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We Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel
strongly support the proposal for UNISON to implement an economic and cultural
boycott of Israel.
We commend this proposal, especially in the wake of the historic decision by
the University and College Union in Britain
and similar proposals by the Architects for Peace and Justice in Palestine and the
Congress of South African Trade Unions. Actions such as these have an immediate
impact within Israel.
They receive wide coverage in the mainstream media and provide an extremely
effective tool in our joint struggle to bring the occupation to a just end.
We are Israeli citizens active against our country's occupation of Palestine. We refuse to
accept the state of poverty, unemployment, oppression and violence from which
our Palestinian brothers and sisters are suffering in the OPT. We stress the
connections between the violent oppression of the Palestinians in the OPT, and
the oppression of the working poor, women, immigrant workers, the unemployed,
Arabs, and other minority groups within Israel. The ongoing conflict in the
region prevents Israeli workers from effectively mobilizing against neo-liberal
reforms and an accelerated process of privatization, under the guise of an
ongoing state of emergency in which national security always take precedence
over sectarian needs.
It is now evident that the so-called disengagement from the Gaza Strip
in August 2005 has, in fact, kept the military occupation of the strip intact.
Since the implementation of the disengagement plan in August 2005, the Israeli
military has killed more than 590 Palestinians in direct conflict in the Gaza
Strip, including 113 children, and injured over 1,600, including 103 children.
It is also evident that the current situation in Sderot is the direct
consequence of Israel's
continuing aggression in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Since the ruling of the ICJ court in Hague against the Separation Wall, and in blatant
violation of that ruling, the Israeli government has accelerated construction
of the Wall, leading to progressive violations of the human rights of residents
of the West Bank. It also continues to build
and expand settlements, including on land confiscated for the purpose of
building the Wall, illegal according to international law.
As citizens devoted to the promotion of peace and democracy in the
region, we are especially bewildered at the international community's decision to punish
the Palestinians and to withhold funds from the PA for having exercised their democratic right to elect the government of their choice. At the same time, the international community continues, through economic investments in Israel, to actively support Israel's daily
violations of international law and
accelerated colonization of the occupied territories. We fear the potentially
irreversible damage created by Israeli and international policy, and realize
that the occupation will truly end only when its cost becomes higher that its gain for
Israeli society. As Israelis, we stress that divestment and boycott actions
taken by individuals or organizations against the occupation are neither
Anti-Semitic nor Anti-Israel. We also recognize that boycott, divestment and
sanctions constitute one of the few effective methods left to civil society in
the absence of intervention by governments and official policy makers. We
salute UNISON for putting the proposal for boycott of Israel up for
consideration, and strongly encourage others to take similar steps.
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