1: BOYCOTTS AND ISRAEL: Laws and Influence
Jewish Voice for Peace -

Code Pink confronts Howard Berman on boycott (and makes Hava Nagila anti-Zionist)
Mondoweiss -

[uruknet.info] BDS Organization Writes Total Produce To Not Buy Agrexco
Uruknet August 3, 2011 - The Palestinian Boycott Divest Sanction organization has written a letter to the Irish company, Total Produce, to not purchase the Israeli produce company, Agrexco. The letter charged that Agrexco has been involved with "Israeli war crimes." Sixty to seventy percent of the produce sold by Agrexco comes from confiscated Palestinian land in the West...

[uruknet.info] Dropping of the last mask of democracy
Uruknet August 3, 2011 - "You should definitely postpone your book launch in Jerusalem," warned a close friend who felt that the planned event for launching my recently published book on the Palestinian-led movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel might be too risky in light of the recently passed Israeli law that effectively bans support for...

Dropping the last mask of democracy
Omar Barghouti, Al Jazeera 8/3/2011
      New Israeli legislation banning the support of boycott movements goes even further in limiting Palestinian rights.
     "You should definitely postpone your book launch in Jerusalem," warned a close friend who felt that the planned event for launching my recently published book on the Palestinian-led movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel might be too risky in light of the recently passed Israeli law that effectively bans support for the thriving boycott movement. At the packed bookshop-cafe in occupied East Jerusalem last Thursday, however, the engaged and Italian-coffee scented atmosphere was almost jubilant, as if declaring a collective defiance of Israel's latest draconian measure.
     Much controversy has arisen since the Israeli parliament passed legislation that would effectively criminalise support for any boycott against Israel or its institutions, under threat of heavy penalties and worse, without the need to prove "guilt". Dozens of Israeli civil society organisations and leading legal scholars, including many opposing the boycott, have resolutely opposed this exceptionally authoritarian law on diverse grounds, ranging from the most principled to the downright pragmatic.
     Palestinian perspective
     Missing in most of the debate is the Palestinian perspective, which is undoubtedly most relevant given that this law was entirely motivated by the spectacular growth in recent years of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, which was launched in 2005 and is led by the largest coalition of Palestinian civil society parties, unions, and NGOs: the Boycott National Committee (BNC). more.. e-mail

Things You Can Say, Things You Cannot
Ran HaCohen, Antiwar.com 7/13/2011
      Fascism at the top
     The anti-boycott law passed Monday night. Much has been said about what the American administration — blind as always to Middle East realities — tagged “an internal issue.” Let me just add that my readers should remember, from now on, that there are things I am not allowed to say. For example, I expressed my support for the boycott on settlements products several times in the past; I am not allowed to do it anymore. I am not saying I could say whatever I wanted to before now: self-censorship is almost inevitable for critical writers living in Israel. But now you’ve got an official confirmation from the Israeli parliament: Israelis are not allowed to speak out their mind freely. The “only democracy in the Middle East” openly joins the “democracies” around it — when some of these “democracies” try to become democracies. We lag behind. Or better: we are moving backwards. Very rapidly.
     The law might be overruled by Israel’s Supreme Court, but this will only spur the fascist coalition to curb the court as it has been eager to for years. Meanwhile, Gush Shalom — which initiated the boycott on settlements products many years ago — removed the list of those products from its Web site. “We cannot afford to publish the list anymore,” they say. The much more mainstream Peace Now, on the other hand, which never endorsed the boycott before (too “controversial”), now recognizes the outrage on the Left and tries to capitalize on it.
     What is Gush Shalom afraid of? One revealing aspect of the new law is the way it is to be imposed. The State of Israel will not indict anyone for calling for a boycott — that wouldn’t look good abroad. Instead, anyone who feels offended because of a boycott call can sue the one who called for it, and in court — that’s the law — the plaintiff does not have to prove the damage caused to him. more.. e-mail

BDS Organization Writes Total Produce To Not Buy Agrexco
IMEMC - Wednesday August 03, 2011 - 12:53, The Palestinian Boycott Divest Sanction organization has written a letter to the Irish company, Total Produce, to not purchase the Israeli produce company, Agrexco. The letter charged that Agrexco has been involved with “Israeli war crimes.”

Dershowitz uncut: Dersh fears circumcision on the chopping block in the wake of BDS success
Mondoweiss - The New York Observer Should a boycott come to pass, who knows what disasters could beset the humble borough. The next thing they’ll be doing is calling for an end to circumcision. And the first thing you have to do is have all these guys who...

MK Ahmed Tibi: World should boycott Israeli companies
Ha'aretz - In New York Times op-ed, Israeli Arab MK calls for external pressure to end the 'Israeli occupation', grant full equality to Palestinians and Jews, and implement right of return for Palestinian refugees.

Reut Institute: The Boycott Law helps Israel’s critics (and alienates American Jews)
Mondoweiss - The Reut Institute , an influential Israeli think tank that has lead the way in Israel's fight against "delegitimization," has acknowledged that the recently passed Boycott Law furthers Israel's international isolation rather than combat it. From " The Boycott Law Plays to the Hands of De-legitimizers ": [The organizations'...

Obama’s hollow claim of commitment to Israel’s security
Jerusalem Post 31 Jul 2011 - For a year, Obama prohibited any new US sanctions to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons – a looming existential threat to both Israel and the US.

[uruknet.info] MK Zoabi: "Racism is Part of the Ruling Consensus in Israel"
Uruknet July 31, 2011 - "When it comes to the rights of Palestinians in Israel, there is no difference between opposition and coalition." The AIC interviews MK Hanin Zoabi, who is concerned that racism has become part of Israeli national consensus, and everything outside of this must now be criminalized. Since she was sanctioned for her participation in the...

Israeli Prisons Impose New Sanctions on Palestinian Prisoners
WAFA

Boycott is a no-brainer, Nadia Hijab writes from Washington, but in a Lebanese newspaper
Mondoweiss - link to www.haaretz.com link to www.palestine-info.co.uk link to www.maannews.net link to www.palestine-info.co.uk link to english.wafa.ps link to www.maannews.net link to www.palestine-info.co.uk link to ipsnews.net link to ingaza.wordpress.com link to www.maannews.net link to gulfnews.com link to www.newint.org link to www.youtube.com link to blogs.aljazeera.net link to pacbi.org link...

New Facebook movement in Israel: Withdraw mass amounts of cash and boycott banks
Ha'aretz - Protesters hope to pressure banks to lower fees and interest rates, folowing

500 protesters join boycott demo at Max Brenner store in Australia
Mondoweiss - Hundreds of BDS demonstrators gathered again yesterday at Melbourne's Central Business District to protest against the attack and arrest of 19  nonviolent BDS supporters on July 1st as reported here by Kim Bullimore . Victorian Police had previously arrested demonstrators at the Max Brenner cafe, owned by the...

A strike against free speech
Ahmed Tibi, New York Times 7/28/2011
      Free speech in Israel was dealt a severe blow this month when the country’s Parliament passed antiboycott legislation that targets individuals or organizations publicly calling for a boycott against Israel or any area under its control.
     Because I believe in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, equal rights for Palestinians and Jews, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees forced from their homes and lands in 1948, I support boycotting — and calling on others to boycott — all Israeli companies that help perpetuate these injustices.
     But this new legal limit on free speech could bankrupt me.
     Israeli officials will not throw me in jail for publicly supporting such boycotts, but settler groups can claim financial damages without even having to show any harm done. Furthermore, organizations supporting boycotts could be denied tax-deductible contributions and state funding. This week, I appealed the law to the high court.
     Already, a member of the Knesset, our Parliament, Alex Miller, has threatened to sue me for my words — specifically my call, which I continue to make today, to boycott the illegal Jewish settlement of Ariel. Such a call would be unremarkable in a proper democracy with untrammeled free speech. The right to criticize a population that has dispossessed Palestinians and discriminated against us for decades should be protected speech.
     Perhaps my parliamentary immunity will protect me, but that can readily be stripped. Moreover, parliamentary immunity will not protect Israelis who urge fellow citizens not to buy Ahava beauty products created from natural resources illegally extracted from the occupied shores of the Dead Sea and manufactured in a factory in an illegal West Bank settlement.... more.. e-mail

Cracks surface in Egypt's 'unity' protest
AlJazeera 29 Jul 2011 - Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists take over 'Friday of Unity' march forcing secular parties to boycott protest movement.

Daily Star: For human rights advocates, boycotting Israel is a no-brainer
Jewish Voice for Peace -

For human rights advocates, boycotting Israel is a no-brainer
7/28/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 29 July 2011, The Daily Star, Nadia Hijab - Making the Palestinian case has never been a problem. It is a powerful story grounded in universal principles of human rights and in international law. The question has always been how to shift the balance between one of the strongest military powers in the world and a....

Australian police crack down on BDS protest, arresting 19
Mondoweiss - On July 1, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) in Melbourne Australia held a non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) action in Melbourne's CBD. The non-violent and peaceful demonstration of more than 120 people was violently attacked by the Victorian Police and 19 activists were arrested.  They are...

