Feature Archives

In response to Israel's bombing of Gaza in early May, the Arab Resource & Organizing Center mobilized to prevent the docking of Israeli ships, in solidarity with the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement. Action at the Port of Oakland was one of many protests throughout the Bay Area against Israel's recent attacks against Palestinians. When the Israeli container ship Volans attempted to unload in Oakland on June 4, hundreds of protesters picketed until it left the port.

Margot Goldstein and Rachel Lederman write: Our community institutions should create venues for genuine discussions about how to confront oppression. Manny’s does not accomplish the goal of “civic discourse” on social justice because it contributes to racist gentrification and supports the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The boycott of Manny’s is the community standing up to Yekutiel’s opportunistic attempt to exploit social justice for profit while perpetuating and supporting the destructive politics of gentrification and Zionism.

On March 7, a group of people dropped a banner in Quarry Plaza at the University of California, Santa Cruz that read "UC must divest/End Study Abroad in 'Israel' Now." UC Santa Cruz Students for Justice in Palestine writes: We have grave concerns that the UC's study abroad programs in Israel are opposed to the values of academic freedom and are complicit in the oppression of Palestinians. Israeli study abroad programs have a demonstrated track record of being racist against non-white students.

The lower house of the Irish parliament passed a bill preventing the importation or sale of goods from Israeli settlements on January 24. The law would "make it an offence for a person to import or sell goods or services originating in an occupied territory or to extract resources from an occupied territory in certain circumstances." Conversely, the U.S. Senate passed a bill on February 5 which included the "Combating BDS Act of 2019" that would allow state and local governments to sanction those who support the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement.

On December 20, Israeli settlers began creating a road through Palestinian-owned lands in the West Bank district of Bethlehem. Villagers attempted to prevent the settlers from razing their lands, but were stopped by the Israeli military. On Christmas eve, settlers stormed the area and erected a “caravan” as a prelude to a new illegal settlement outpost. Meanwhile, Christians in Gaza are regularly denied “holiday permits” to travel and celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem or elsewhere.

The Trump administration will close the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) office in D.C. This follows a State Department promise to cut more than $300 million in funding for humanitarian assistance. These moves appear intended to force Palestinians into a "peace deal" that would deny them a state, as well as denying the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers storm the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on a daily basis to push forward their plans to build the so-called “Third Temple.”

A five-month grassroots campaign led by human rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri celebrated a win on May 18, when the Missouri legislative session ended, failing to pass legislation that would have denied state contracts worth over $10,000 to businesses and organizations boycotting Israel over its subjugation and dispossession of the Palestinian people.