We are Washington University students who proudly support both the State of Israel and future Palestinian statehood within a two state solution. BDS founders Omar Barghouti and Ali Abunimah have both stated their opposition to the two-state formula, however a two state solution is most optimal as it ensures that both Israelis and Palestinians have their global fundamental right to self-determination. The BDS movement is counterproductive to this aim in multiple ways. Firstly, boycotts, divestment and sanctions undermine critical Palestinian-Israel negotiations, cooperation and reconciliation by defaming and demonizing Israel. Building animosity on either side deters dialogue and only pushes the Palestinians further away from self-autonomy by making all parties more inflexible. In the case of Marvin Casey, the BDS movement boycotted an Israeli artist who sought to promote peace and understanding through art, and silenced his voice (indeed, the only Israeli voice) within an event that aimed to foster creative dialogue between peoples. If we do not even allow innovative artists from separate backgrounds to converse, then how can we hope for governments to do the same?
Additionally, the BDS movement chooses only to highlight Israeli violations upon the Palestinians. This narrow and single-sided viewpoint creates a victim-oppressor complex in which Palestinians appear feeble and helpless beside the big and bad Israeli “regime.” This dynamic is inconsistent with the reality on the ground and misrepresents both sides. Both Israelis and Palestinians, like all humans, yearn to live their lives free of hassle and free of terror. The BDS movement ignores the reality of the suicide bombing campaign that has murdered over 1000 Israeli civilians in pizzerias, on school buses and at dance clubs. The BDS movement ignores the reality that Hamas has launched and continues to launch over 10,000 rockets at Israel’s southern communities from the Gaza strip. These numbers are not presented to either portray Israelis as the sole victims or Palestinians as the sole aggressors. Rather, we present these numbers to expose how BDS’s oppressor-victim dichotomy vastly misrepresents and misinterprets the region’s struggles.
If the aim of BDS is to enable human rights, then should these rights not apply to all sides? Yes, Palestinians certainly have the right to a secure democratic state and to lives free of fear, but do not Israelis have that right as well? If the aim of BDS is to foster human rights, it might look a bit deeper into the ever-complex conflict and recognize how intersecting and nuanced forces lead to a clash that spans ethnicities, religions and borders. Only through an open mind and a willingness to learn and listen can any movement effectively support a future peace.
The current BDS methods of boycotting Israeli cultural groups, academics and consumer products inhibit efforts to bring peace to the region. In order to foster human rights within the region, BDS could boycott Palestinian government structures that prevent Palestinians from practicing freedom of speech or freedom of the press. BDS could divest from Iranian and Syrian governments who continue to sponsor (financially and through weaponry) terror attacks against Israelis almost daily.
Perhaps, more productively, BDS could shift its aims and instead empower Palestinians by fighting for education and equal rights for Palestinian women while promoting a peace-based education for all, by establishing and supporting dialogue between all sides and by helping to build up state infrastructure-so that one day, as we too, sincerely hope, the Palestinian people will greet secure and lasting sovereignty.
We stand united with both Israelis and Palestinians, and seek to productively enable peace and security in the region. We seek to promote peace through dialogue and collaboration, not through polarization. The boycott of Marvin Casey unfortunately was not in line with this aim, and neither is the greater BDS movement. We hope that this local controversy can remind us all of the importance of working on behalf of a real solution, which necessarily includes understanding rather than alienation and hostility.
Michelle Peleg is a sophomore in Arts & Sciences and the president of Wash. U. Students for Israel. Write to Michelle at MAPELEG@WUSTL.EDU
http://www.studlife.com/forum/op-ed-submission/2011/04/22/boycotting-not-the-solution/