When did the blockade begin?
Mya Guarnieri, Ma’an News Agency 7/28/2011
      ATHENS, Greece (Ma'an) -- The flotilla was intended to challenge the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, a closure that has been decried as a violation of international law. While Israel prevented the boats from reaching the Gaza Strip, the initiative was successful in bring media attention to the closure.
     But Israel remains victorious on one crucial front. A tremendous majority of those talking about the blockade -- from the mainstream media to critics and activists -- use 2007 as the start-date, unintentionally lending legitimacy to Israel’s cause and effect explanation, an argument that pegs the closure to political events.
     According to the Israeli government, the blockade was a response to the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. The stated goals of the closure are to weaken Hamas, to stop rocket fire and to free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held in Gaza since 2006.
     But the blockade -- which the Israeli government has openly called “economic warfare” -- did not begin in 2007. Nor did it start in 2006, with Israel’s economic sanctions against Gaza. The hermetic closure of Gaza is the culmination of a process that began 20 years ago.
     It is important to note, first, the groundwork that made this process so devastating.
     In her definitive piece on the economic de-development of the Gaza Strip, published in 1987, Dr Sara Roy uses data from the years of 1967 to 1985 to illustrate how the Israelis turned the Gaza Strip into a captive market and made Palestinian residents a labor pool dependent on Israel. more.. e-mail

PA minister: No plans to ease settlement boycott
7/26/2011 - HEBRON (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority's economy minister Hassan Abu Libda said Monday that during 2010 settlement products were substantially reduced throughout the Palestinian marketplace."It is shameful for us as Palestinians to support settlement activities and to contribute to their well-being while they're occupying and confiscating our land," Libda....

MK Tibi petitions High Court against anti-boycott law
Jerusalem Post 25 Jul 2011 - Tibi to High Court: "Don't permit such a fatal blow to the lifeblood of democracy"; law protects Israeli companies, institutions, from boycott.

[uruknet.info] Israeli left's awakening too little, too late
Uruknet The strong reaction by left-wing Israelis to the recently passed "boycott law" must have astounded many in the country's right-wing government and made them wonder why such a strong reaction now. The controversial law penalizes anyone who calls for an economic, academic or cultural boycott of Israel or its West Bank settlements. For more than four decades successive,...

Boycotters ramp it up: “put an end to Agrexco’s presence in Europe”
Mondoweiss - The BDS movement in Europe appears to be going for a knockout.  A coalition of 23 organizations from across Europe issued a " Political declaration after the Forum against Agrexco " outlining their campaign against the Israeli agricultural giant which is half owned by the Israeli Government and responsible...

The struggle against the boycott law is fundamental: Should Israel be a Jewish or democratic state?
Mondoweiss - This text being posted on the door to Avigdor Lieberman's Office.  What’s the “Boycott Law” about?  If you ask Israelis that question, particularly those opposed to the law, they’ll probably say that it prohibits calling for boycotts of products produced by Israeli settlements located in territories...

Israeli left's awakening too little, too late
Electronic Intifada: 25 Jul 2011 - Raja Shehadeh The Electronic Intifada The strong reaction by left-wing Israelis to the recently passed “boycott law” must have astounded many in the country’s right-wing government and made them wonder why such a strong reaction now.more

Was the Massacre in Norway a reaction to BDS?
Gilad Atzmon, Gilad Atzmon 7/24/2011
      I learned last night from an Israeli online journal, that two days before the Utoya Island massacre, AUF’s (Labour Party's youth movement) leader Eskil Pedersen gave an interview to the Dagbladet, Norway's second largest tabloid newspaper, in which he unveiled what he thinks of Israel.
     In the course of the interview, Pedersen stated that he “believes the time has come for more drastic measures against Israel, and (that he) wants the Foreign Minister to impose an economic boycott against the country.”
     Pederson went on to say, “The peace process goes nowhere, and though the whole world expect Israel to comply, they do not. We in Labour Youth will have a unilateral economic embargo of Israel from the Norwegian side.”
     The AUF Labour Party Youth Movement have been devoted promoters of the Israel Boycott campaign, The Dagbladet newspaper reporting that “The AUF has long been a supporter of an international boycott of Israel, but the decision at the last congress, demands that Norway imposes a unilateral economic embargo on the country and it must be stricter than before.”
     “I acknowledge that this is a drastic measure”, stated Pedersen, “but I think it gives a clear indication that we are tired of Israel's behaviour, quite simply”.
     Yesterday we also learned that mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik was openly enthusiastic about Israel.... -- See also: JPost: Beware of the European populists and JPost: Norway’s challenge more.. e-mail

For human rights advocates, supporting BDS is a no-brainer
Nadia Hijab,  7/21/2011
      Making the Palestinian case has never been a problem. It is a powerful story grounded in universal principles of human rights and in international law. The question has always been how to shift the balance between one of the strongest military powers in the world and a people struggling with occupation, inequality, and exile.
     That question began to be answered in the mid-2000s. The International Court of Justice issued its advisory opinion in 2004, affirming the illegality of Israel's wall and settlement enterprise, the Palestinian right to self-determination, and the applicability of international law. The ICJ opinion reinforced a resurgent Palestinian civil society movement not seen since the Madrid and Oslo peace processes defused the first intifada or uprising.
     The 2005 Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (also known as BDS) marked the first anniversary of the ICJ opinion, becoming another strand in Palestinian non-violent resistance that included the popular struggle against Israel's separation wall in the Palestinian villages directly impacted by its route.
     International solidarity activists flocked to both the popular struggle and BDS. However, while it costs time and money to travel to Palestine, anyone can join a boycott or divestment campaign, or lobby for state sanctions wherever they live. This is one of the strengths of the global BDS campaign. Others strengths include:
     * The campaign is Palestinian-led, and the people whose rights have been violated are now gradually imposing their agenda on a sterile, US-Israeli led process.
     * The call clearly spells out Palestinian goals--self-determination, freedom from occupation, justice for the Palestinian refugees, and equality for the Palestinian citizens of Israel. This is important because the peace process had reduced Palestinian rights to haggling over land percentages..... more.. e-mail

Seeking signs of health
Samah Jaber,  7/21/2011
      For those who lament the Palestinians' use of violence and sigh, saying, "Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?" here is the answer: Israel delegitimizes all tools of resistance. Most recently, the Israeli parliament passed legislation making it possible to punish any public call for economic, cultural or academic boycott of the Israeli occupation and its settlements.
     A boycott is a very reasonable tool of resistance, one used by many nations--the Irish, the Indians, the Jews--against their respective tyrants. With the notable exception of the state of Israel that continued providing the apartheid regime of South Africa with weapons, boycott was even international policy at one time. At an individual level, each person is entitled to choose to give or not give oxygen to entities that contradict their personal values.
     While Israel's new law is meant to empower the settlers and intimidate the international movement in solidarity with Palestinians, it also generates many thoughts about the Palestinian stance on the boycott. Some Palestinians have a very stratified, complicated and enmeshed relationship with Israelis.
     I, a Palestinian, am writing about the boycott while enjoying a learning experience in London in the presence of Israeli colleagues. In October, I will start a three-year study program at the Israeli Institute of Psychoanalysis. In East Jerusalem, where I live, many Palestinians work in Israeli institutions and when they get sick, are treated in Israeli hospitals. Many Palestinians from the West Bank can only find work in Israeli settlements, and let us not forget the tragic reality that the infamous separation wall was built by Palestinian hands.
     ....One can be sure that there is no win-win situation between the occupied Palestinian nation and the Israeli occupation. The more the occupation expands its settlements, the more it develops its racist policies, the more we suffocate in occupied land. more.. e-mail

[uruknet.info] Boycott the state, not just the settlements
Uruknet July 23, 2011 - Recent legislation passed in the Israeli Knesset, which many people call the "Anti-BDS" bill, has raised a number of questions about a rising tide of "fascism" in Israel. This language is not only used by Palestinian critics, who have long borne the brunt of Israel's undemocratic policies. Now, many Israeli and Jewish-American writers can...

Sullivan’s rule, or How the paradigm of Jewish liberalism morphed into selfish blindness
Mondoweiss - Andrew Sullivan quotes Michael Koplow on the boycott legislation in Israel, then offers a rule: "Israel cannot afford to erode its liberal democratic credentials much further." And yet it does. Because that is what domestic politics in an increasingly religious and illiberal Israel demand. The only...

[uruknet.info] So sue us: Israel's outrageous law will not deter boycott movement Legal offensive recognizes power of BDS campaign
Uruknet July 22, 2011 - The Israeli government has long touted itself as "the only democracy in the Middle East." This mantra ignores the fact that following the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, which paved the way for the creation of Israel, over 4 million people under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have no access to a...

We Will Not be Silent: Statement in Regard to Israeli Anti-Boycott Law
Jewish Voice for Peace - BDS Campaign Endorses TIAA-Cref Campaign

On Democracy and Slave Owners
Palestine Chronicle: 22 Jul 2011 - By Seraj Assi This month the Knesset in Israel approved the final reading of the Boycott Prohibition Law, which imposes severe punishments on any person or organization that calls, directly or indirectly, for boycotting Israel, including the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The Boycott Law is by no means surprising. For it joins a series of fascist laws that were recently approved by Knesset starting from the “Nakba Law” through the Loyalty Law, along with a list of new law bills under preparation. What is unique about these laws is that they render unnecessary any effort to explain what make them fascist. Yet it seems that all these laws represent a state of denial and political disconnect on the side of Israel. The Boycott Law in its turn misses the point because the campaign for boycotting the Israeli products primarily includes the Israeli law itself. For the boycotters’ main...more

Lebanon signs energy exploration deal with Iran
Jerusalem Post 21 Jul 2011 - Beirut's signing of agreement may violate UN sanctions against Tehran; Iranian parliamentary delegation tours Lebanese border with Israel.

