Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

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The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was launched in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals in Ramallah, in the West Bank. PACBI is part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The campaign calls for BDS activities against Israel to put international pressure on Israel, in this case against Israeli academic institutions, all of which are said by PACBI to be implicated in the perpetuation of Israeli occupation, in order to achieve BDS goals. [1] [2] The goal of the proposed academic boycotts is to isolate Israel in order to force a change in Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, which proponents argue are discriminatory and oppressive, including oppressing the academic freedom of Palestinians. [3]

Contents

One of the founders was Omar Barghouti, [4] who is also a co-founder of the BDS campaign. PACBI is a member of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC).

History

PACBI was launched in Ramallah in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals, as part of the international BDS campaign. The Campaign built on a call for an economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel issued in August 2002 and a statement made by Palestinian academics and intellectuals in the occupied territories and in the Diaspora calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions in October 2003. The Campaign was inspired by people who supported the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott. [5]

In 2005 PACBI worked with the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) which lobbied the Association of University Teachers (AUT) to adopt an academic boycott of Israeli universities. [6]

Views

PACBI argues that "Israel's colonial oppression of the Palestinian people comprises:"

PACBI's supporters believe that a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions will contribute towards the dismantling of "Israel's occupation, colonization and system of apartheid". [7]

Activities

In July 2009, PACBI called for the boycott of a proposed concert in Ramallah by Jewish Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen who had entertained Israeli troops for three months during the Yom Kippur war and expressed a desire to be drafted. [8] PACBI opposed the concert because it would be held two days after Cohen performed in Israel. The organizer of the event cancelled the concert in Ramallah because it was becoming too politicized. [9]

In January 2024, PACBI criticized the Standing Together movement, saying it was a "normalization outfit that seeks to distract from and whitewash Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza". [10]

In March 2024, PACBI joined the calls to boycott the Israeli participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 during the Israel–Hamas war, accusing the country of pinkwashing, whitewashing and artwashing its "ongoing genocide" against Palestinians. [11]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Keller, Uri Yacobi (October 2009). "Academic Boycott of Israel and the Complicity of Israeli Academic Institutions in Occupation of Palestinian Territories" (PDF). Economy of the Occupation. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-13. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "PACBI Guidelines for the International Academic Boycott of Israel". PACBI. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  3. ↑ Judith Butler (2006). "Israel/Palestine and the Paradoxes of Academic Freedom". Radical Philosophy. 135: 8–17. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-03.
  4. ↑ Academic boycotter to study in Tel Aviv. Anshel Pfeffer, The Jewish Chronicle, 23 April 2009
  5. ↑ History, PACBI website, 21 December 2008. Archived 3 December 2014.
  6. ↑ Al Majdal Archived June 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , Issue No. 28 (Winter 2005)
  7. 1 2 3 4 Call of Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel Archived 2007-06-18 at the Wayback Machine , PACBI website, accessed 27 May 2007.
  8. ↑ "PACBI-PACBI: Open Letter to Leonard Cohen". www.PACBI.org. 16 May 2009. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  9. ↑ Shabi, Rachel (14 July 2009). "West Bank cancels Leonard Cohen concert in protest against Israel". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  10. ↑ "Standing Together: Serving Apartheid Israel's Propaganda". BDS Movement. 2024-01-25. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  11. ↑ "Boycott Eurovision 2024 over genocidal Israel's participation". bdsmovement.net. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. 2024-03-02. Retrieved 2024-04-11.

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