Israel's Freedom Flotilla Massacre underlines the urgency of intensifying BDS
Occupied Palestine, 08 June 2010 -- In light of Israel’s massacre of humanitarian relief workers and activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla on 31 May 2010 and its insistence to continue its illegal siege on Gaza, pressuring Israel to comply with its obligations under international law has become of undeniable urgency.
Today we see signs that the unconditional support given to Israel over the decades by the international community to protect it from being held accountable, or indeed criticized, is showing cracks. Israel’s Flotilla Massacre has been met with international sanctions including Nicaragua’s suspension of diplomatic relations with Israel[i]; South Africa[ii] and Turkey[iii] recalling their respective ambassadors from Tel Aviv, as well as a unanimous call in the Turkish parliament to "revise the political, military and economic relations with Israel" and to "seek justice against Israel through national and international legal authorities."[iv] Furthermore, Norway‘s minister of education and head of the Socialist Left party, Kristin Halvorsen, reconfirmed Norway‘s arms ban on Israel and called all other states to "follow the Norwegian position which excludes trading arms with Israel."[v] International civil society has also responded swiftly and effectively to Israel’s attack on the Flotilla. The Swedish Port Workers Union heeded the BNC appeal[vi] by deciding to blockade all cargo to and from Israel from June 15 to 24.[vii] The South African trade union federation COSATU called for "greater support for the international boycott, divestment and sanction campaign against Israel," urging "all South Africans to refuse to buy or handle any goods from Israel or have any dealings with Israeli businesses."[viii] The South African Transport and Allied Workers‘ Union (SATAWU), which pioneered the boycott against Israeli maritime trade in February 2009, refusing to offload a ship in Durban, also heeded the BNC appeal, calling upon its members "not to allow any Israeli ship to dock or unload" and calling upon fellow tra de unionists "not to handle them." [ix] The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) unanimously called for making every municipality in South Africa an Apartheid Israel free zone.[x] Britain‘s largest union, Unite, unanimously passed a BDS motion to boycott all Israeli companies at its first policy conference in Manchester.[xi] Norway’s largest trade union federation, LO, comprising almost one fifth of the entire Norwegian population, called on the State Pension Fund, the third largest in the world, to divest from all Israeli companies.[xii] A poll taken after the Flotilla attack showed more than 42% of Norwegians now supporting a comprehensive boycott of Israeli goods.[xiii]
Leading cultural figures have also had their say. World renowned British writer, Iain Banks, wrote in the Guardian that the best way for international artists, writers and academics to “convince Israel of its moral degradation and ethical isolation” is “simply by having nothing more to do with this outlaw state.”[xiv] The Klaxons and Gorillaz Sound System cancelled their scheduled concerts in Israel, due to the Flotilla attack,[xv] and so did the Pixies.[xvi] World best-selling writer, the Swedish Henning Mankell, who was on the Freedom Flotilla when attacked, called for South-Africa style global sanctions against Israel in response to its brutality.[xvii] The best-selling US author, Alice Walker, reminded the world of the Rosa Parks-triggered and Martin Luther King-led boycott of a racist bus company in Montgomery, Alabama during the civil rights movement, calling for wide endorsement of BDS against Israel as a moral duty.[xviii]
The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) warmly welcomes these brave, principled and effective international positions and actions to end Israel‘s siege and criminal impunity. We salute the artists, sportspersons, and trade unions for heeding Palestinian civil society calls for effective solidarity with the Palestinian people in the form of BDS.
Today, we call on:
·Dockworkers unions everywhere to heed the call[xix] issued 7 June 2010 by the entire Palestinian trade union movement to block loading and offloading cargo on/from Israeli ships.
·Governments to immediately end all collusion with Israel‘s unlawful blockade of the Gaza Strip and to pressure Israel to guarantee unrestricted access and freedom of movement of people and products into and out of the Gaza Strip. Governments that uphold international law and human rights are urged to initiate a global arms embargo against Israel and ban on settlement trade.
·People of conscience to pressure governments to immediately suspend arms trade with Israel, and to implement trade sanctions, bringing to justice all Israeli officials and military personnel who took the decision and/or implemented this latest massacre as well as earlier war crimes.
In particular, we call on:
·The EU to refuse to renew the EU-Israel Action Plan and to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement; the Mercosur states to suspend the FTA with Israel; India and Chile to end all negotiations around an FTA with Israel.
·Turkey, Greece and Ireland/, as states whose civilian ships were illegally attacked in international waters by Israel, to pursue all legal channels possible to bring Israelis responsible for this war crime to justice and to suspend all bi-lateral agreements with Israel until it respects international law.
