BDS Legislation 2-11-2016

11, February 2016               BDS Legislation

Letter writers, Harry Roussard and Arthur Cohn (Daily 10, February 2016) wrongly conflate the BDS movement or criticism of Israeli policies to anti-Semitism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations (UNSG), in an ‘op ed’ in the New York Times, vented his frustration at Israel’s messianic zeal to displace more Palestinians, demolish their homes and build more and more settlements. Palestinians are living in appalling segregated conditions increasingly reminiscent of White apartheid South Africa. 

Thumbing their nose at US demands to halt settlement expansion, the Israeli government has approved plans for over 150 new homes in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank Last month, 370 acres in the West Bank were declared “state land,” a status that is typically a precursor for more settlements. Thousands more Palestinian homes are in danger of demolition subject to harsh discriminatory practices. Many young Palestinians are losing hope that Israel’s great benefactor, the United States, has abandoned its values and continues to support their oppressor. According to a new report by Human Rights Watch, Israeli enterprises are thriving on land stolen from the Palestinians. Confiscation of this land is declared illegal under international law. Israeli Jews receive many government incentives to move into these settlements such as, free land, low rents and unlimited water. In a growing apartheid system, the government routinely denies Palestinians permits to open their own businesses, demolishes their homes, drives them off their land and ignores settler violence. According to the World Bank, the restrictions imposed on the Palestinian cost them $3.4 billion a year. There are roughly 1,000 Israeli factories in the West Bank. Stifling the Palestinian economy has forced many Palestinians to work in these illegal settlement enterprises for less than the minimum wage adding to their humiliation. Many Palestinians are fearful of complaining lest they lose their work permits. If workers complain, employers retaliate by deeming them to be a ‘security threat’. Insensitive to the plight of the Palestinians, the United States, will soon approve new legislation known as the Customs Bill, which will void any distinction of goods made in illegal settlements.  Such a bill was drafted to blunt the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a grass-roots movement aimed at combating Israel’s discriminatory practices. In a pushback to Israeli policies of discrimination, the pension board of the United Methodist Church declared that it will no longer support Israeli banks funding settlement activities. This comes on the heels of the decision by the European Union (EU) which declared that goods made in the settlements could not carry a ‘made in Israel’ label. 550 prominent Israelis supported the EU decision, including Avishai Margalit, a former recipient of the Israel Prize in philosophy, and Avraham Burg, a former speaker of the Israeli Knesset. Israel should take heed of its unlawful settlement policy, failing which it will inevitably suffer opprobrium and further isolation. Support of current Israeli policies by Roussard and Cohn is not an act of loyalty but utter betrayal and a shameful effort to stifle free speech.