Boycott Guidelines Applicable to Visits by International Academics and Artists to the OPT

Some international organizations that are involved in organizing events and activities in cooperation with -- or using the facilities of -- boycottable Israeli institutions and venues have tried to "balance" their involvement in such activities by organizing parallel activities with Palestinian institutions. 

PACBI and the entire BDS movement reject any such attempts to break the Palestinian boycott. Any presumed parity between Israel and the Palestinians ignores the concrete reality of Israel‘s colonial oppression and denies the fact that there can never be symmetry between oppressor and oppressed. Projects premised on such symmetry between the "two sides" are therefore detrimental to the application of international law and the pursuit of justice and comprehensive peace.  

The following guidelines, developed through ongoing interaction with the community of Palestinian artists, academics, and BDS activists, represent PACBI‘s position on this specific means of circumventing and violating the boycott in the academic and cultural fields. We urge international organizations, academics, artists and others to respect these principles and to refrain from undermining them, whether directly or indirectly. 

Boycott Guidelines Applicable to Visits by

International Academics and Artists to the OPT

Based on the 9 July 2005 Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel [1] and the 6 July 2004 PACBI Call for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel; in the interest of promoting a culture of boycott and popular resistance and unifying academics, artists and other cultural workers and academic and cultural institutions on the principles and clear, objective criteria for applying the academic and cultural boycott of Israel; PACBI calls on all Palestinians working in the cultural and academic fields as well as Palestinian academic and cultural institutions to endorse and uphold the following guidelines regarding visits by international artists, academics, and cultural workers to the occupied Palestinian territory to participate in academic or cultural activities that contribute to our struggle for freedom, justice, and self determination:

When extending an invitation to any international academic, artist, or other cultural worker, Palestinian institutions commit themselves to the principles and criteria of the academic and cultural boycott adopted by Palestinian civil society by ensuring that they:

(1)   Apply the boycott guidelines and refrain from organizing any joint activity, whether directly or indirectly, with any Israeli institution that is subject to boycott, [2] regardless of the pretext and of the sponsors of this activity;

(2)   Refuse to cooperate in any way in attempts by international organizations to breach the boycott through organizing activities for international academics, artists, or performing arts groups with Israeli institutions that are subject to boycott and then attempting to "whitewash" this complicity by organizing, in parallel, events for them with Palestinian cultural or academic institutions/entities under the rubric of "balance" and "parity" (even if no direct relation is entailed between the two sides);

(3)   Refrain from hosting any international academic, artist or cultural worker in Palestinian academic and cultural institutions during a visit that includes any relations with boycottable Israeli institutions, so as not to allow using the Palestinian institution as a fig leaf to cover up boycott violations; and

(4)   Urge visiting international artists and academics, in the spirit of the South African boycott campaign against apartheid there, to endorse the BDS/PACBI Call.

(5)   This document, like all other boycott criteria and guidelines documents that apply in various fields, is subject to revision through an extensive community-based dialogue process, whenever relevant conditions and developments warrant such a revision.

[1] http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52

[2] Institutions that are regarded as "boycottable" or "subject to boycott" are Israeli institutions that do not recognize the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, paramount among which is the right to self determination; or any Israeli or international institution that is complicit, whether directly or indirectly, in the Israeli regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid. For details, see the Guidelines for the International Cultural Boycott of Israel (http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1047) and the Guidelines of the International Academic Boycott of Israel (http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1108).