bdsmovement.net,
July 3, 2014
Call
for Israel to be Held Accountable
Palestinian
boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activists are urging governments
and international civil society to take action to hold Israel
to account for its continued collective punishment of Palestinians
in the West Bank and Gaza following the disappearance and killing
of three Israeli settlers.
Zaid Shuaibi,
a spokesperson for the Palestinian BDS National Committee, the
civil society coalition that leads and supports the BDS movement,
said:
“Israel’s
on-going actions are designed to terrorise Palestinians and constitute
collective punishment. Military violence, collective punishment
and the deliberate targeting of civilians are endemic to Israel’s
of decades old system of occupation, colonisation and apartheid.”
“Israel
is able to act with utter impunity because of the military, economic
and political support it receives from governments around the
world. We call on international governments to impose a two-way
arms embargo immediately and to suspend bilateral agreements until
Israel fully complies with international law”.
“At a
time when mainstream bodies such as the Bill Gates Foundation,
the Presbyterian Church USA and the US? United Methodist Church
are divesting from companies profiting from Israel’s occupation,
including G4S and Hewlett Packard, we call on people of conscience
to intensify BDS pressure.”
Shuabi also
called on people of conscience and supporters of BDS to consider
joining the Month Against the Apartheid Wall that is marking the
10th anniversary of the International Court of Justice ruling
that Israel’s apartheid Wall is illegal.
Hundreds of
military raids have been launched across the occupied West Bank
since June 12, with more than 1000 private homes and refugee camps
and the offices of civil society organisations ransacked.
At least 10
Palestinians have been killed and many more have been injured.
More than 500 Palestinians have been detained and initial reports
suggest that many of those arrested are held under administrative
detention, a form of detention without charge or trial on secret
evidence. The number of children held in Israeli jails has risen
to 250. Israel has also imposed severe restrictions of movement.
On Wednesday,
Israeli settlers kidnapped and killed a 16 year old from the Shuafat
area of Palestinian East Jerusalem and Israeli soldiers attacked
Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Palestinian
organisations have detailed how Israel’s recent actions constitute
collective punishment, a crime prohibited by the Fourth Geneva
Convention as well as customary international humanitarian law.
Israeli occupation
forces have also targeted the campuses of Birzeit University near
Ramallah and the Arab American University in Jenin, resulting
in the detention and arrest of students and staff and greatly
infringing the Palestinian right to education.
Samia Botmeh,
a professor at Birzeit University and a steering committee member
with the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott
of Israel, said:
“Israel’s
latest violations against Palestinian universities are part of
its long history of oppression aimed at Palestinian education.
Closure of universities for periods stretching to years, murder
and detention of students and professors, destruction of universities’
properties and labs as well as the banning of lists of books have
been Israel’s systematic policies targeting Palestinian education.”
“It must
be emphasized that throughout the decades of oppression, no Israeli
university or association of Israeli academics has ever protested
the sustained assaults on Palestinian universities. It is essential
to intensify all forms of BDS, including the academic and cultural
boycott, until Israel ends its violations of Palestinian rights.”
Israel has
conducted at least 100 airstrikes and shellings of Gaza in recent
days, including an intense bombing of dozens of locations in the
early hours of Tuesday, further worsening the situation for Palestinians
in Gaza, which has been under a brutal military siege for more
than 7 years.
Haidar Eid,
associate professor at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza and a PACBI
steering committee member, said:
“We,
residents of Gaza, have been unable to fathom how it is that official
bodies of the international community tolerate blatant war crimes
committed against the people of Gaza, in spite of thousands of
reports by mainstream human rights organizations!”
“Is it
farfetched to expect people of conscience to heed our call to
boycott this intransigent, racist and militarized Israeli regime
and the institutions that keep it thriving, the same way apartheid
South Africa was boycotted until it crumbled?”
Ayah Abubasheer,
a youth and BDS activist in Gaza, added:
“During
the past few weeks, Israel has been violently and intensely launching
a series of air strikes against the Gaza Strip. The population
of the Gaza Strip continues to pay the price and bear the blaze
of Israel’s polices.”
“Because
collective punishment is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions,
we urge the international community to pressure Israel to end
its all-out military assault aimed against the total population
of Gaza, open Rafah crossing permanently and heed our call for
boycotts, divestment and sanctions.”
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