Israeli law constrains free speech, says New York Times
The Guardian 21 Jul 2011 - The Israeli government has been accused of violating the right to free expression by approving a law that penalises individuals and organisations that call for boycotts against Israel. The law effectively bans any public call for...

Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid Issues Press Release Condemning New “Boycott Law�
PNN - Bethlehem – PNN – The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid has issued a press release explaining the consequences of the new boycott law passed in the Israeli Knesset last week. “The law defines...

[uruknet.info] VIDEO: Omar Barghouti on the moral imperative to boycott Israel
Uruknet July 20, 2011 - Omar Barghouti spoke at Socialism 2011 in Chicago on 3 July 2011, to explain why boycotting Israel is the right approach and a moral imperative for people who support justice and universal rights. Omar Barghouti is one of the founders of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), and...

Adalah-NY: New Yorkers Demand Retirement-Fund Giant TIAA-CREF Divest from Israeli Occupation
WAFA

It sure looks and smells like apartheid
Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star 7/20/2011
      The Israeli parliament’s vote last week making it a crime to support any boycott of Israel, including products from Israeli settlements in occupied Arab lands, has rightly generated considerable debate about what this means for Israel, Zionism and Israelis.
     The complex and larger-than-life tale of the modern state of Israel has always been seen by its two very different faces around the world. For Jews and many others, Israel has been about a vibrant nationalism miraculously reborn from the horrors of the European Holocaust and centuries of discrimination and subjugation of Jews by white Christian Europeans and Russians. For most Palestinians and Arabs, Israel has been about a predatory and malicious combination of colonialism and racism, the creation of an exclusionary ethnic state on land that was taken from others, with Jews having a higher quality of personal and national rights that the indigenous Arabs.
     These two competing narratives have played out for the past century. The miracle of vibrant Jewish nationalism and impressive statehood, on the one hand, and the criminality of Zionist colonialism and racism, on the other, are impossible to reconcile. Yet reconcile them we must – or at least Zionists and their supporters must – if we are ever to approach any possibility of a negotiated peace that allows Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs to live a normal and peaceful life in the Middle East. The anti-boycott law that has been approved in Israel will provide new ammunition for those who see Israel and Zionism as intemperate racists, or even, as some Israeli critics have said, fascists.
     The basic issue is not whether it is good or bad, right or wrong, to criticize Israeli policies and to support a boycott of Israel. It is not about whether the Arabs should formally recognize Israel as “a Jewish state,” or whether Israel is a vibrant democracy that can teach some lessons to the surrounding Arabs. The issue is simply whether Israel and Zionism are above the law of humankind.... more.. e-mail

The Method in Netanyahu’s Madness
Jonathan Cook, Nazareth, CounterPunch 7/19/2011
      It was an Arab legislator who made the most telling comment to the Israeli parliament last week as it passed the boycott law, which outlaws calls to boycott Israel or its settlements in the occupied territories. Ahmed Tibi asked: "What is a peace activist or Palestinian allowed to do to oppose the occupation? Is there anything you agree to?"
     The boycott law is the latest in a series of ever-more draconian laws being introduced by the far-right. The legislation's goal is to intimidate those Israeli citizens, Jews and Palestinians, who have yet to bow down before the majority-rule mob.
     Look out in the coming days and weeks for a bill to block the work of Israeli human rights organisations trying to protect Palestinians in the occupied territories from abuses by the Israeli army and settlers; and a draft law investing a parliamentary committee, headed by the far-right, with the power to veto appointments to the supreme court. The court is the only, and already enfeebled, bulwark against the right's absolute ascendancy.
     The boycott law, backed by Benjamin Netanyahu's government, marks a watershed in this legislative assault in two respects.
     First, it knocks out the keystone of any democratic system: the right to free speech. The new law makes it illegal for Israelis and Palestinians to advocate a non-violent political programme -- boycott -- to counter the ever-growing power of the half a million Jewish settlers living on stolen Palestinian land.
     As the Israeli commentator Gideon Levy observed, the floodgates are now open: "Tomorrow it will be forbidden to call for an end to the occupation [or for] brotherhood between Jews and Arabs. more.. e-mail

(en) Turkish Kaos GL* letter to organization of IGLYO on boycotting the next IGLYO conference in Israel
A-infos 20 Jul 2011 - Dear Board of IGLYO, ---- As Kaos GL, a member organization of IGLYO, we are writing this letter in response to the statement issued by the IGLYO Board upon the understandable reaction given by the 3 different Palestinian LGBT organizations and their call for a change...

BDS - Manhattan protesters to target US retirement fund
7/19/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- New Yorkers will protest Tuesday outside the Manhattan headquarters of US retirement-fund giant TIAA-CREF, demanding that it end investment in the Israeli occupation, activists said. The pro-Palestinian group Adalah-NY said the protest is part of a national divestment campaign started by the US group Jewish Voice for Peace, and coincides with....

Reggae star Ziggy Marley rejects calls to boycott Israel
Jerusalem Post 20 Jul 2011 - “Rastafarianism has a lot to do with the Old Testament and Solomon and David and Moses, so we have a strong connection from many years back,” singer says.

Candidly Speaking: Confronting BDS from home
Jerusalem Post 19 Jul 2011 - Dealing with citizens who undermine Israel’s existence is self-preservation, not facism.

The Knesset Boycotts Your Boycott
Arab American Institute 19 Jul 2011 - By Ed Gaier In response to the increasing pressure of boycotts protesting the continued Israeli occupation and settlement expansion in the West Bank and Gaza, the Israeli parliament has passed legislation allowing litigation against groups and individuals calling for the boycott of Israeli economic, cultural and...

Israel's war on nonviolent protest
Electronic Intifada: 19 Jul 2011 - Jonathan Cook The Electronic Intifada Nazareth The newly-passed boycott law is the latest in a series of ever-more draconian laws being introduced by Israel’s far right. The legislation’s goal is to intimidate those Israeli citizens, Jews and Palestinians, who have yet to bow down before the majority-rule mob.more

The Knesset’s boycott boomerang
Jerusalem Post 18 Jul 2011 - By passing the Anti-boycott Law, its proponents armed the BDS movement with weapons to attack Israel’s democratic credentials.

[uruknet.info] Do not speak, do not resist - Israel rules out non-violence
Uruknet July 18, 2011 - It was an Arab legislator who made the most telling comment to the Israeli parliament last week as it passed the boycott law, which outlaws calls to boycott Israel or its settlements in the occupied territories. Ahmed Tibi asked: "What is a peace activist or Palestinian allowed to do to oppose the occupation? Is...

[uruknet.info] The boycott law is in effect. Wait, can I write that?
Uruknet July 18, 2011 - The media cycle has been dominated by news of the anti-boycott law this week. However, some might have missed a crucial point; the anti-boycott law is now in effect. What does this mean for my writing on +972 and the work of the site in general? Simply put, if I write an opinion piece...

Jeffrey Goldberg vs. The Truth
Mondoweiss - By now Mondoweiss readers have probably seen Jeffrey Goldberg's updated post on supporting the boycott of Netanyahu here in the US. It includes this tidbit ( emphasis added ): "...all I can say is this: Since 1948, Israel has been a besieged state that nevertheless has, with rare...

American Zionist org supports new limits on free speech in the ‘human rights loving democracy’
Mondoweiss - In a reversal of an earlier statement seeming to oppose the Israeli law making it illegal to advocate for boycott, this statement by Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America says that the boycott movement is an existential threat to Israel, a human rights loving...

Israeli democracy makes form of protest illegal
The Only Democracy? JVP 18 Jul 2011 - There’s a ton of resources on the Israeli anti-boycott law, thanks to the groups in American and Israel who have condemned it across the political spectrum. But I will post groups we have featured on website before. First, Boycott from Within, the Israeli group most targeted...

Israel Rules out Non-violence: Method in Netanyahu's Madness
Palestine Chronicle: 18 Jul 2011 - By Jonathan Cook - Nazareth It was an Arab legislator who made the most telling comment to the Israeli parliament last week as it passed the boycott law, which outlaws calls to boycott Israel or its settlements in the occupied territories. Ahmed Tibi asked: “What is a peace activist or Palestinian allowed to do to oppose the occupation? Is there anything you agree to?” The boycott law is the latest in a series of ever-more draconian laws being introduced by the far-right. The legislation's goal is to intimidate those Israeli citizens, Jews and Palestinians, who have yet to bow down before the majority-rule mob. Look out in the coming days and weeks for a bill to block the work of Israeli human rights organisations trying to protect Palestinians in the occupied territories from abuses by the Israeli army and settlers; and a draft law investing a parliamentary committee, headed by...more

The Method in Netanyahu’s Madness
Dissident Voice: 18 Jul 2011 - It was an Arab legislator who made the most telling comment to the Israeli parliament last week as it passed the boycott law, which outlaws calls to boycott Israel or its settlements in the occupied territories. Ahmed Tibi asked: “What is a peace activist or Palestinian allowed to do to oppose the occupation? Is there anything you agree to?” The boycott law is the latest in a series of ever-more draconian laws being introduced by the far-right. The legislation’s goal is to intimidate those Israeli citizens, Jews and Palestinians, who have yet to bow down before the majority-rule mob. Look out in the coming days and weeks for a bill to block the work of Israeli human rights organisations trying to protect Palestinians in the occupied territories from abuses by the Israeli army and settlers; and a draft law investing a parliamentary committee, headed by the far-right, with the power...more

With boycott law passed, rightist MK fires first salvo at Meretz
Ha'aretz - MK Eldad complains to police over Meretz's campaign to label products made in the territories in stores throughout the country.

