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The proposed boycott of Israel refers to a series of political campaigns designed to weaken and isolate the State of Israel as part of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The boycotts and proposals consist of economic measures such as divestment; a consumer boycott of Israeli products or businesses that operate in Israel; a proposed academic boycott of Israeli universities and scholars; and a proposed boycott of Israeli cultural institutions or Israeli sport venues.

Arab League boycott

Arab boycotts of Jewish interests started as early as 1921 in order to discourage Jewish settlement, 27 years before the establishment of Israel. Aiming to isolate the Jewish community economically, a formal boycott was declared by the newly formed Arab League Council on December 2, 1945: "Jewish products and manufactured goods shall be considered undesirable to the Arab countries." All Arab "institutions, organizations, merchants, commission agents and individuals" were called upon "to refuse to deal in, distribute, or consume Zionist products or manufactured goods."

Officially the boycott extends to three areas:

• Products and services which originate in Israel (referred to as the primary boycott)
• Businesses that operate in Israel (the secondary boycott)
• Businesses which have relationships with other businesses which operate in Israel (the tertiary boycott)

Economic boycott

In July 2004, the General Synod of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA) voted to "initiate a process of phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel". On June 19, 2006, the Committee on Peacemaking and International Issues of the PCUSA adopted a compromise resolution that calls for the Church to invest only in "peaceful pursuits" in Israel and Palestine. The new resolution does not include the word "divestment."

In May 2006, the Ontario section of the Canadian Union of Public Employees approved a resolution to "support the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until that state recognizes the Palestinian right to self-determination" and to protest the Israeli West Bank barrier.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions published a letter expressing their support for the CUPE boycott of Israel.

Academic boycott

In May 2006, Britian's lecturers' union, the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, voted to support an academic boycott against Israel.. The ban expired four days later when a merger between the lecturer's union and a larger union came into effect.

A prominent Palestinian academic, Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds University has argued against the boycott telling Associated Press "If we are to look at Israeli society, it is within the academic community that we've had the most progressive pro-peace views and views that have come out in favor of seeing us as equals... If you want to punish any sector, this is the last one to approach." He acknowledges, however, that his view is a minority one amongst Palestinian academics. , .

Criticism

Critics of the proposals argue that making unilateral demands on the Israeli side will not promote negotiation and just peace. ,, Instead, they argue, demands must be made to both sides and pressure should be placed on Arab governments to - for example - recognize Israels Right to exist as the Jewish people's homeland; as well as making demands on Islamic states to cease funding the campaign of terror against Israeli civilians.

External links

• Office of Antiboycott Compliance at the United States Department of Commerce
• Israeli university boycott: how a campaign backfired by Tamara Traubmann and Benjamin Joffe-Walt, The Guardian, June 20, 2006
• The anti-Israel Academic Boycott (Zionism on the Web)
• CUPE boycott of Israel won't help cause of peace

• Boycotts
• Israel and Zionism
• Palestine
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict