Boycot Israel 98

September 2010 www.pacbi.org

South Africa Champions Academic Boycott of Israel  PACBI welcomes the decision by the Senate of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) "not to continue a long-standing relationship with Ben Gurion University (BGU) in Israel in its present form" and to set conditions "for the relationship to continue." The fact that the UJ Senate set an ultimatum of six months for BGU to end its complicity with the occupation army and to end policies of racial discrimination against Palestinians is a truly significant departure from the business-as-usual attitude that had governed agreements between the two institutions until recently. PACBI warmly salutes all those who worked on and who endorsed the campaign to cut links with BGU. The precedent-setting petition, endorsed by the heads of four South African universities and prominent leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Breyten Breytenbach, John Dugard, Antjie Krog, Barney Pityana, and Kader Asmal, does not mince words in calling for severing links with BGU and, it implies, with all Israeli institutions complicit in violations of international law. PACBI Salutes US, British Artists Supporting Cultural Boycott of Israeli Colonies  PACBI warmly salutes the tens of American and British theater, film and TV artists for supporting the spreading cultural boycott of Ariel and the rest of Israel's colonial settlements illegally built on Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) due to their violation of international law. Ann L. Stoler: By Colonial Design  If democracy is defined, as Hannah Arendt did, by 'the right to have rights' for an entire population within the state’s jurisdiction, the Israeli state cannot be considered a democratic one. Nor can a democracy be founded on the principle of expulsion … – a principle avidly embraced by Israel since l948. NYT reports Adalah-NY Boycott of Batsheva  The New York Times covered Adalah-NY's "picketing and handing out pamphlets criticizing Israeli policies toward Palestinians and urging a boycott of [Batsheva], which receives substantial support from [the Israeli] government." The report added that "the protesters yelled (You're dancing around apartheid)." PACBI Editorial BDS Goes South In a landmark event held in New Delhi on 22-23 September 2010, the conference “A Just Peace for Palestine” ended with a clear call for BDS as a strategy for realizing justice for Palestinians. The conference was co-organized by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the Committee for Solidarity with Palestine, the All India Peace and Solidarity Organization, and the recently established Indian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. The conference ended with a resolution that called upon "the Indian government to end its military ties with Israel and return to its earlier commitment to the cause of the Palestinian people." The conference also affirmed that "the world must declare that Israel is an apartheid state. It must call for global boycott and sanctions on Israel as long as it continues its illegal occupation of Palestine and its apartheid policies." The resolution appealed to “people in India to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign as a show of solidarity with the Palestine people and their just struggle." A plan of action was announced, in which several steps to show solidarity with Palestinians were outlined, particularly the launching of BDS campaigns and other measures by people's action groups in the Asian region.

500+ US academics endorse academic boycott of Israel  Endorsements by US academics and scholars of the academic boycott of Israel recently crossed 500, with now 150 cultural workers also endorsing USACBI. Kasrils: South Africa’s Israel Boycott  The principled position of academics in South Africa to distance themselves from institutions that support the occupation is a reflection of the advances ... UMass Boston Faculty urge TIAA-CREF to Divest  Faculty and staff at the University of Massachusetts in Boston called upon the non-profit investment firm TIAA-CREF to divest its holdings from companies ...