Peace

Canadian Friends and BDS

August, 2015

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“We are moved by the sufferings of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. This suffering has gone on too long and must not be allowed to continue.”

– Canadian Yearly Meeting minute on Israel/Palestine 2009

Canadian Quakers have a long history of involvement in social justice issues. They are trusted for their steady hand, morals and commitment to human rights. Friends have played a role in many important historical and modern day human rights movements from the Underground Railroad to work in support of Indigenous rights. In recent years the lack of peace in Israel/Palestine has become an area of increasing discussion, concern and action within Canadian Yearly Meeting. This paper aims to shed light on how Friends corporately became involved in aspects of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement and how the opinions of Friends have been affected by this involvement. A few words about the history and goals of BDS will also be provided so as to show how the movement has grown and what it entails. This will be useful when exploring why Quakers are involved and how they came to their present level of commitment.

Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS)

The BDS movement was established in 2005 by 170 Palestinian civil society organizations. The movement calls on people of conscience everywhere to take actions which its architects feel will lead to improvements in Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. The BDS movement encourages Palestinians and internationals to boycott products made in Israel, to divest from Israeli institutions including Israeli companies and foreign companies profiting from the illegal Israeli occupation, and calls for foreign government sanctions against Israel[1].

The BDS movement focuses on improving the lives of three groups: refugees, those under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, and Palestinian citizens of Israel.  In trying to help these groups, the movement has three goals: end the Israeli occupation and dismantle the occupation wall, have Arab-Palestinians treated as fully equal citizens of Israel, and respect, protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland[2].

Ever since its creation in 2005, the BDS movement has been recognized and adopted by Palestinian political parties, organizations, trade unions and movements. It has also gained numerous international supporters from governments to social and religious groups. According to Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East,  more than 70 Canadian groups are supportive of some or all aspects of BDS[3]. BDS appears to have succeeded in attracting the attention of a diverse group of people. In support of a cultural boycott initiated by Palestinians in 2004, musicians, actors, and other artists have refused to perform in Israel while it engages in occupation[4]. Academic boycotts appear to be increasing in popularity worldwide as many student unions and university administrations vote to support BDS. Universities in the UK, USA and other countries have divested from major corporations as part of the campaign. Governments have also been active in the movement; perhaps most notably, due to its history of apartheid and related systematic human rights violations, South Africa joined the BDS movement in February of 2014[5].

The Toronto Star reports that following a study indicating the Israeli economy could stand to lose billions due to BDS, an increasingly strong counter-BDS movement is building, which aims to “draw in Jewish, Israeli-American and Christian Zionist students to do rhetorical battle” to “demonize the demonizers.”[6] In the United States, wealthy donors have given tens of millions to this anti-BDS movement[7].

BDS vs. Dialogue?

Called “normalization” by Palestinians, the belief is that dialogue is among the activities which permits the Government of Israel to tell the international community that it is working for peace while continuing the same practices that lead away from peace[17]. BDS, to many, therefore represents a viable direct set of actions that are still nonviolent. The goal, from the perspective of the campaign’s designers, is not to end relationships with Israel, but rather to use nonviolent power to pressure Israel into making changes which might reopen possibilities like future dialogue.

It appears that Friends who support dialogue as part of our understanding of how a just and lasting peace is built, must continue to support those Israeli organizations and individuals willing to engage in nonviolent direct action together with dialogue.

Canadian Quakers’ Position on BDS

Canadian Quakers are among the faith groups that have taken an interest in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction movement. Friends have not found unity to support a full boycott of Israel, but did adopt a boycott of the products of illegal Israeli settlements. In May, 2015 Canadian Friends Service Committee issued a Frequently Asked Questions document[18] on this topic and a media release[19] calling on the Government of Canada to support the right to nonviolent participation in boycotts.

How Quakers Reached Their Position

Canadian Friends engaged in a long period of worshipful discernment about the degree of involvedness they wished to take corporately in the BDS movement. The first stages of this discernment began in 2008, leading to a 2009 Canadian Yearly Meeting minute that promoted peace in Palestine/Israel. Additionally, CYM encouraged Friends to take part in nonviolent activities that would contribute to ending the occupation. BDS was not named in the original 2009 minute, however the following year Ramallah Monthly Meeting (in the Occupied West Bank) issued an epistle to Friends everywhere asking them to consider adoption of BDS. This led to a BDS related addendum to the 2009 minute being approved at CYM in session in 2014.

How has BDS affected Friends?

Since Canadian Yearly Meeting adopted its current level of support for BDS in 2013, how has Friends’ involvement changed on this issue? How have their feelings changed towards BDS as a whole?

In order to find out how BDS has affected Friends a brief poll was circulated and received 70 responses. It should be noted that the results of this poll may reflect self-selection bias, where those with the strongest opinions or most interest in Israel/Palestine were most likely to respond. 62 out of 70 respondents indicated that CYM and BDS did not change their opinion of the conflict in Palestine/Israel, most of those commenting that they were already aware and engaged. As one Friend stated, “CYM and BDS strengthened what I already knew”. The 8 individuals who responded that CYM’s involvement did change or affect their opinion commented that this was because they were previously unaware or ill-informed about the issue and of the details surrounding Israel/Palestine.

