Economic and political boycotts of Israel
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State of Israel in the course of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Arab boycotts of the region's Jewish population began decades before Israel's founding as a state and include an often-violated official boycott by the Arab League. More recently, similar boycotts have been proposed/imposed by some institutions outside the Arab world.
The boycotts comprise economic measures such as divestment; a consumer boycott of Israeli products or businesses that operate in Israel; a proposed academic boycott of Israeli universities and scholars; and a proposed boycott of Israeli cultural institutions or Israeli sport venues.
Critics of the proposals argue that making unilateral demands on Israel will not promote negotiation and just peace [New British Israel boycott sparks more outrage] by Vanessa Bulkacz (JTA) June 2, 2006 [Presbyterians' Shameful Boycott] by Alan Dershowitz (Los Angeles Times) August 4, 2004 [Scholars for Peace in the Middle East Strongly Condemns Actions of British Union to Boycott/Blacklist Israeli Scholars] (SPME press release) May 29, 2006 [CUPE boycott of Israel won't help cause of peace] by Buzz Hargrove (Toronto Star) June 5, 2006 and note similarities with the Nazi boycotts of Jews of the 1930s. [The (anti) Zionism (anti) Israel boycotts] by Ami Isserov (Zionism on the Web) (See also New anti-Semitism)
They argue, instead, that pressure should be placed on Arab governments, especially the Palestinian Hamas-led goverment [It's time to stand with Israel] (Toronto Sun - Editorial) June 29, 2006, to recognize Israel's right to exist as the Jewish nation state; as well as making demands on Islamic states to cease funding the campaign of terror against Israeli civilians. [The gesture politics of an Israel boycott] by Geoffrey Alderman (The Guardian) July 22, 2002
Arab League boycott
The Arab economic boycott of Israel is a systematic effort by Arab states to isolate Israel economically.Overview and origin
Arab boycotts of Jewish interests started as early as 1921 [Background: US Anti-Boycott Law and the Divest-from-Israel campaign] (Divestment Watch) [Boycott Watch Contends: Divest-from-Israel Campaigns May Violate the Federal Antiboycott Law] (Boycott Watch) July 28, 2004, 27 years before the establishment of Israel. The original boycott forswore with any Jewish owned business operating in the British Mandate of Palestine.
Aiming to isolate the Jewish community economically, a formal boycott was declared by the newly formed Arab League Council on December 2, 1945: "Jewish products and manufactured goods shall be considered undesirable to the Arab countries." All Arab "institutions, organizations, merchants, commission agents and individuals" were called upon "to refuse to deal in, distribute, or consume Zionist products or manufactured goods." [The Arab Boycott] by Mitchell Bard (JVL)
Officially, the boycott covers three areas:
- Products and services which originate in Israel (referred to as the primary boycott and still enforced in many Arab states)
- Businesses that operate in Israel (the secondary boycott)
- Businesses which have relationships with other businesses which operate in Israel (the tertiary boycott)
In addition to goods and businesses, many Arab states refused to allow entrance to anyone who had an Israeli stamp on his or her passport.
Economic effects
Because of the boycott, certain products which were ubiquitous elsewhere in the world, such as Coca-Cola were not to be found in the Arab world. A similar situation existed in Israel as in the case of Pepsi products, which were non-existent in Israel until the boycott began waning in the late 1980s.Although Israel's economy has performed relatively well since 1948, achieving a higher GDP per capita than that of any Arab country but oil-rich UAE, the boycott nevertheless has undoubtedly harmed Israel. The Israeli Chamber of Commerce estimates that with the boycott Israeli exports are 10 percent less than they would be without the boycott and investment in Israel likewise 10 percent lower. Trade with Japan and South Korea was particularly affected.
Despite the boycott, Israeli goods often do make it to Arab markets in boycott countries. Typically, the Israeli goods are sent to a third country and then reshipped to an Arab state. Cyprus is the greatest transhipment point. In 2001, Cyprus imported $164 million in Israeli goods, but only exported $ 27.5 million to Israel. It is probable that the bulk of that enormous Israeli trade surplus ends up in the Arab world.
