BDS should focus on peace
After decades of suffering from the label of terrorism that was unfairly stuck to most of their freedom fighters, Palestinians finally managed to deploy peaceful alternatives to make their pleas for an independent state heard. But, commendable as it is, peaceful Palestinian activism still commits mistakes reminiscent of the recent past, when demands were maximalist and goals ambiguous.
Describing the holiday home website Airbnb’s delisting of houses offered in Israeli settlements in the West Bank as a “partial victory,” the Palestinian group Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) said in a statement that it recognized Airbnb’s role in “undermining housing rights and unionized work in the hospitality industry.” BDS added that it stood in solidarity with those organizing to hold Airbnb “accountable on these grounds.”
BDS presents itself as a “movement for Palestinian rights.” Thus, how the act of siding with “housing rights” and unions can serve its goals must seem puzzling. But this has, in fact, been a staple of a group whose goals desperately need focus, and whose activism must align with its true aspirations.
Among BDS’ goals is to end the Israeli “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the (separation) wall.” Arab lands are defined as the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Gaza is also described as living under a “medieval siege.” But occupation and siege are two opposite concepts: If Gaza is under siege, then it cannot be occupied. At the very least, BDS needs to sharpen its language.
BDS wants to replicate how South Africa ended the apartheid regime, but sadly it has no Nelson Mandela, a man whose goal was to avoid revenge and to seek peace between the oppressed black majority and the then-ruling white minority. Had BDS made peace — rather than simply punishing Israel — its goal, it might today be a more effective advocate for Palestinians seeking the justice that is universally declared as the rights of all men and women, but which is sadly lacking for them. Indeed, there is even a note of fantasy attached to the group, which also wants to expel Israel from the
UN. For, as much as they would want that, does anyone seriously believe that is even a goal that is remotely achievable and thus worth exerting any amount of effort toward?
Peaceful activism is designed to arrive at compromise and solutions. BDS is commendably peaceful. It has also forced the Israeli authorities to be concerned about how they appear to the rest of the world, and highlighted to Israelis the unfair practices against Palestinians. But it could do more for the cause if it made the enabling of peace between Israel and the Palestinians its overt centerpiece. If it does this, more of the world will have no alternative but to listen, just like it was forced to listen to Mandela, even while still in his prison cell. Injustice, after all, can suppress bodies, but can never suppress ideas. BDS needs to sharpen its ideas.