When asked what degree of support they had for BDS, the opinions became far more divided. The poll asked Friends if they are supportive, unsupportive or unsure and the results are consistent with those that showed why Friends were unable to find unity on support for BDS for some time. 47 out of 70 Friends responded that they were supportive of BDS, 12 responded that they were unsupportive, and 11 were unsure.

Although there is a strong show of support for BDS within these poll responses, over one third are not completely supportive. Most agreed that they were comfortable with what CYM had committed to, boycott of and divestment from companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements, but that they would be unwilling to support a full boycott and divestment from all Israeli companies.

Friends who are unsupportive generally report that despite the nonviolent nature of BDS, it is still oppressive to those Israelis that have nothing to do with settlements or the Palestine/Israel issue as a whole. Multiple Friends insisted that despite the fact that we are not directly engaging in violence, BDS is not a nonviolent solution at all, “Boycotting is still a form of coercion as opposed to ‘Friendly persuasion.’  It is still a small power warring against a very big power.” Multiple Friends expressed concerns related to the need to continue dialogue, which was touched on above.

Overall, opinions of BDS have not changed for Friends, but CYM has found a functional way to move its witness forward on Israel/Palestine concerns.

Conclusion  

A characteristic of Friends is their persistence on issues. Friends spent more than 50 years using “quiet diplomacy” within the UN system on the issue of the right to conscientious objection until the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights finally issued Conscientious Objection to Military Service (2012). Few groups would work for such a length of time without any obvious advances on an issue. Palestine/Israel is a long standing issue that shows no signs of ending soon, but this does not discourage Friends from becoming involved. As history has shown, violence has not worked in the past and new approaches must be developed and attempted. BDS is one possible element of a solution, and one that Friends have taken an interest and small part in. Though Friends have chosen not to support the whole of BDS, the aspects that they do support aim to create the most positive result for all parties involved. Outside of the umbrella of CYM, Friends exercise a variety of opinions that range from completely supportive to completely unsupportive of BDS. It is this range of opinions that drives Friends to consider new ideas and work harder in the future toward a just peace for all.

[1]Introducing the BDS Movement. (n.d.). Retrieved August 6, 2015, from http://www.bdsmovement.net/bdsintro

[2]ibid.

[3]List of Canadian organizations applying economic pressure on Israel. Retrieved August 17, 2015 from http://cjpme.nationbuilder.com/list_of_canadian_organizations

[4] Palestinian campaign for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Retrieved August 17, 2015 from http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=868

[5]BDS Timeline. (2014). Retrieved August 6, 2015, from http://www.bdsmovement.net/timeline

[6] Ward, O. (2015, July 20). Israel’s other war: Boycotts emerge as big threat. Retrieved August 17, 2015 from https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/07/20/israels-other-war-why-boycotts-threaten-its-existence.html

[7] Vega, S. (2015, June 9). $50M Committed to Adelson’s Anti-BDS Campaign, As Jewish Groups Question Approach. Retrieved August 17, 2015 from http://jpupdates.com/2015/06/09/50m-committed-to-adelsons-anti-bds-campaign-as-jewish-groups-question-approach/

[8] Windows of Peace, August 2015 newsletter. For more see http://www.win-peace.org/

[9]Seeds of Peace: Building Peace at Summer Camp Transcript. (2014). Retrieved August 13, 2015, from http://www.buildingpeace.org/teach-visit-us-and-learn/exhibits/witnesses-transcripts/seeds-peace

[10]Foundation for Global Community – The Israeli-Palestinian Initiative. (1991). Retrieved August 13, 2015 from http://globalcommunity.org/ipi/

[11]Oslo explained. Al Jazeera America. (2013, September 13). Retrieved August 13, 2015 from http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/13/oslo-accords-explained.html

[12]Scheindlin, D. (2014, October 2). Mediation Perspectives: Ending Dialogue to End the Israel-Palestine Conflict? « ISN Blog. Retrieved August 13, 2015 from http://isnblog.ethz.ch/diplomacy/mediation-perspectives-dialogue-fatigue-in-the-israel-palestine-talks

[13] Kaufman-Lacusta, M. (2011). Refusing to be Enemies, Ithaca Press, pp 101, 135, 156, and 157.

[14]Haaretz (2014, August 14).  http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/.premium-1.2406551. Retrieved August 13, 2015.

[15] Humanitarian Bulletin Monthly Report, June-August 2014 (2014, September 30) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA 30 September 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2015 from http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_the_humanitarian_monitor_2014_10_03_english.pdf

[16] Gaza in 2020: A Liable Place? (2012, August). United Nations country team in the occupied Palestinian territory. Retrieved August 17, 2015 from http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/file/publications/gaza/Gaza%20in%202020.pdf

[17]Israel’s Exceptionalism: Normalizing the Abnormal (2011). Retrieved August 13, 2015 from http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1749

[18] See http://www.quakerservice.ca/FAQ

[19] See http://quakerservice.ca/news/canadian-quakers-call-on-government-to-recognize-right-to-nonviolent-protest