How civil society can stand up to Israel

Since the horrific Israeli assault on Gaza that started on July 8th, I was inundated with calls from people asking how to help. What was heartening was that in addition to wanting to donate to credible charities to aid with the aftermath of the carnage, there was a willingness to engage in a boycott, something I have not seen since the mid-nineties.

There is a growing, worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) that has seen many successes. One small example was in June of this year, when the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA voted to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions because they provide equipment and/or expertise for Israel’s occupation.

It is upon us to educate ourselves and join the growing call for BDS.

In 2005, over 170 Palestinian political parties, organisations, trade unions and movements that represented Palestinian refugees, Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Palestinians living in Israel issued a call upon international civil society to impose boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel. The aim of BDS is to force Israel to abide by its international obligations by ending its occupation of the land it occupied in the course of the 1967 War; recognising the right to full equality under law and practice for Palestinians living in Israel; and implementing UN Resolution 194, which provides for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes and properties.

BDS provides a direct way for citizens of the world and organisations to demand with their actions that Israel desist from its illegal policies.

The right targets

Ever since the Gaza bombardment, there have been renewed calls for boycotts from a cross-section of peoples, including residents and citizens of Arab countries. With this revitalised zeal, however, has come a feel-good approach to boycotts: Boycott anything that has a remote connection to Israel, regardless of whether that connection has come from confirmed sources or not. This will backfire for three reasons; firstly, without credible information on the precise links of the company with Israel, we risk being reactionary and punishing the wrong companies with flimsy reasoning at best, and in a way that has no bearing on Palestine at all. Secondly, this list becomes so overblown that most people feel that it is impossible, forfeiting any boycott because it is too difficult. Thirdly, without an effective campaign and specific demands, it is unclear what the point of the boycott is, aside from the feeling of ‘doing something for the cause’.

As the BDS National Committee explains, boycott and divestment are aimed at companies and institutions that profit from Israel’s violations of human rights. The purpose is to pressure Israel to conform to its international and domestic obligations, which it has ignored for so long- since 1948. Thus boycotts must be strategic, and companies must be made to understand that there are consequences to profiting from human rights violations. The boycott of Israeli products is a moot point in the UAE context as there are not, or should not be, any Israeli products being sold.

So what would be a strategic boycott target? We can start with one:

Roadblocks

There are approximately 522 roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank, according to the UN. HP produces the biometric ID systems used to track and control Palestinian movement through these checkpoints, and to grant or deny special movement privileges. HP has a contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defence to develop, execute, and maintain a biometric identification system installed at the checkpoints in the West Bank. In this case, HP is directly profiting from multi-million dollar contracts with the Israeli government, which uses its systems to violate Palestinian freedom of movement in their own territory, and is actively developing these systems for that purpose. So how does boycotting HP help? The campaign asks HP to cancel all its contracts with the Israeli government that provide them with the means to violate Palestinian rights.

Thirty-seven per cent of HP’s revenue comes from the EMEA (Europe, MidEast and Africa) region. If hundreds of people write to HP expressing their concern and their intention to boycott, as well as encouraging stores that sell HP to inform the parent company that their products will go through a boycott, HP may be forced to reconsider. If large and small companies threaten to terminate their contracts with HP, this puts immense pressure on the company to choose between its relations with Israel and with the entire Gulf region.

Other credible boycott targets are Caterpillar (which also sells consumer products such as shoes and bags), Hyundai (which supplies bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes), Sodastream (which is sold in Europe and the US) and Lev Leviev diamonds. Lev Leviev is particularly odious due to its construction of illegal colonies as well as human rights violations in Africa.

In some sectors of Gulf society, some have raised the objection that Islam does not prevent trade with Jews, or with any other religion or peoples for that matter. Indeed this is true. But to use this argument against a boycott is to buy in to Israel’s propaganda that Israel is representative of Jews and Judaism. This is blatantly not the case. It is about a state’s consistent violation and usurpation of an indigenous people’s rights, in contravention of all international law. This is what the BDS movement targets. And there are many brave Jewish groups, such as Jewish Voices for Peace, who support the BDS movement for the rights of Palestinians.

It is time for a concerted, renewed effort from the Arab world to join an effective and popular BDS movement. It is the very least we can do.

Jinan Bastaki is a graduate of law from the London School of Economics and UC Berkeley. She is currently pursuing a PhD, specialising in international law.