PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, released a hard-hitting statement on 29 June demanding that international artists, performers and academics “refrain from undermining our boycott principles.” PACBI assesses the current attacks against the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and the continued use of “normalization” projects designed to create cover for the Israeli government’s pursuit of ongoing colonization and subjugation of Palestinians. The full text follows below.
In the context of applying the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement’s guidelines for the international academic and cultural boycott of Israel, PACBI sometimes faces scenarios where boycott bashers attempt to redeem their conscience, and with it some moral ground, by using token Palestinians (or more rarely other Arabs) as a fig leaf to cover up their complicity in Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights. While the pool of available “fig leaves” is diminishing every year, thanks to the recent impressive spread of BDS consciousness among Palestinians and in the Arab world, there are still those who are ready to accept for their names to be manipulated in the cynical political agendas of international boycott violators. When these Palestinians and Arabs play such roles, it is sometimes due to a lack of political understanding, but, more often than not, it is due to a willingness to put personal interest ahead of collectively upheld principles of resistance to colonial oppression and apartheid.
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