Lieberman slams Netanyahu for rejecting probe of leftist groups
Ha'aretz - Passage of boycott law prompts Yisrael Beiteinu to revive inititiative to advance bill to investigate funding sources of human rights groups; PM's Likud party says won't support bill.

The Numbers Crunch: Israelis 'Like' settlement boycotts
Jerusalem Post 17 Jul 2011 - Also, Twitter meets Google+, Jpost readers back controversial bill, and Malaysia riots, Casey Anthony verdict sweep YouTube.

[uruknet.info] Video: SHOULD PEOPLE BOYCOTT ISRAEL? Omar Barghouti explains the aims of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement
Uruknet

Bereaved parents: Halutz can't attend ceremony
YNet News, 17 Jul 2011 - Families of soldiers killed in the Second Lebanon War warned Sunday that they would boycott Monday's memorial ceremony in honor of their loved ones if the then IDF Chief ... ....

U.S. Trade Union Statement in Support of Palestinian Call for Full and Immediate Arms Embargo Against Apartheid Israel
Labor for Palestine (U.S.) 7/17/2011
      Please sign, post and forward widely!
     Whereas, on May 4, 2011, the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (PTUC-BDS) specifically called “on trade unions around the world to actively show solidarity with the Palestinian people by. . . . divesting from Israel Bonds and all Israeli and international companies and institutions complicit in Israel’s occupation, colonization and apartheid”; and
     Whereas, on July 8, 2011, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) urgently called for “immediate international action towards a mandatory comprehensive military embargo against Israel similar to that imposed against apartheid South Africa in the past”; and
     Whereas, since the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1947-1948, Israel has used at least $108 billion from the U.S. government to carry out ongoing war, ethnic cleansing, racism and apartheid against the Palestinians and many other Arab nations; and
     Whereas, in the past ten years alone, the U.S. government — with overwhelming bipartisan support — has given Israel $17 billion in military aid; over the next decade, it will give another $30 billion; and
     Whereas, as a result, Palestinian workers continue to be killed and maimed by U.S.-supplied naval vessels, jet fighters, Apache helicopters, white phosphorous and other weapons; and
     Whereas, in 2008/2009 alone, Israel used these weapons to enforce the brutal and illegal siege by killing 1400 people in Gaza, most of them civilians — a massacre condemned by the UN, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations, including those that are Israeli.... -- See also: Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) formed at historic conference more.. e-mail

Zvi Bar'el / Israel is fulfilling settlers' expansionist dream
Ha'aretz - In the settlements there is no need for a law in order to exclude Arab settlers, there was no need for the Nakba Law, the Loyalty Law is irrelevant, and the Boycott Law is redundant.

Pro-Palestinian group in the Netherlands calls for boycott of Israeli bus company
Ha'aretz - Egged wins a public tender to run bus services in Waterland region, north of Amsterdam; Action group ‘Working Together for Palestine’ says Egged 'makes money from trampling on the rights of Palestinians.'

My Word: Consuming passions and boycotts
Jerusalem Post 16 Jul 2011 - If you really want to do something to help, organize a “buy-cott,” promoting those products.

"Jewish state" means Jewish racism, Jewish fascism, even Jewish Nazism
PIC - A Jewish state means institutionalized Jewish racism, sanctioned by the law of the land and recognized as legitimate and legal by no other than Israel's victims.

U.S. Trade Union Statement in Support of Palestinian Call for Full and Immediate Arms Embargo Against Apartheid Israel
Intifada-Palestine: 16 Jul 2011 - Please sign, post and forward widely! Sign on: click here or email info@laborforpalestine.net Like us on Facebook Whereas, on May 4, 2011, the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (PTUC-BDS) specifically called “on trade unions around the world... more

Open letter to the German left on BDS, from Palestinian and Israeli Activists
Mondoweiss - A little over a month ago, the Die Linke – the Left – delegates in the German Bundestag adopted a resolution stating that they would not take part in any Middle East peace initiatives calling for a “one-state solution” nor in “calls to boycott Israeli products.”...

Samah Sabawi: a Palestinian woman’s response to Naomi Chazan on BDS
Mondoweiss - [Introduction to Samah Sabawi's piece by Ofer Neiman] There are good things to be said about Professor Naomi Chazan, a scholar of contemporary Africa and a former member of the Israeli Knesset (on behalf of the center-left Meretz party). When an extreme right-wing and US funded...

‘Forward’ suggests West Bank boycott is ‘noble’ (so long as you love Israel)
Mondoweiss - 'The Forward' has a good editorial saying it's OK to want to boycott West Bank products. Another dividend of the disgraceful law the Knesset passed making it illegal to advocate boycott-- boycott marches forward. The Forward makes the usual stipulation that you have to love Israel...

Israel’s boycott law: The quiet sound of going fascist
Bradley Burston, Ha’aretz 7/12/2011
      This is the one. This is where the slope turns nowhere but down. When the Knesset passed the boycott law, it changed the history of the state of Israel.
     This is the one. Don't let what we like to call the relative calm here, fool you. When the Knesset passed the boycott law Monday night, it changed the history of the state of Israel.
     In real time, a tipping point of great magnitude can sound a lot like nothing at all. But if the Boycott Law makes it past challenges filed by human rights and pro-peace organizations in Israel's High Court of Justice, then anything goes, beginning with democracy itself.
     Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak and 10 other cabinet ministers already know this. That's why they failed to show up for the vote.
     They stayed away because they know that this is the stain that may prove indelible. The Boycott Law is the litmus test for Israeli democracy, the threshold test for Israeli fascism. It's a test of moderates everywhere who care about the future of this place.
     This is the one. This is where the slope turns nowhere but down.....
     Q. How dare you call this a step toward fascism in Israel?
     I'm pretty much no different from everybody else here - just learning by doing. I’m learning about fascism one step at a time. more.. e-mail

A new Israeli law criminalizes support to Palestinian civil society campaigns.
PNN - Ramallah - PNN - A repressive law criminalizing support for the Palestinian civil society campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel was approved last night by the Israeli parliament (Knesset)....

Reuven Rivlin / The boycott law is a double-edged sword
Ha'aretz - This new law threatens to harm Israel's international standing, and to play into the hands of those criticizing the quality of its democracy.

Carlo Strenger / The boycott law and bullshit
Ha'aretz - Bullshitting, to a certain extent, is an unavoidable facet of political life. But once it goes beyond a certain limit, it endangers open society and liberal democracy.

Israelis divided over new law that backs businesses hit by trade boycotts
The Guardian 15 Jul 2011 - West Bank traders aim to sue campaigners who organise boycotts against businesses in Jewish settlements Businesses based in Israeli settlements in the West Bank are preparing to launch lawsuits against individuals and organisations calling for boycotts...

[uruknet.info] BDS: A Palestinian Woman's Response to Israel's Naomi Chazan
Uruknet July 15, 2011 - Naomi Chazan, the President of the New Israel Fund (NIF) gave a talk in Marrickville NSW during her recent Australian tour offering a critique of the 
Palestinian Civil Society call for Boycotts Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Although she presented herself as a veteran Israeli peace activist, Chazan's mission here in Australia was...

[uruknet.info] Denunciation of Israel's Anti-Boycott Law
Uruknet July 15, 2011 - ....Before and after its July 11 passage, critics called it outrageous, shameful, lawless, and anti-democratic. More on that below. In contrast, Netanyahu praised the measure, saying he "authorized the bill. If I hadn't authorized it, it wouldn't have gotten here. I am opposed to boycotts against Israel and boycotts against groups within Israel." The...

[uruknet.info] Israel and the Flotillas
Uruknet July 15, 2011 - ...By its actions, the Israeli government and its cheerleaders have unwittingly done their part in this pro-Palestinian public relations campaign. Whatever the fate of the Flotilla, it has acted as further fuel to the boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) campaign and the struggle to delegitimise Israel, or rather to assist Israel in its self-inflicted...

BDS: A Palestinian Woman's Response to Israel's Naomi Chazan
Palestine Chronicle: 15 Jul 2011 - By Samah Sabawi Naomi Chazan, the President of the New Israel Fund (NIF) gave a talk in Marrickville NSW during her recent Australian tour offering a critique of the
Palestinian Civil Society call for Boycotts Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Although she presented herself as a veteran Israeli peace activist, Chazan’s mission here in Australia was ostensibly to promote NIF. This is important
because everything she said about BDS must be understood within the context of her mission – to gather funds and support and to convince Jews in Australia of the need to continue to invest in Israel through NIF. This clear conflict of interest makes Chazan’s criticism of BDS far less credible. Chazan named six reasons why she believed BDS was harmful: BDS is not effective because Israel has a very strong economy: South Africa’s economy was also booming when the boycott movement against that regime began in the...more

Boycott Law: It Can Happen Here!
Palestine Chronicle: 15 Jul 2011 - By Uri Avnery Years ago I said that there are but two miracles in Israel: the Hebrew language and democracy. Hebrew had been a dead language for many generations, more or less like Latin, when it was still used in the Catholic church. Then, suddenly, concurrent with the emergence of Zionism (but independently) it sprang back to life. This never happened to any other language. Theodor Herzl laughed at the idea that Jews in Palestine would speak Hebrew. He wanted us to speak German. “Are they going to ask for a railway ticket in Hebrew?” he scoffed. Well, we now buy airline tickets in Hebrew. We read the Bible in its Hebrew original and enjoy it tremendously. As Abba Eban once said, if King David were to come to life in Jerusalem today, he could understand the language spoken in the street. Though with some difficulty, because our language gets...more

Israeli peace groups to file petition challenging anti-boycott law
IMEMC - Friday July 15, 2011 - 03:34, A coalition of Israeli peace groups have announced that they plan to file a petition with Israel’s High Court challenging the legality of a law passed earlier this week that makes boycott of Israeli products – even those produced in settlement colonies -- illegal.

