John Berger and 93 other authors, film-makers, musicians and performers call for a cultural boycott of Israel

Press Release  Ramallah  December 15, 2006

http://www.pacbi.org/announcements_more.php?id=415_0_5_0_M

PACBI is pleased to announce that in a letter that appears in today's Guardian, the 94, including the renowned author John Berger; UK musicians and song-writers Brian Eno and Leon Rosselson; filmmakers Sophie Fiennes, Elia Suleiman and Haim Bresheeth; documentary maker Jenny Morgan; singer Reem Kelani; writers Arundhati Roy, Ahdaf Soueif, and Eduardo Galeano, call on their colleagues not to visit, exhibit or perform in Israel.

THE CASE FOR AN INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TARGETING ISRAELI BLOOD DIAMONDS IN 2007 

[Campaign developed by the Ireland solidarity movement] 

An international campaign to boycott Israeli blood diamonds in 2007 make sense, for the following reasons;

The diamond industry is one of the most important cash cow of the Israeli economy. In almost all statistical data published for the Israeli economy the diamond sector is dealt with separately from all other industrial sectors as its value is completely out of proportion to all others. In 2005 polished gemstones comprised 30% of total manufacturing output in Israel.     http://www.moital.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/259472D8-422C-4516-A1B9-98B3546CB959/0/DIAMOND_2005.pdf

The value of polished gemstones exports from Israeli in 2005 was 16 billion US dollars.  http://www.intracen.org/tradstat/sitc3-3d/ep667.htm Those figures are worth repeating:

To: Palestinian territories and Golan Height Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI)

Dear friends,

On behalf of the Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet) I am writing to add our name as an endorser of your statement. The three objectives which you outline in your statement also are our objectives. The steps you encourage us to undertake to achieve these objectives make sense. We shall work to the best of our capacities, in coordination with others in Canada, to generate, reinforce and expand initiatives for boycott, sanctions and divestment.

Sincerely,
Mordecai Briemberg
CanPalNet (http://www.canpalnet.ca//)

Dear Partners, friends and Supporters all over the globe;

On the behalf many the Palestinian Civil Society organizations (see attached call with list of Palestinian organizations), I am sending the attached call to the our supporters and partners in international community requesting a compressive boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel.

Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights

9 July 2005

One year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which found Israel’s Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, Israel continues its construction of the colonial Wall with total disregard to the Court’s decision. Thirty eight years into Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, Israel continues to expand Jewish colonies. It has unilaterally annexed occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and is now de facto annexing large parts of the West Bank by means of the Wall. Israel is also preparing — in the shadow of its planned redeployment from the Gaza Strip — to build and expand colonies in the West Bank. Fifty seven years after the state of Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless. Moreover, Israel’s entrenched system of racial discrimination against its own Arab-Palestinian citizens remains intact.

In light of Israel’s persistent violations of international law, and Given that, since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned Israel’s colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal and called for immediate, adequate and effective remedies, and Given that all forms of international intervention and peace-making have until now failed to convince or force Israel to comply with humanitarian law, to respect fundamental human rights and to end its occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine, and In view of the fact that people of conscience in the international community have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions; Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid and in the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and resistance to injustice and oppression, We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace. These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

Endorsed by:
The Palestinian political parties, unions, associations, coalitions and organizations below represent the three integral parts of the people of Palestine: Palestinian refugees, Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens of Israel.