For BDS, Against Apartheid, Free Palestine
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 23 February 2016 23:45
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1226 .... February 24, 2016
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For BDS, Against Apartheid, Free Palestine
Toward Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions at McGill
Dan MacFadden
Six years before the fall of the South African apartheid, an editorial by The Daily ("South Africa Love it and Leave it," September 12, 1985, Editorial, page 4) noted optimistically, "Now, even the most conservative authorities are recognizing that revolution is inevitable. Now, they are divesting not on principle, but out of self-interest." McGill would later, in November 18, 1985, join dozens of other North American universities in divesting its holdings from South Africa, also becoming the first Canadian university to do so -- something that played an important role in taking down legislated apartheid in the country.
Thirty years later, the end of Israeli apartheid appears distant... on the horizon as it has been ever since the occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel in 1967. The use of the term "apartheid" is a parallel drawn by human rights organizations and activists between the past racial segregation of South Africa and the Israeli concept of Hafrada ("separation"), whereby Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are literally walled off via the Israeli West Bank barrier and the Gaza barrier.
Palestinians in the West Bank -- one of two self-governing Palestinian territories as per the Oslo Accords of 1993 -- live under Israeli military occupation, or are confined to small islands of land under limited self-control. The Gaza Strip, the other Palestinian territory, home to 1.8 million people in one of the most densely populated areas in the world, suffers the consequences of Israel's blockade and over a decade of periodic wars with Israel. Israeli settlements in these territories, including East Jerusalem, are considered illegal under international law, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention, though Israel disputes this.
Meanwhile, Israel expands its domination over all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, driven by the most right-wing government in the country's history. While many Palestinians continue to resist this situation with remarkable steadfastness, no conservative authorities are making the claim today that a "revolution is inevitable" in Palestine, or are divesting from Israeli corporations out of self-interest, let alone on principle.