·An end to arms trade and military ties: in particularfor India, Turkey and Brazil -- the three major importers of Israeli arms[xxv] -- to stop all military ties and arms deals with Israel.
·The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to activate its calls for a ban on colonial settlement goods, denial of entry to settlers and sanctions on companies/entities involved in the Wall and settlements, issued repeatedly at NAM meetings since 2004.[xxvi]
·South Africa parliament to join the struggle against Israeli apartheid first by banning Israeli and international companies implicated in the occupation and apartheid from public contracts. It is also urged to lead the initiative on a global arms embargo on Israel and on a gradual ban on Israeli products. Diamond trade with Israel must also gradually come to a halt, by developing polishing workshops in South Africa, rather than allowing Israel to exploit South African raw diamonds to make enormous profits in the polishing process.
·Arab States to end existing diplomatic and trade agreements with Israel and to exclude from public contracts all international companies involved in Israel’s violations of international law and human rights, especially Veolia, Alstom, Lev Leviev, Caterpillar, Motorola, Volvo, etc. Egypt should indefinitely open the Rafah Crossing.
·Trade Unions participating in the upcoming ITUC conference in Vancouver to endorse BDS and sever links with Histadrut.
In the words of Nelson Mandela, justice for the people of Palestine has become “the greatest moral issue of our time.” Israel’s brutal siege of Gaza is today the most critical and urgent of all Israeli injustices against the Palestinian people. The BNC calls on people of conscience and citizen groups all over the world to intensify BDS campaigns against Israel as the most effective means of ending the siege and holding Israel accountable to international law in the pursuit of a just peace.
[1]Leading international law expert, Prof. Ben Saul, for instance, comments on the Flotilla attack saying: "This latest sad and shocking episode is a reminder of Israel‘s recklessness towards the lives of others, its utter disregard for international opinion, and its incivility as an outlaw of the international community." http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2915343.htm Prominent British lawyers reached the same conclusion in a letter to the Times: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article7142646.ece And so did leading Dutch international law professors in a letter to NRC Handelsblad: http://www.iss.nl/News/Karin-Arts-co-authors-letter-about-Israel-for-Dutch-newspaper
[2] http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/cspca/cspca.html [3] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3897773,00.html [4] http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=a_vBbjBZJ6LM&pid=20601087 [5] http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-212110-100-ambassador-celikkol-back-in-ankara-for-consultations.html [6] http://www.news-gazette.com/news/news/2010-06-02/turkeys-parliament-wants-review-israeli-ties.html [7] http://www.swedishwire.com/nordic/4809-norway-calls-for-boycott-on-arms-to-israel [8] http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/710 [9] http://ibnkafkasobiterdicta.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/the-swedish-dockers-union-decides-on-a-blockade-against-israeli-ships-and-goods/ [10] http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?include=docs/pr/2010/pr0531d.html&ID=3395&cat=COSATU%20Today [11] http://groups.google.com/group/cosatu-press/msg/a2ff0baff48201c4?pli=1 [12] http://www.samwu.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=621&Itemid=1 [13] http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/32579/unite-votes-boycott-israel [14] http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.7148110 [5] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3898052,00.html [16] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/03/boycott-israel-iain-banks [17] http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/klaxons-and-gorillaz-sound-system-cancel-israel-shows-apparently-due-to-gaza-flotilla-raid-1.294191 [18] http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/06/2919568.htm?section=justin [19] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/7795692/Gaza-aid-flotilla-Henning-Mankell-calls-for-sanctions-on-Israel.html [20] http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11319.shtml [21] http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/712 [22] http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=177210 [23] http://www.unions.org.il/BRPortal/br/P106.jsp?id=7642 [24] http://www.pgftu.org/ensite/news.php?action=view&id=76 [25] http://www.labourstart.org/israel/Histadrut_on_Gaza.pdf [26 http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/arms-embargo-vital-gaza-civilian-toll-mounts-20090115 [27] See Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), http://armstrade.sipri.org/armstrade/page/values.php [28] “With regard to Member States, the Ministers called upon them to undertake measures, including by means of legislation, collectively, regionally and individually, to prevent any products of the illegal Israeli settlements from entering their markets consistent with the obligations under International Treaties, to decline entry to Israeli settlers and to impose sanctions against companies and entities involved in the construction of the wall and other illegal activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”. http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/4B3B9C4D7017D42D8525722700520F5F Stay updated!Sign-up for news, campaign updates, action alerts and fundraisers from the BDS movement. |