BDS: global call to action
Occupied Palestine, 1 June 2010 – The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) strongly condemns last night’s fatal attack by the Israeli navy on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip.
In response, the BNC calls on international civil society to:
* Mobilize for an emergency Global BDS Day of Action on Saturday 5 June 2010 — the 43rd anniversary of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem
* Pressure governments to start implementing trade sanctions and arms embargos
* We call specifically on transport and dock workers and unions around the globe to: Refuse to load/offload Israeli ships and airplanes, following the historic example set by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) in Durban in February 2009 and endorsed by the Maritime Union of Australia (Western Australia).
Israel’s impunity is the direct result of the international community’s failure to hold it accountable for its ongoing occupation, colonization and apartheid against the Palestinian people. Israel’s most recent war crimes committed in Gaza and documented in the Goldstone report as well as crimes committed in 2006 against the Lebanese people did not trigger any UN or official sanctions, entrenching Israel’s feeling of being above the law. In fact, Israel’s grave violation of international law was recently rewarded when the OECD voted unanimously to accept its membership. The BNC urges international civil society to end this deep and fatal complicity.
The BNC also welcomes and affirms the call of the UN expert on human rights Prof. Richard Falk who stated,
“It is time to insist on the end of the blockade of Gaza. The worldwide campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel is now a moral and political imperative, and needs to be supported and strengthened everywhere.”[1]
The BNC also calls on people of conscience and citizen groups all over the world to intensify BDS campaigns against Israel as the most effective means of holding it accountable to international law and ending its fatal impunity.
For action ideas and updates, please see: http://bdsdayofaction.net/
Complete press release, including contact information for coordination of action, go here:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/710
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06/05/2010 at 2:39 pm
Is it possible that the reason the international community fails to hold Israel accountable is that Israel is doing nothing wrong? I have seen many countries and groups up in arms over apartheid in other countries. I believe the reaction would be just as strong from the world as a whole if people thought Israel was in the wrong.