Open letter to UK student activist participants in propaganda tour of Israel from Palestinian students and youth

We, Palestinian students and youth organisations, were shocked and disappointed to learn of your all expenses paid junket to Israel, involving prominent Labour party student activists and organised by the Union of Jewish Students.[1] By being involved in this propaganda tour, you have crossed a picket line established by the entirety of the Palestinian civil society.

The 2005 Palestinian civil society call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) is a call for

Two of the most important issues that arise in debating Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), particularly in Western countries, are (A) whether or not Palestinians should be working with Israel

2011 was a year of hope and revolution. At the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), we began the year with a message of solidarity with the people behind the revolutions in the region. By mid-year, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee (BNC) expressed a similar sentiment of solidarity with movements around the world that seized on this revolutionary moment. [1]

2011 was a year of hope and revolution. At the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), we began the year with a message of solidarity with the people behind the revolutions in the region. By mid-year, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee (BNC) expressed a similar sentiment of solidarity with movements around the world that seized on this revolutionary moment. [1]

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) welcomes the cancellation of Joker’s scheduled performance in Israel. We appreciate his willingness to dialogue with our supporters and to take the time to learn about and reflect on Israel’s violations of international law and the human rights of Palestinians. We do, however, wish to address some stated reasons for his cancellation reported in various press, which included his concern over violent threats that he may or may not have claimed activists had made against him.

For background on the issue, this is from a recent Press release from the Italian Coalition Stop That Train:On 30 November, the City Council of Rho, in the province of Milan, approved a resolution expressing “moral and political condemnation of Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A. for its participation in the project for the construction of the A1 Jerusalem – Tel Aviv railway”.Pizzarotti is a contractor for the Israeli project for the new A1 high-speed railway that will connect Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.