Palestinian BDS committee slams Israeli anti-boycott law
7/14/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian BDS National Committee released a statement Tuesday slamming an Israeli law which criminalizes the boycott of Israel or illegal Israeli settlements." Israel is once again taking draconian measures to criminalize civil resistance to its system of apartheid, colonialism and occupation over the Palestinian people."But so long as Israel....

Israeli left condemns controversial 'boycott ban' law
7/14/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- The passage of Israel's controversial "boycott ban" law is the latest attempt by a right-wing government to impose its views on the country, activists and opposition lawmakers charge. The ban, which makes calling for boycotts of Israel and its settlements a civil offense, passed the in Knesset despite widespread criticism and....

Netanyahu opposes parliamentary investigations of Israeli human rights organizations
Ha'aretz - After supporting the controversial boycott law, PM announces he will vote against the initiative for a parliamentary inquiry into funding sources of Israeli human rights organizations.

Meretz party marks settlement goods at Israeli supermarkets
Ha'aretz - Faction initiates sticker-placing campaign in response to boycott law.

Livni: PM's actions will cause further boycotting of Israel
Jerusalem Post 14 Jul 2011 - Opposition leader says "anti-democratic" Boycott Law will lead to boycotts of products from within Green Line: "The prime minister does not know how to distinguish between Yitzhar and Beersheba."

Boycott Law lets Israel defend itself
Jerusalem Post 13 Jul 2011 - Facing ongoing attacks from the global BDS movement, Israel cannot be expected to support those who work toward its economic destruction.

Israel's boycott ban draws fire from law professors
The Guardian 14 Jul 2011 - Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu defends controversial measure but legal experts, including some rightwingers, say it damages freedom of expression Israel's new law effectively banning political boycotts is unconstitutional and does grievous harm to freedom of expression...

[uruknet.info] Leadership of Palestinian boycott campaign responds to new law
Uruknet July 13, 2011 - The Israeli parliament (Knesset) last night passed a new law criminalizing support for the Palestinian civil society campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, penalizing Israeli persons and organizations active in the campaign, or indeed in any other partial boycott of Israel or any of its institutions. The repressive legislation also bars...

Israel is unable to cope with non-violent Palestinian activism
Mondoweiss - This week, Israeli Knesset passed the anti-boycott bill, which outlaws the non-violent action of economic, academic and cultural boycott. Last week, it attacked another non-violent action, the fly-in campaign, and week before that, it was the flotilla. Every Friday, it oppresses non-violent demonstration in Bil’in, Nabi...

Yahoo comments on boycott law suggest American backlash against Israel has begun
Mondoweiss - For a long time, I've wondered if the American people would ever rise up against the pernicious and destructive pro-Israel lobby. Maybe the boycott law is causing that to happen? Check out the comments on the Yahoo News report , for instance: Arab world goes democratic and...

Israeli legislators eye crackdown on High Court of Justice
Neve Gordon, Redress 7/15/2011
      Political change is slow. One doesn't go to sleep in a democracy and wake up in a fascist regime. The citizens of Egypt and Tunisia can attest to the fact that the opposite is also true: dictatorship does not become democracy overnight.
     Any political change of such magnitude is the result of a lot of hard work and is always incremental, indicating that there really is no single historical event that one can claim as the moment of conversion.
     There are, however, significant events that serve as historical milestones.
     The suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, who doused himself in petrol and set himself on fire when police confiscated his produce because he did not have the necessary permits, will be remembered as the spark that ignited the Tunisian revolution, and perhaps even the regional social uprisings now called the Arab Awakening. Similarly, the massive gatherings in Cairo’s Tahrir Square will probably be seen as the straw that broke the camel's back, setting in motion a slow process of Egyptian democratization.
     In Israel, it might very well be that the Boycott Bill, which the Knesset approved by a vote of 47 to 38, will also be remembered as a historic landmark.
     Ironically, the bill itself is likely to be inconsequential. It stipulates that any person who initiates, promotes or publishes material that might serve as grounds for imposing a boycott on Israel or the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is committing an offence. If found "guilty" of such an offence, that person may be ordered to compensate parties economically affected by the boycott, including reparations of 30,000 Israeli shekels (8,700 US dollars) without an obligation on the part of the plaintiffs to prove damages. more.. e-mail

Challenge to Israeli boycott ban
BBC 14 Jul 2011 - Israeli civil rights groups plan to challenge a new law designed to stop boycotts of products from West Bank settlements.

lucky to have water
In Gaza: 14 Jul 2011 - Wet clothes are actually a blessing, for me at least in Gaza.  I only wear them indoors, or sometimes underneath outer layers, and they do what non-existent air-con or fans-wanting-electricity can’t: cool me down for a bit. our washing machine helps. Gaza-made (support the boycott on israeli products ), it must have worked at one point.  but i guess it’s suffering from the heat, the siege, depression… it’s manually filled with water, and (in theory) churns when plugged in. in reality, it used to vibrate a little but now just buzzes and gives off shocks when i try to turn it on or off. so it’s hand-washing for me, which i usually do using buckets and at the same time i bathe, giving me more time to keep cool. i usually walk everywhere but this absurd heat has me rationing my walks to morning and after sunset, the afternoon hours inside...more

Israel's Crackdown Grows with Boycott Bill
Palestine Chronicle: 14 Jul 2011 - By Neve Gordon Political change is slow. One doesn't go to sleep in a democracy and wake up in a fascist regime. The citizens of Egypt and Tunisia can attest to the fact that the opposite is also true: dictatorship does not become democracy overnight. Any political change of such magnitude is the result of a lot of hard work and is always incremental, indicating that there really is no single historical event that one can claim as the moment of conversion. There are, however, significant events that serve as historical milestones. The suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, who doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire when police confiscated his produce because he did not have the necessary permits, will be remembered as the spark that ignited the Tunisian revolution, and perhaps even the regional social uprisings now called the Arab Awakening. Similarly, the massive gatherings in Tahrir Square...more

US Zionist Groups Voice Opposition To Israeli Anti Boycott Law
IMEMC - Wednesday July 13, 2011 - 12:43, Both soft and hard line US Israeli supporters have come out against the new Israeli Boycott Law that came into effect on Monday when it gained a majority vote in the Knesset. Groups have described the bill, which makes illegal the boycotting of Israeli goods, including goods made in the settlements, as undemocratic and undermining freedom of speech.

Boycott ban prompts heated debate in Israel
7/13/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Right-wing Israeli MP's warned judges on Wednesday not to overturn a controversial new ban on the boycott of Israel or Jewish settlements, insisting it was backed by Israel's public as well as parliament. The lawmakers were responding angrily after activists said they would challenge the law before Israel'....

Civil Rights Groups to Challenge Anti-Boycott Law at Supreme Court
Palestine Note 13 Jul 2011 - Netanyahu defends law, condemns attempts to 'hurt' settler families and children Washington Post - A new law that seeks to impede boycotts against Jewish settlements in the West Bank sparked a ferocious debate Tuesday between supporters who praised it as...

Israel passes law banning settler boycotts
AlJazeera 12 Jul 2011 - Bill stirs opposition from rights groups which call it 'a direct violation of freedom of expression'.

Dozens of Israeli law professors protest against Israeli boycott law
Ha'aretz - “I don’t want anyone to be confused. I approved the law,” says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “If I hadn’t backed it, it wouldn’t have passed. I am against boycotts aimed at the Jewish state.”

European Union expresses concern over Israel's boycott law
Ha'aretz - EU says legislation may affect freedom of expression in Israel; mixed reaction among European Jewish organizations.

Netanyahu: Boycott law reflects democracy in Israel
Ha'aretz - In a heated Knesset debate, prime minister defends controversial law which bans calls for boycotts on Israel; opposition head Livni: You are leading the country into an abyss.

Experts: Boycott law won’t withstand Supreme Court test
Jerusalem Post 13 Jul 2011 - Just hours after the controversial new law was passed, a petition calling for it to be overturned was presented to the High Court.

The ‘Anti-Boycott Law’ enables Israel to defend itself
Jerusalem Post 13 Jul 2011 - Facing ongoing attacks from the global BDS movement, Israel cannot be expected to support those who work toward its economic destruction.

A superfluous law
Jerusalem Post 13 Jul 2011 - Whatever one might think of boycotts as a means of protest, they are certainly not foreign to our society.

'EU worried 'Boycott Bill' will effect Israeli free speech'
Jerusalem Post 13 Jul 2011 - Spokesperson for Catherine Ashton says bill may harm Israeli citizens' freedom to express opinions; PM at Knesset: I approved bill into law.

PA to boycott companies heeding Boycott Law
YNet News, 13 Jul 2011 - After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Wednesday he stands behind the newly approved Boycott Law, the Palestinian Authority now threatens to boycott any Israeli ... ....

Netanyahu: I approved the Boycott Law
YNet News, 13 Jul 2011 - The Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday issued a statement saying that Benjamin Netanyahu is categorically opposed to a bill allowing the Knesset to have the authority ... ....

Lieberman: Court should steer clear of Boycott Law
YNet News, 13 Jul 2011 - Yisrael Beiteinu chair pleased with passing of controversial legislation, says....

