The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meets in Washington this week for its annual police conference, the issue of the BDS movement—Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions—will certainly be a topic for discussion.
Modeled after the South African anti-apartheid movement, BDS is a grassroots human rights movement which aims to apply economic and political pressure to the Israeli government to end the apartheid system of Palestinian occupation, comply with international law and give rights to Palestinians. Initiated in 2005 by Palestinian civil society, BDS has emerged as a global movement that has demonstrated success. For example, G4S, the world’s largest security company, recently announced it would sell off its Israeli business and its youth detention services in the US and the UK. The cosmetics company Ahava also announced it will leave the West Bank. In addition, the worldwide BDS coalition submitted over 140,000 signatures to Airbnb for advertising illegal settlements in the occupied territories for rent. ...