Ben Gurion University
Ben Gurion University -
Neve Gordon (Dept of Political Science) calls in the Los Angeles
Times for a world boycott of Israel. Is there no limit to academic
treason even at Israel's "Bir Zeit" of the Negev?
It
is indeed not a simple matter for me as an Israeli citizen to call
on foreign governments, regional authorities, international social
movements, faith-based organizations, unions and citizens to suspend
cooperation with Israel. … The most accurate way to describe
Israel
today is as an apartheid state. … It is therefore clear to me that
the only way to counter the apartheid trend in Israel is through
massive international pressure. … I consequently have decided to
support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that was
launched by Palestinian activists in July 2005 and has since
garnered widespread support around the globe. The objective is to
ensure that
Israel
respects its obligations under international law and that
Palestinians are granted the right to self-determination.
Please write to the heads of
Ben Gurion
University (contact information below) and let them know what you
think of this:
Rivka
Carmi, President
P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel,
rcarmi@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
and president@bgu.ac.il
Tel: 972-8-6461211/9
Fax: 972-8-6472991
Prof. Jimmy Weinblatt, Rector
P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel
rector@bgu.ac.il
Tel: 972-8-6461223
Fax: 972-8-6479434
Boycott Israel
An Israeli comes to the painful conclusion that it's the only way to
save his country.
By Neve Gordon
August 20, 2009
Israeli newspapers this summer are filled with angry articles
about the push for an international boycott of Israel. Films have
been withdrawn from Israeli film festivals, Leonard Cohen is under
fire around the world for his decision to perform in Tel Aviv, and
Oxfam has severed ties with a celebrity spokesperson, a British
actress who also endorses cosmetics produced in the occupied
territories. Clearly, the campaign to use the kind of tactics that
helped put an end to the practice of apartheid in South Africa is
gaining many followers around the world.
Not surprisingly, many Israelis -- even peaceniks -- aren't
signing on. A global boycott can't help but contain echoes of
anti-Semitism. It also brings up questions of a double standard (why
not boycott China for its egregious violations of human rights?) and
the seemingly contradictory position of approving a boycott of one's
own nation.
It is indeed not a simple matter for me as an Israeli citizen to
call on foreign governments, regional authorities, international
social movements, faith-based organizations, unions and citizens to
suspend cooperation with Israel. But today, as I watch my two boys
playing in the yard, I am convinced that it is the only way that
Israel can be saved from itself.
I say this because Israel has reached a historic crossroads, and
times of crisis call for dramatic measures. I say this as a Jew who
has chosen to raise his children in Israel, who has been a member of
the Israeli peace camp for almost 30 years and who is deeply anxious
about the country's future.
The most accurate way to describe Israel today is as an apartheid
state. For more than 42 years, Israel has controlled the land
between the Jordan Valley and the Mediterranean Sea. Within this
region about 6 million Jews and close to 5 million Palestinians
reside. Out of this population, 3.5 million Palestinians and almost
half a million Jews live in the areas Israel occupied in 1967, and
yet while these two groups live in the same area, they are subjected
to totally different legal systems. The Palestinians are stateless
and lack many of the most basic human rights. By sharp contrast, all
Jews -- whether they live in the occupied territories or in Israel
-- are citizens of the state of Israel.
The question that keeps me up at night, both as a parent and as a
citizen, is how to ensure that my two children as well as the
children of my Palestinian neighbors do not grow up in an apartheid
regime.
There are only two moral ways of achieving this goal.
The first is the one-state solution: offering citizenship to all
Palestinians and thus establishing a bi-national democracy within
the entire area controlled by Israel. Given the demographics, this
would amount to the demise of Israel as a Jewish state; for most
Israeli Jews, it is anathema.
The second means of ending our apartheid is through the two-state
solution, which entails Israel's withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders
(with possible one-for-one land swaps), the division of Jerusalem,
and a recognition of the Palestinian right of return with the
stipulation that only a limited number of the 4.5 million
Palestinian refugees would be allowed to return to Israel, while the
rest can return to the new Palestinian state.
Geographically, the one-state solution appears much more feasible
because Jews and Palestinians are already totally enmeshed; indeed,
"on the ground," the one-state solution (in an apartheid
manifestation) is a reality.
Ideologically, the two-state solution is more realistic because
fewer than 1% of Jews and only a minority of Palestinians support
binationalism.
For now, despite the concrete difficulties, it makes more sense
to alter the geographic realities than the ideological ones. If at
some future date the two peoples decide to share a state, they can
do so, but currently this is not something they want.
So if the two-state solution is the way to stop the apartheid
state, then how does one achieve this goal?
I am convinced that outside pressure is the only answer. Over the
last three decades, Jewish settlers in the occupied territories have
dramatically increased their numbers. The myth of the united
Jerusalem has led to the creation of an apartheid city where
Palestinians aren't citizens and lack basic services. The Israeli
peace camp has gradually dwindled so that today it is almost
nonexistent, and Israeli politics are moving more and more to the
extreme right.
It is therefore clear to me that the only way to counter the
apartheid trend in Israel is through massive international pressure.
The words and condemnations from the Obama administration and the
European Union have yielded no results, not even a settlement
freeze, let alone a decision to withdraw from the occupied
territories.
I consequently have decided to support the Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions movement that was launched by Palestinian activists in
July 2005 and has since garnered widespread support around the
globe. The objective is to ensure that Israel respects its
obligations under international law and that Palestinians are
granted the right to self-determination.
In Bilbao, Spain, in 2008, a coalition of organizations from all
over the world formulated the
10-point Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign meant to
pressure Israel in a "gradual, sustainable manner that is sensitive
to context and capacity." For example, the effort begins with
sanctions on and divestment from Israeli firms operating in the
occupied territories, followed by actions against those that help
sustain and reinforce the occupation in a visible manner. Along
similar lines, artists who come to Israel in order to draw attention
to the occupation are welcome, while those who just want to perform
are not.
Nothing else has worked. Putting massive international pressure
on Israel is the only way to guarantee that the next generation of
Israelis and Palestinians -- my two boys included -- does not grow
up in an apartheid regime.
Neve Gordon is the author of "Israel's Occupation" and teaches
politics at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel.
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