Press Releases

Highlights of al-Majdal Magazine (Issue N.26 - Summer 2005): BDS – Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions

For Immediate Release

No. (E/23/05)

12 August 2005


 

Boycotts, divestment and sanctions provide a non-violent strategy towards a solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including refugee rights, based on universal principles set down in international law and in the UN Charter and resolutions says the editorial of the current issue of al-Majdal. The challenge facing Palestinian civil society is to build a strong BDS campaign inside and outside Palestine. At the same time efforts to engage Israeli civil society on the basis of universal rights should continue.

 

The summer 2005 edition of al-Majdal asks whether Palestinian NGOs can make a difference in a boycott, divestment, sanctions campaign in an article that examines visions and strategies for such a campaign. Several articles look at existing academic and boycott campaigns. The magazine also examines possibilities to pressure Israel to uphold its international legal obligations through the human rights provisions of the EU-Israel Trade Association Agreement. Another article looks at the role of a BDS campaign in the context of the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa.

 

General articles on Palestinian refugees include a case study on the impact of the separation Wall on the Palestinian village of Wallajeh, analysis of a new amendment to Israel's tort law which closes the door on compensation for human rights violations committed by the Israeli military and public officials against Palestinian civilians in the OPTs, a review of the rights of Palestinian refugee women from a BADIL shadow report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and the preservation of paper and film documents held by UNRWA.

 

A special section focuses on the 2005 Nakba commemorations with articles by a variety of Palestinian and international writers first published in Haq al-Awda, BADIL's Arabic language magazine, on the anniversary of the Nakba. Key documents reprinted in this issue of al-Majdal include a statement by Palestinian refugee organizations on the anniversary of World Refugee Day and the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, sanctions and divestment against Israel until it complies with international law.

 


A PDF version of al-Majdal, Issue 26, is available at: http://www.badil.org/al-Majdal/al-Majdal.htm
Annual subscriptions are available from [email protected] for $20.

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