Sir, – Laurence Cleary vents a tirade against the international Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign in particular (January 11th). He asserts that boycotts of Israel do nothing to achieve a "lasting Middle Eastern settlement", yet fails to mention anything about a just peace. This is important because the current Israeli government, according to its economy minister Naftali Bennett, will "never accept an agreement based on the 1967 lines", hence seems to regard military occupation as a "lasting settlement" in itself. This is a view reinforced by the words of Moshe Ya'alon, former chief of staff of the military and current defence minister who in 2012 said, "the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a problem with no solution . . . we can live like this for another 100 years".
Indeed, it appears that at present one of the only things having any effect on this outlook is the BDS campaign – with Israeli politicians including finance minister Yair Lapid, justice minister Tzipi Livni and Jewish Home party chairperson Ayelet Shaked all warning in recent weeks of the growing international movement that aims to help secure Palestinian rights and freedom.
Mr Cleary questions “whether a boycott of Israel is an expression of support for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank”. It is more than this: it is a response to a call for BDS from more than 200 Palestinian civil society groups issued in 2005. As such, it is an entirely separate issue from “a campaign to support Palestinian goods”, the latter being tactic which on its own will do nothing to end Israeli military occupation and apartheid.
Finally, Mr Cleary asserts, “Israeli universities are the most liberal aspect of Israel society”. Even if true, this is not saying much; the same Haifa University Mr Cleary attended for two months recently awarded the Israeli embassy in Ireland a prize for its online propaganda activities. This embassy’s undiplomatic defamation of human rights activists, be they Palestinian, international or even Israeli, has made headlines the world over. In November 2012, when Israel was bombing Gaza, killing over 160 people (including 30 children), the authorities at Haifa banned all protests from campus and declared their support for the Israeli military, but not before allowing a pro-war rally, which was attended by the university president, to take place and at which could be heard chants of “Death to the Arabs.” Liberal indeed. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN QUIGLEY,
Chairperson,
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity
Campaign,
Capel Street,
Dublin 1.