American Jews rally against boycott law
YNet News, 13 Jul 2011 - Controversial legislation sees Jewish community in US unite in denouncing it as....

+972 Magazine: Boycott law will affect international activists
Mondoweiss -  The anti-boycott bill that the Israeli Knesset passed yesterday will principally affect those Israelis who call for boycotts of Israel or illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. But how will it affect the global Palestine solidarity movement, and those who advocate for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS)...

In major shift, ‘Peace Now’ calls for boycott of settlement goods
Mondoweiss - Bravo to Peace Now. Understanding the crisis that the new anti-democratic law in Israel represents, it has called on everyone to boycott settlement products. It has at last come out for boycott, of a limited nature. Will J Street follow? From JPost : Speaking before a few...

Knesset approves "Boycott Ban" bill
Middle East Monitor 13 Jul 2011 - Israel's parliament, the Knesset, has approved a bill dubbed the "Boycott Ban", which outlaws boycotting, or calling for boycotts against, Israel and Israel's illegal settlements. The bill was passed by 47 votes to 38; those who opposed the new law took the view of the parliament's...

Knesset Set To Vote On Law Allowing Probing Of Israeli Leftist Groups
IMEMC - Tuesday July 12, 2011 - 17:12, Just one day after the controversial Boycott Bill was passed by the Israeli Knesset the Yisrael Beiteinu faction has announced its intention to table a vote on a law setting up commissions of inquiry into left wing group’s activity in Israel, according to YNet.

"Boycott Bill" Slammed By Israeli Civil Society Groups
IMEMC - Tuesday July 12, 2011 - 11:04, Israeli opposition politicians and civil society have come out against new legislation passed Monday in the Knesset that outlaws the boycott of Israeli goods, including settlement goods, in the state of Israel. The bill has been slammed as destroying freedom of speech and destroying any remaining remnants of Israeli democracy by Israeli and Palestinian human rights and peace groups.

Rights groups: Anti-boycott law is legal annexation
7/12/2011 - "The bill seeks to enforce legal protection for an illegal project" - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli human rights groups condemned on Tuesday a new law which prohibits the boycott of businesses, universities and social or cultural institutions based in Israel and settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. The law, passed Monday, is set to impose.... Related: Israel passes law banning calls for boycott and Israel settlement 'boycott ban' stirs controversy

Israel settlement 'boycott ban' stirs controversy
7/12/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Despite a firestorm of criticism and the advice of the parliament's legal adviser, Israeli lawmakers have passed a bill effectively outlawing calls to boycott settlements in the West Bank. The legislation, dubbed "fascism" by one Israeli commentator, targets the efforts of artists, intellectuals and activists who have sought to protest Jewish.... Related: Israel passes law banning calls for boycott and Rights groups: Anti-boycott law is legal annexation

Amnesty: Boycott law 'an attack on freedom of expression'
7/12/2011 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- A law passed by the Israeli Knesset making it an offence to call for a boycott against the state of Israel or its West Bank settlements is an attack on freedom of expression and will have a chilling effect on speech, Amnesty International said Tuesday." Despite proponents' claims.... Related: Rights groups: Anti-boycott law is legal annexation

Erekat condemns Israel boycott bill
7/12/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PLO official Saeb Erekat on Monday strongly condemned a bill in Israel's parliament banning all initiatives to boycott the state, including the boycott of settlement products. The Knesset's vote to make the boycott of Israeli settlement products punishable by law "will send a clear message that Israel....

Israel to Punish Citizens, Organizations for Boycotting Settlements
Palestine Note 12 Jul 2011 - Knesset passes new law panned by opponents as 'anti-democratic' The Guardian - The Israeli parliament tonight passed a law in effect banning citizens from calling for academic, consumer or cultural boycotts of Israel in a move denounced by its opponents...

Boycott Bill Passed in Knesset; Human Rights Groups Vie to Challenge It
PNN - Tel Aviv - PNN - The controversial ‘Boycott Bill’ was passed last night in the Knesset as 47 MK’s voted for and 38 against. The Bill was approved in its final reading...

Israel passes law banning calls for boycott
7/12/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 11 July 2011, Ha'aretz - The Knesset passed Monday a law penalizing persons or organizations that boycott Israel or the settlements, by a vote of 47 to 38. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not present during the vote. MK Zeev Elkin (Likud), who proposed the law, said the law is not meant to silence.... Related: Rights groups: Anti-boycott law is legal annexation and Israel settlement 'boycott ban' stirs controversy

US groups condemn anti-boycott law and reiterate support for BDS
7/12/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel - Read the Palestinian Boycott National Committees statement on the anti-boycott bill - Read the Boycott From Within statement on the anti-boycott bill - On Monday, 11 July 2011, the Israeli Knesset passed new legislation outlawing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement[i]; a non-partisan grassroots initiative that.... Related: US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and Palestinian Boycott National Committees statement

Israel's left to take 'illegal' anti-boycott law to supreme court
The National 12 Jul 2011 - As right-wingers cheer controversial legislation that penalises groups who call for boycotts of Jewish settlements in the West Bank,human rights groups said they will petition the Israeli Supreme Court to overturn the legislation as soon as next week.

Anti-boycott bill sparks freedom-of-speech row in Israel
The National 11 Jul 2011 - A law that would effectively ban Israelis from calling for boycotts of any part of the Jewish state or its settlements on occupied Palestinian land has stirred fierce opposition from rights groups.

Pro-Assad crowds try to storm US and French embassies in Damascus
The National 11 Jul 2011 - Two protesters are killed by troops in Homs, as a government-organised national dialogue conference continued despite an opposition boycott, and Syrian government supporters attempt to invade embassies in Damascus.

Israel's boycott law prompts rightist MKs to push bill probing NGOs
Ha'aretz - Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and MK Danny Danon announce they will bring intitiative to Knesset vote next week; Sources say initiative revived in Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu power struggle after Likud success over boycott law.

Israel’s attorney general says boycott law borders on unconstitutionality
Ha'aretz - Yehuda Weinstein says Knesset should amend law to reduce infringement of basic democratic rights; senior jurists say outcome of the law’s Supreme Court challenge difficult to predict.

U.S. on Israeli boycott law: Freedom to protest is a basic democratic right
Ha'aretz - State Department says law is an internal Israeli affair but hints criticism; ADL expresses concern over new law, says it impinges on Israelis' basic democratic rights.

Israeli Left launches public campaign against new law banning boycotts
Ha'aretz - Thousands of people join calls to boycott settlement products in response to the new law, which penalizes people or organizations who call for a boycott on Israel or the settlements.

Peace Now launches boycott of settlement products
Jerusalem Post 12 Jul 2011 - Left-wing group challenges newly passed "Boycott Law" which allows civil suits to be brought against those calling for economic boycott.

Israel Beiteinu MK to be first to use anti-boycott law
Jerusalem Post 12 Jul 2011 - Miller to sue MK Ahmed Tibi for calling to "boycott Ariel, take it apart, and send away its residents."

Israel's ban on boycotts faces legal challenge from civil rights groups
The Guardian 12 Jul 2011 - Wave of condemnation for new law forbidding citizens from promoting academic, consumer or cultural boycotts Israeli civil rights groups have launched legal challenges to a new law that in effect bans citizens from calling for boycotts...

Israel's boycott ban is down to siege mentality | Carlo Strenger
The Guardian 12 Jul 2011 - Existential fear, confusion and ideology are behind this latest attempt by the Knesset to curb criticism and free speech The flood of anti-democratic laws that were proposed, and partially implemented, by the current Knesset, elected in...

[uruknet.info] Israel's Knesset Passes Boycott Prohibition Bill
Uruknet July 12, 2011 - Israeli outrages never quit. Besides lawlessly stealing Palestine, slaughtering and dispossessing its people, occupying its remaining 22% for over 44 years, blockading Gaza, committing high-seas piracy and murder to keep out humanitarian aid, and arresting European and other human rights advocates showing up to protest, another example highlights Israel's rogue state status. On July...

Israeli groups to seek overturn of boycott law
Daily Star 12 Jul 2011 A new law that seeks to impede boycotts against West Bank settlements sparked a ferocious debate Tuesday – with proponents praising a new bulwark against efforts to isolate Israel and critics fearing for its embattled democracy.

AG: Boycott Law 'borderline' defensible
YNet News, 12 Jul 2011 - Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is set to defend the newly-instated Boycott Law before the High Court of Justice, despite his stated opinion that the law is ... ....

Israeli Knesset Passes Law against Boycotting Settlements in West Bank
WAFA

Boycott debate– in which a young, cosmopolitan, liberal-leaning Jewish man twists and writhes under the weight of half-truths and wispy contradictions
Mondoweiss - I had the privilege of attending the boycott debate in London with Eleanor Kilroy, which she wrote about here . I only wanted to add a few more points: For those of you who haven’t seen Omar Barghouti debate or speak, he is an unnaturally gifted communicator....

This draconian law seeks to delegitimize nonviolent struggle
Mondoweiss - The following statement was issued today by the U.S. Committee for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel , and endorsed by five Palestine solidarity groups (named below): On Monday, 11 July 2011, the Israeli Knesset passed new legislation outlawing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a...

‘Shocked’ by tour of occupation, 11 feminists led by Angela Davis ‘unequivocally’ support BDS
Mondoweiss - The following statement is titled, "A Call to Action from Indigenous and Women of Color Feminists." Its 11 signatories are at bottom: Between June 14 and June 23, 2011, a delegation of 11 scholars, activists, and artists visited occupied Palestine. As indigenous and women of color...

