International boycott Israeli goods (BIG) day

Saturday May 11 is International Boycott Israeli Goods (BIG) day. This is a global initiative, which aims to bring pressure on the Israeli government to 1)end its illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem 2)stop its human rights violations and 3)comply with UN resolutions. We aim to bring awareness to the consumer that the choice of goods purchased can make a difference as it did to South Africa. By boycotting Israeli products and leisure tourism we are also letting the besieged Palestinian people know that they are not forgotten.

As well as the Boycott of Israeli goods and services, the Campaign aims to persuade businesses to stop trading with Israel and to lobby for an end to European Union and national trade agreements with Israel.

The fact is that money talks. Businesses will abandon their support of Israel if their economic interests are threatened. These boycott campaigns will continue to grow until Israel withdraws from the occupied territories, respects human rights, and obeys International law.

THINK GLOBALLY AND ACT LOCALLY

In addition to their economic effects, activists can and have used boycotts and divestment campaigns as educational tools. We must educate universities, corporations, and consumers about the support we provide Israeli aggression by our purchases and investments. Reports from activists have been encouraging and are similar to the early successes that grew quickly into the pressure on South Africa that ended Apartheid. Let us do for the Palestinians what the world did for the South Africans.

TAKE IT FROM THE SOUTH AFRICANS

To mark the UN anti-racism conference in Durban, the South Africa Palestine Solidarity Committee recently issued a statement, which said:
"We, South Africans who have lived through apartheid cannot be silent as another entire people are treated as non-human beings; people without rights or human dignity and facing daily humiliation.
"We cannot permit a ruthless state to use military jets, helicopter gun ships and tanks on civilians. We cannot accept state assassinations of activists, the torture of political prisoners, the murder of children and collective punishment…
"Israel is, simply, an Apartheid state… We support the demand to isolate Apartheid Israel, the right of return of millions of Palestinian refugees and the dismantling of racist settlements.
"We pledge ourselves to be part of a new International Anti-Apartheid movement against Israel".

WHY BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS?

Israel has been accused of war crimes such as unlawful executions, torture and indiscriminate use of force against civilians. Both during this current Intifada (uprising) and prior to it, Israeli soldiers, military and political commanders, and Israeli settlers, have committed serious breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, under Article 147.

Article 147 of the Geneva Convention IV 1949 ("Convention"), provides that:

"Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the present Convention: willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment,…willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person,…willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly."

Israel has been accused of the following breaches of the above Geneva Convention:
-Extra judicial executions
-Use of innocent civilians as human shields
-Willfully causing great suffering or serious
-injury to body or health
-Torture or inhuman treatment
-Unlawful transfer or confinement of protected persons
-Collective punishments

Evidence of Israel's inhumane treatment of civilians is widely documented in the form of testimonies from Palestinians and other nationals, photographs and videos. On October 19 2001, the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) adopted a resolution condemning Israel's "disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force" against Palestinian civilians as clashes continued in the Middle East. In this fifth emergency session of the UNHRC, the Commission accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This resolution was passed within two weeks of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1322 (October 7 2001) and an October 20 General Assembly resolution, both of which condemned the "excessive use of force" by Israel, although Israel was not specifically named in 1322.

According to an article in the Irish Times on May 4 2002, "the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mrs. Mary Robinson, urged Israeli authorities yesterday to seriously consider a ‘credible' report by Human Rights Watch that its soldiers committed war crimes in the Jenin refugee camp. Human Rights Watch said: ‘Many of the civilians were killed wilfully or unlawfully' and the Israeli army ‘used Palestinian civilians as human shields and used indiscriminate and excessive force during the operation.'"

We call for mass consumer action, along the lines of the boycott of South African produce during the anti-apartheid campaign. By joining this boycott individuals and organizations can take concrete steps to stand up against the gross human rights violations by the Israeli State.

We call for an immediate, unconditional lifting of the siege of the occupied territories, an end to the illegal occupation, and the implementation of UN resolutions and international humanitarian law in relation to the Palestinian people.

Our message to any business in Ireland supporting Israeli goods is this:

We want to make you aware that a boycott is being organized in Ireland against Israeli products and other exports – including holidays. This boycott is in response to the intolerable policies the Israeli government is following in regards to the Palestinians and specifically, the recent West Bank incursions. Israel's refusal to allow a UN investigation team into the Jenin refugee camp is particularly disturbing.
If you do not agree with Israel's policies, then let your government know that Israel has fallen from grace in the eyes of the world and its actions have to end. The threat of danger to the state of Israel is not from the Arab populace but from the policies of the Israeli government itself.
If you are in agreement with Israel's policies, we can only ask you to think about what is taking place in Palestine, now apparent to the world, after so many years of being hidden. Many Israeli citizens probably find it hard to face up to the atrocities that their nation is committing. It will be difficult to break with this thinking, but every nation on earth that has committed atrocities has felt the same way. To break with this thinking will require reason, perspective, wisdom and compassion – for all of humanity.
We have no desire to cause harm to your business but in light of Israel's refusal to allow a UN investigating team into the Palestinian territories, and before that, a UN observation force, it is obvious that Israel has something to hide. We, the people, cannot stand by and let the atrocities continue unchecked.

A spokesperson from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) said:
"There have been strong calls to impose trade sanctions on Israel from members of the Irish government. A recent poll revealed that 60% of Irish people supported economic sanctions against Israel. Boycotts are a fine Irish tradition, that were employed to great effect in the campaign against apartheid in South Africa. It is a way in which people can take individual actions that send a strong moral message with economic consequences."

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)