Updates from the palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
Upholding Debate as a Necessary Component of Academic Freedom
While British colleagues prepare to discuss the Palestinian boycott call and consider the implications of normal academic links with the Israeli academy during the coming academic year, a disturbing development has been noted in the United States and Canada. No sooner had the UCU motion been passed than dozens of American and Canadian university presidents and
rectors rushed to condemn the Union, basing their attacks on mostly false or inaccurate data.
“that the United Nations, and especially the General Assembly and the Security Council, should consider what further action is required to bring to an end the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the Wall and the associated régime, taking due account of the present advisory opinion.”
Far from complying with the advisory opinion, over the past three years the construction of the Wall has continued unremittingly, as has the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and the associated violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
"We congratulate UNISON on their courageous move to speak out against the Israeli policy of tyranny and isolation of Palestine, especially at a time when the international community is silent and vicious witch-hunts were carried out against those who dared speak up.
As Palestinian students we are suffering from the economic blockade which has impoverished our communities, checkpoints which humiliate us and steal our time, pass-systems which prevent us from seeing our families and immigration controls which stops many of us from leaving and prevents international students from accessing our un
At a time when the international movement to isolate Israel is gaining ground in response to the escalation of Israel‘s apartheid policies, we at PACBI respectfully urge all diplomatic missions, particularly those based in Jerusalem, to refrain from supporting -- in any form -- Palestinian-Israeli encounters or joint projects that are not explicitly dedicated to ending Israel‘s illegal occupation and other forms of oppression.
For years, some diplomatic missions in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) -- including East Jerusalem -- have sponsored, organized, or otherwise facilitated joint Palestinian-Israeli projects that obfuscate or altogether ignore the reality of Israeli colonial and racist policies against the people of Palestine.
Israel’s military occupation -- the longest in modern history -- is not an abstract notion to us. It manifests itself in wilful killings of civilians, particularly children; wanton demolition of homes and property; uprooting of more than a million trees; incessant theft of land and water resources; denial of freedom of movement to millions; and cutting up the occupied Palestinian territory into Bantustans, some entirely caged by walls, fences and hundreds of roadblocks.