Israel Anti-boycott Law Attack on Freedom of Expression
Palestine Chronicle: 12 Jul 2011 - By Amnesty International A law passed by the Israeli Knesset (parliament) making it an offence to call for a boycott against the state of Israel or its West Bank settlements will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Israel, Amnesty International said today. The controversial law, passed on Monday night, makes it a civil offence to call for an economic, cultural, or academic boycott of people or institutions in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) for political reasons. Anyone making such calls could face a lawsuit and other financial penalties. Sponsors of the bill, originally proposed in July 2010 by Knesset member and coalition chairman Ze’ev Elkin, have made it clear that one of the main aims of the law is to penalize those using boycott calls to campaign against Israel's illegal settlements in the OPT or highlight the ongoing violations of Palestinian rights caused by the...more

Knesset Set To Vote On Boycott Bill
IMEMC - Monday July 11, 2011 - 16:56, The Israeli Knesset is Monday set to vote on a bill that will make illegal the boycott of Israeli goods, including Israeli settlement goods, in the state of Israel. The “Boycott Bill” is due to undergo a second and third vote Monday which would see it passed into law.

Israel MPs approve settlement boycott ban
7/11/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's parliament Monday approved a law effectively banning Israelis from calling for boycotts of any part of the country or its settlements on occupied Palestinian land, a parliamentary source said. The vote was passed by 47-36 out of 120 members of parliament. Activists and intellectuals had criticized the controversial bill.... Related: Boycott bill joins 'wave of anti-democratic legislation'

Israel lawmakers weigh settlement boycott 'ban'
7/11/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's parliament was poised on Monday to vote on a law that would effectively ban Israelis from calling for boycotts of any part of the country or its settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Activists and intellectuals have criticized the controversial bill, accusing the MPs behind it of stifling free speech and.... Related: Israel MPs approve settlement boycott ban

Boycott bill joins 'wave of anti-democratic legislation'
7/12/2011 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- A bill passed Monday by Israel's Knesset banning boycotts against the state constitutes a direct violation of freedom of expression, the Association for Civil Rights in israel said."The boycott bill represents the current unfortunate crest in a wave of anti-democratic legislation that is gradually drowning Israel.... Related: Israel MPs approve settlement boycott ban

Israeli parliament set for fierce debate over bill to penalize backers of settlement boycott
Palestine Note 11 Jul 2011 - The Washington Post- Israeli backers of a bill that would punish people for boycotting West Bank settlements said Sunday they will push forward with the proposal, despite accusations that it’s an undemocractic slap at freedom of speech. In recent years,...

Israeli Parliament to Vote on Bill to Punish Boycotters
PNN - Tel Aviv - PNN - The Israeli parliament is set to vote on a bill that will impose sanctions on people or organizations that call for a boycott of Israel or its...

Israel passes law banning calls for boycott
Ha'aretz - Opposition blasts law, which penalizes persons or organizations who call for a boycott of Israel or the settlements, calling it unconstitutional and irresponsible.

Heated debate in Knesset over boycott law: 'Legislation will stain Israeli democracy'
Ha'aretz - Meretz MKs attack law that would penalize anyone calling for a boycott of Israel or the settlements; MK Gilon: Law would further delegitimize Israel.

Anti-boycott bill becomes law after 6-hour Knesset plenum
Jerusalem Post 11 Jul 2011 - Bill approved in final Knesset reading, will provide civil penalties for anyone calling for a boycott on Israel, settlements; Knesset legal adviser says legislation may fail High Court test.

The bad boycott bill
Jerusalem Post 11 Jul 2011 - Attempts to legitimize Jewish presence in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem through the stifling of criticism may just achieve the opposite.

Israel passes law banning citizens from calling for boycotts
The Guardian 11 Jul 2011 - Law for Prevention of Damage to State of Israel through Boycott means anyone proposing boycott could be sued The Israeli parliament has passed a law in effect banning citizens from calling for academic, consumer or cultural...

Israel prepares to pass law banning citizens from calling for boycotts
The Guardian 11 Jul 2011 - The bill would allow anyone who called for an academic, consumer or cultural boycott to be sued for compensation The Israeli parliament is preparing to pass a law that would in effect ban citizens from calling...

[uruknet.info] UK Torture Inquiry Boycotted by Lawyers, As David Cameron Fails Again to Demonstrate an Interest in Justice
Uruknet July 11, 2011 - Last Wednesday, just before David Cameron was engulfed in the News of the World phone hacking crisis, he had the opportunity to practice demonstrating the disregard for justice that he called on in response to the Murdoch scandal, when he attempted to distance himself from his friendship with two former News of the World...

[uruknet.info] Breaking: Knesset outlaws political boycott
Uruknet July 11, 2011 - The Knesset has just passed into law the anti-boycott initiative bill of MK Ze'ev Elkin (Likud), by a majority of 47 to 38. A lot of members, including Shas, top Likud members and all of Atzmaut (Ehud Barak's faction) were absent. Netanyahu was absent from the vote. We hope to have the names of...

[uruknet.info] Knesset to vote on Anti-boycott law tonight
Uruknet July 11, 2011 - Israel's parliament, the Knesset, is set to pass (after some convoluted last minute wrangling) today one of the most anti-democratic measures in the country's history, the so-called "Anti-Boycott Law." A link to the full text's translation can be found here. Simply put, the law seeks to penalize those who call for boycotting Israel, the...

[uruknet.info] Israel lawmakers consider bill to outlaw boycotts
Uruknet July 10, 2011 - - Israel's parliament is to vote Monday on a bill aimed at outlawing boycotts of the country and its activities in the occupied territories, Israeli media reported. The "boycott bill" is aimed against anyone who declares an academic, economic, or artistic boycott on Israeli organizations including settlements, the Ynet news site reported. The bill...

Israel MPs back settlement boycott ban
Daily Star 11 Jul 2011 Israel’s parliament Monday approved a law effectively banning Israelis from calling for boycotts of any part of the country or its settlements on occupied Palestinian land, a parliamentary source said.

Knesset votes in favor of 'boycott bill'
YNet News, 11 Jul 2011 - The Knesset voted Monday in favor of the controversial "boycott bill," which proposes imposing sanctions against anyone declaring a commercial embargo on Israel. The vote ... ....

Opposition determined to fight 'boycott bill'
YNet News, 11 Jul 2011 - Representatives of opposition factions vow to unite against bill penalizing....

Palestinians denounce 'boycott bill'
YNet News, 11 Jul 2011 - PLO official Yasser Abd Rabbo says if bill placing sanctions on those who....

Knesset to vote on 'boycott bill'
YNet News, 11 Jul 2011 - Knesset set to pass bill punishing initiators of boycott of settlements as....

Israel law targets boycott campaigns
LA Times 11 Jul 2011 - The new law will penalize those who organize or back political boycotts against Israel, including campaigns aimed at its universities and businesses in the West Bank. Critics say the law may not withstand a court challenge. Israel's right-leaning parliament approved a hotly disputed law Monday...

Opposition voices absent from Syrian dialogue
LA Times 10 Jul 2011 - President Bashar Assad's regime takes the unusual step of inviting criticism from politicians, intellectuals and clergy. But key antigovernment forces boycott the talks, calling them a sham. Syrian politicians, intellectuals and clergy were given an unusual opportunity to criticize the country's security apparatus on national...

Israel Bans Boycotts Against the State
New York Times 11 Jul 2011 - The Israeli Parliament on Monday passed contentious legislation that effectively bans any public call for a boycott against the state of Israel or its West Bank settlements.

Syrian Opposition Leaders Boycott a Government Dialogue Opening
New York Times 11 Jul 2011 - Opposition figures said they would not take part in talks, which officials said are aimed at a transition to multiparty democracy, until the government ended its crackdown on protesters.

What is the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement?
Joseph Dana 11 Jul 2011 - The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement is in the news today. Israel is posed to pass a bill that will criminalize support for the nonviolent movement among Israeli citizens. Risking a criminal sentence, I am publishing some basic information about the BDS movement below as a means of dispelling rumors...

What exactly does the anti-Boycott bill say?
Joseph Dana 11 Jul 2011 - This afternoon, the Israeli Knesset is expected to pass a controversial ’anti-boycott’ law. This law will criminaize Israeli support for the Palestinian led Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement. Some in Israel are saying that the law is anti-free speech and will limit freedom of expression by Israeli citizens that want to...

Israel passes settlement boycott ban
BBC 11 Jul 2011 - Israel's parliament passes a controversial law to punish Israeli individuals or organisations boycotting West Bank settlements.

Israel lawmakers consider bill to outlaw boycotts
7/10/2011 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israel's parliament is to vote Monday on a bill aimed at outlawing boycotts of the country and its activities in the occupied territories, Israeli media reported. The "boycott bill" is aimed against anyone who declares an academic, economic, or artistic boycott on Israeliorganizations including settlements, the Ynet....

Syrian opposition rejects 'national dialogue'
AlJazeera 10 Jul 2011 - Opposition figures boycott meeting in Damascus which government says is to discuss a framework for dialogue on reform.

Dissidents boycott Syrian regime's 'national dialogue conference'
The National 10 Jul 2011 - Opposition to Assad regime refuses to take part in formal talks with government officials as long as deadly security crackdown continues and thousands of protesters remain jailed.

Israel set to vote on controversial law outlawing boycotts
Ha'aretz - Netanyahu: vote will take place as planned, despite Monday's Mideast Quartet meeting.

