The Case for Sanctions Against Israel

Israel murderous assault on the peace flotilla, and the continuing blockade of Gaza, has led many to despair of the official Middle East "peace process"--if it ever had been pursued in earnest, it lies in tatters after the second Lebanon War, the Gaza War, and the continuing expansion of illegal settlements. Despite the Goldstone Report and numerous UN resolutions, the US and EU offer only the mildest rebukes in response to IDF actions, and they refuse to dampen the flow of economic and military aid to Israel.

As a result of this ongoing bloodshed and diplomatic deadlock, the movement for a boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS) campaign has been building in strength within Israel and Palestine, and is now spreading to Europe and the US. This essential intervention considers all sides of the argument--including detailed comparisons with the South African experience--and has contributions from both sides of the Separation Wall, along with a stellar list of international commentators.

Contributors: Talal Asad, Mustafa Barghouti, Dalit Baum, Mirav Amir, Joel Beinin, John Berger, Judith Butler, Beshara Doumani, Marc Ellis, Neve Gordon, Rema Hammami, Ronald Kasrils, Jamal Khader, Mohammed Khatib, Naomi Klein, Ken Loach, Anat Matar, Ilan Pappé, Jonathan Pollack, Eyad al-Sarraj, Salim Tamari, Michel Warshavsky, Slavoj Žižek.

Leading international voices argue for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

In July 2011, Israel passed legislation outlawing the public support of boycott activities against the state, corporations, and settlements, adding a crackdown on free speech to its continuing blockade of Gaza and the expansion of illegal settlements. Nonetheless, the campaign for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) continues to grow in strength within Israel and Palestine, as well as in Europe and the US.

This essential intervention considers all sides of the movement--including detailed comparisons with the South African experience--and contains contributions from both sides of the separation wall, along with a stellar list of international commentators.

Contributors: Merav Amir and Dalit Baum, Ra'anaan Alexandrowicz, Hind Awwad, Mustafa Barghouthi, Omar Barghouti, Joel Beinin, John Berger, Angela Davis, Nada Elia, Marc Ellis, Noura Erakat, Ran Greenstein, Neve Gordon, Ronald Kasrils, Jamal Khader, Naomi Klein, Mark LeVine, Ken Loach, David Lloyd and Laura Pulido, Haneen Maikey, Ilan Pappe, Jonathan Pollak, Lisa Taraki, Rebecca Vilkomerson, Michael Warschawski, Slavoj Žižek.

Omar Barghouti is a human rights activist, founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and the BDS movement, and author of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights.

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, fellow at the Nation Institute and author of The Shock Doctrine.

Ilan Pappe is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. His many books include The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and, most recently, Gaza in Crisis (with Noam Chomsky). He writes for, among others, the Guardian and the London Review of Books.

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His books include Living in the End Times, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, In Defense of Lost Causes, four volumes of the Essential Žižek, and many more.

Ra’anan Alexandrowicz is an Israeli filmmaker and activist.

Hind Awwad is a coordinator with the Palestinian BDS National Committee.

Mustafa Barghouthi is the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, the president of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and a nonviolence democracy leader based in Ramallah.

Dalit Baum and Merav Amir are project coordinators of Who Profits from the Occupation? in the Coalition of Women for Peace.

Joel Beinin is Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History at Stanford University.

Storyteller, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, dramatist and critic, John Berger is one of the most internationally influential writers of the last fifty years. His many books include Ways of Seeing, the fiction trilogy Into Their Labours, Here Is Where We Meet, the Booker Prize-winning novel G, Hold Everything Dear, the Man Booker-longlisted From A to X, and A Seventh Man.

Angela Davis is a teacher, writer, scholar, and activist/organizer.

Nada Elia teaches Global and Gender Studies at Antioch University in Seattle. She is a member of the Organizing Collective of USACBI, the US Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Marc H. Ellis is University Professor of Jewish Studies, Professor of History and Founding Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University. He is the author and editor of more than twenty books, including Encountering the Jewish Future.

Noura Erakat is a human rights attorney and Adjunct Professor of International Human Rights Law at Georgetown University.

Neve Gordon is an Israeli academic and the author of Israel’s Occupation.

Ran Greenstein works at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ronnie Kasrils is a former South African government minister and was an activist during the anti-apartheid struggle. Among other positions, he was chief of military intelligence of the ANC’s military wing. Today he writes and lectures, is active in the Palestinian solidarity movement, and is a noted author whose recent book The Unlikely Secret Agent won the country’s prestigious Alan Paton Award.

Father Jamal Khader is Chairperson of the Department of Religious Studies, Bethlehem University, Palestine.

Mark LeVine is a Professor of Middle East History at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam and Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989.

David Lloyd is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California.

Ken Loach is the director of The Wind That Shakes the Barley and Looking for Eric. Rebecca O’Brien and Paul Laverty were the producer and writer, respectively, for the latter film.

Haneen Maikey is cofounder and Director of al-Qaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, and cofounder of Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

Jonathan Pollak is an Israeli activist who has been involved in the Palestinian popular struggle since 2002.

Laura Pulido is a Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

Lisa Taraki is a Sociologist at Birzeit University in the occupied Palestinian territories, and a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Rebecca Vilkomerson is the Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Michael Warschawski is a journalist, political analyst, and veteran Israeli anticolonial activist. He is also the cofounder of the Alternative Information Center.

Audrea Lim is an associate editor at Verso Books.