Price control likely to resume for some dairy products
Ha'aretz - Following recent cottage cheese boycott over prices government reportedly likely to recommend state price controls on some dairy products; Control would decrease prices by 10 percent according to sources.

Tycoons fling dirt in diaper duel
Ha'aretz - The cottage cheese boycott casts a spotlight on the price of diapers in Israel.

Syria’s opposition boycotts government talks
Jerusalem Post 10 Jul 2011 - US expert: Dialogue with Assad is an "obscene fantasy."

Opposition MKs intensify efforts against 'Boycott Bill'
Jerusalem Post 10 Jul 2011 - Anti-boycott law is expected to pass if vote is not postponed; Meretz's Gal-On proposes bill to label products made in West Bank.

Syria VP hosts 'national dialogue,' opposition boycotts
Jerusalem Post 10 Jul 2011 - Shara says conference aims to achieve a "pluralistic and democratic country"; opposition fears Assad government will exploit talks while arresting and killing protesters across country.

[uruknet.info] Syria opens 'dialogue' with opposition absent
Uruknet July 10, 2011 - Syria opened a "national dialogue" on Sunday that it hailed as a step towards multi-party democracy after five decades of Baath party rule but its credibility was undermined by an opposition boycott. Delegates observed a minute's silence in memory of the "martyrs" before the playing of the national anthem. "We are going to hold...

[uruknet.info] Free Gaza endorses the BNC call for immediate embargo on Israel
Uruknet July 9, 2011 - The Free Gaza Movement welcomes, endorses, and supports the Palestinian Boycott National Committee (BNC) call for an immediate and comprehensive military embargo on Israel. Freedom Flotilla II, and Israel's attempts to thwart it through outrageous acts of intimidation, lies, political pressure, threats of violence, and sabotage, has reminded the world that the criminal blockade...

Syrian opposition groups boycott dialogue
Daily Star 10 Jul 2011 Rights groups say more than 1,300 civilians have been killed and 12,000 people have been arrested since the start of demonstrations demanding more freedom began in March.

Syrian vice president calls for transition to democracy
Daily Star 10 Jul 2011 Farouq al-Sharaa speaks at a national dialogue that opened Sunday with some critics of the government and a boycott by the main opposition driving the four-month-old uprising in the country.

Syria opens 'dialogue' with opposition absent
Daily Star 10 Jul 2011 Syria opens a "national dialogue" that it hails as a step towards multi-party democracy after five decades of Baath party rule but its credibility is undermined by an opposition boycott.

Netanyahu puts breaks on 'boycott bill'
YNet News, 10 Jul 2011 - It seems that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not wish to present Israel in a negative light to the Quartet states which are set to meet on Monday for a crucial ... ....

Knesset braces for 'Boycott bill' vote
YNet News, 10 Jul 2011 - Plenum in uproar over bill declaring boycotts against any Israeli organization....

Yossi Sarid on BDS: ‘Green Line is Red Line’
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Why Endorsing Partial Boycotts of Israeli Products, or Even Global Boycotts, Doesn’t Violate the Proposed Anti-Boycott Law
The Magnes Zionist 10 Jul 2011 - For some time I have been waiting for the Anti-boycott Bill to pass on its second and third parliamentary readings so I could be one of the first to violate this ridiculous infringement of free speech as an act of civil disobedience. Yet having read the...

Noam Chomsky: In Israel, a Tsunami warning
Noam Chomsky, Israeli Occupation Archive 7/8/2011
      In May, in a closed meeting of many of Israel’s business leaders, Idan Ofer, a holding-company magnate, warned, “We are quickly turning into South Africa. The economic blow of sanctions will be felt by every family in Israel.”
     The business leaders’ particular concern was the U.N. General Assembly session this September, where the Palestinian Authority is planning to call for recognition of a Palestinian state.
     Dan Gillerman, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, warned participants that “the morning after the anticipated announcement of recognition of a Palestinian state, a painful and dramatic process of Southafricanization will begin” _ meaning that Israel would become a pariah state, subject to international sanctions.
     In this and subsequent meetings, the oligarchs urged the government to initiate efforts modeled on the Saudi (Arab League) proposals and the unofficial Geneva Accord of 2003, in which high-level Palestinian and Israeli negotiators detailed a two-state settlement that was welcomed by most of the world, dismissed by Israel and ignored by Washington.
     In March, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned of the prospective U.N. action as a “tsunami.” The fear is that the world will condemn Israel not only for violating international law but also for carrying out its criminal acts in an occupied state recognized by the U.N.
     The U.S. and Israel are waging intensive diplomatic campaigns to head off the tsunami. If they fail, recognition of a Palestinian state is likely. more.. e-mail

Israel 'angry' over UN report on Nakba deaths
Palestine Note 7 Jul 2011 - Al Jazeera - Israeli officials are allegedly boycotting a UN official in Lebanon after he wrote a report criticising the country's response to border clashes between Palestinian protesters and the Israeli army in May. Media in Israel reported on Wednesday...

Israel 'angry' over UN report on Nakba deaths
AlJazeera 6 Jul 2011 - Country's media says government boycotting UN official over his report on Israeli response to Lebanon border clashes.

SA: Israeli apartheid ad not in contravention of rules
Jerusalem Post 7 Jul 2011 - South African Jewish group loses appeal to Advertising board over campaign saying: "Be on the right side of history, boycott Israel."

Bahrain opposition aims to boycott select dialogue sessions
Daily Star 7 Jul 2011 Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition formation intends to shun parts of the national dialogue which the authorities say aims to bring forward reforms in the restive kingdom, a member said Thursday.

South African advertising and media watchdog rules that Israel can be called an "apartheid" state
Middle East Monitor 7 Jul 2011 - A bold ruling by South Africa's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dismissed all complaints relating to a radio advert which called for a boycott of Israel and compared the Zionist state to Apartheid South Africa. The ruling referred to a message broadcast on South African Broadcasting...

Israel boycotts UN official over Nakba report
AlJazeera 6 Jul 2011 - Country's media says government boycotting UN official over his report on Israeli response to Lebanon border incursion.

Gov’r Deval Patrick gives Tribe hummus a tax break. Oy
Mondoweiss - Lately Alice Rothchild appeared on Arabic Hour, Arab-American community television, to talk about boycott. We asked her for a summary of the show, which you can watch here . I was asked to discuss local Boston area efforts in the realm of BDS so… I outlined the...

Israel: ‘Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid’
Tikun Olam - Whenever peace activists devise a new means of challenging Israel’s Occupation, whether it be BDS, Nakba protests, the Gaza Flotilla, the September UN vote on Palestinian statehood, or the Flight of Return, the primary response from Israel seems something verging on outright or barely controlled hysteria....

Israel 'angry' at Lebanon report
BBC 6 Jul 2011 - Israeli officials are reportedly boycotting a UN official in Lebanon who wrote a report criticising Israel's response to a Palestinian border protest.

Kurdish tensions escalate in Turkey parliament row
Daily Star 5 Jul 2011 Turkey’s main opposition Tuesday vowed to maintain a parliamentary boycott as the ruling party threatened that its deputies might be expelled from the legislature as fresh violence in the Kurdish south killed two Turkish soldiers.

Mladic removed from UN war crimes courtroom for disruption
Ha'aretz - Ex-Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic appears before UN court at the Hague despite boycott warning; Mladic ordered out of court after disrupts reading of charges.

Ousted Tunisian leader gets 15-year jail term
Jerusalem Post 4 Jul 2011 - Ben Ali convicted in absentia of drugs, weapons charges; lawyers boycott trial; former president already sentenced on other charges.

Turkey elects new speaker as opposition keeps up boycott
Daily Star 4 Jul 2011 Turkey’s parliament elected a new speaker Monday as the opposition maintained a boycott over jailed lawmakers after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed calls for reconciliation.

Iran: UN sanctions can't slow missile advancements
Ha'aretz - Iranian defense minister’s comments come amid ten days of war games; Iran recently unveiled underground silos that can carry missiles capable of hitting Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf.

Yemeni President Saleh calls for dialogue but keeps his grip on power
The National 1 Jul 2011 - The revolution youth organising committee said it will boycott any talks with the ruling party and those behind the killing of innocent protesters.

BDS will free both the oppressed, and the oppressor
Mondoweiss - On June 27, the bill "to protect the state of Israel from damage caused by boycott” was approved by the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee for second and third readings in the plenum. The bill passed its first reading in the Knesset plenum on March 7,...

Israel delegation condemns Germany decision to host Iran politicians
Ha'aretz - Delegation headed by MK Shaul Mofaz says decision to host Iranian parliamentarians in Berlin contradicts German call for sanctions against Iran.

Israeli Anti-Boycott Bill Prepared for Final Vote
IMEMC - Tuesday June 28, 2011 - 11:44, The Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee has approved an extended edition of a boycott bill which will prohibit the boycott of any person or product connected to Israel.

[uruknet.info] Why Socialists should support the boycott of Israel: a response to the Socialist Party of Australia
Uruknet June 27, 2011 - Dear friends, in April, on the eve of the vote by the Marrickville Council in Sydney to rescind their support for BDS, the Socialist Party of Australia issued a statement on their Yarra Socialist website opposing BDS. In response to the Socialist Party of Australia's position - a position which is held by the...

[uruknet.info] Bahrain's opposition to boycott dialogue, elections
Uruknet June 27, 2011 - Bahrain's largest Shiite opposition group says it will boycott the national dialogue next month and the September parliament elections in protest against the authorities for "not doing enough." Al Wefaq National Islamic Society said it was in no mood to give in to the authorities' call for a national dialogue starting July 1st that...