Weakening of the Boycott
In 1977 the Congress of the United States passed a law that then president Jimmy Carter signed, and according to which fines will be levied on American companies which cooperate with the boycott. For the surveillance after the implementation of this law, an office called the "Office of Antiboycott Compliance" was opened in the United States as part of the American trade ministry. Despite the fines, there were some American companies (like McDonald's for example) which preferred to pay the fine than break the boycott and by that to endanger loss of business with the Arab world.Egypt was the first nation to abandon the boycott, doing so in 1980. Jordan followed in 1995. The Palestinian Authority likewise agreed not to abide by the boycott in 1995. In 1994 several of the Gulf States abandoned the secondary and tertiary boycotts. Today, most Arab states, Syria being the exception, no longer attempt to enforce the secondary or tertiary boycotts. As the boycott was relaxed (or rather, not as stringently enforced) starting in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many companies which previously stayed out of the Israeli market had entered it, e.g. McDonald's, Toyota, Nestlé, etc.
Though not an Arab state, Iran attempts to enforce the secondary and tertiary boycotts. Tehran's new international airport was closed for over a year after it was completed when it was publicized that the Turkish company that built the airport had had loose connections with Israel.
Recent events
During the al-Aqsa Intifada there were calls for a renewal of the boycott and the boycott council finally met again. However, these meetings came to nothing. In 2005, shortly after the Gaza disengagement, Bahrain announced that it was completely withdrawing from the boycott. The withdrawal of Bahrain from the boycott was in order to ease the approval of free trade agreements between Bahrein and the United States. The decision to leave the boycott sparked harsh criticism of this move by the Bahraini public, and on October 11 the Bahraini parliament voted for a non-binding resolution asking for Bahrain to return to participating in the boycott.With Saudi Arabia joining the World Trade Organization, it commits itself to obey to the laws of the organization, which also include a ban on boycotting any other members of the organization, including Israel.
On May 16, 2006, after four-day conference of the Arab Boycott Bureau in Damascus, Syria, a "source close to the conference" reported that "the majority of Arab countries are evading the boycott, notably the Gulf states and especially Saudi Arabia. ... The boycott deteriorated a lot, regressed and even almost collapsed... We should not lie on each other, because the boycott is quasi... paralyzed." [Arabs evading economic boycott of Israel]
Recent economic boycotts
In July 2004, the General Synod of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA) voted to "initiate a process of phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel." [Israel Divestiture Spurs Clash. Jewish Leaders Condemn Move by Presbyterian Church] by Alan Cooperman (Washington Post; Page A08) September 29, 2004 On June 19, 2006, the Committee on Peacemaking and International Issues of the PCUSA adopted a compromise resolution that calls for the Church to invest only in "peaceful pursuits" in Israel and Palestine. The new resolution does not include the word "divestment." [Church adopts compromise resolution on Israel] by Nathan Guttman (JPost) Jun. 19, 2006
In May 2006, the Ontario section of the Canadian Union of Public Employees approved a resolution to "support the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until that state recognizes the Palestinian right to self-determination" and to protest the Israeli West Bank barrier. [CUPE Ontario delegates support campaign against Israeli "apartheid wall". Background on Resolution #50] (CUPE Ontario) [CUPE in Ontario votes to boycott Israel] (CBC News) May 27, 2006 [Labour pains over Israel] by Jay Teitel (Maclean's Canada) June 13, 2006
The Congress of South African Trade Unions published a letter expressing their support for the CUPE boycott of Israel. [South African union joins boycott of Israel] by Ronen Bodoni (YnetNews) June 08, 2006
The Toronto assembly of the United Church of Canada supports CUPE's boycott. In 2003, the Toronto assembly voted to boycott goods produced by Jewish settlements in the occupied territories."United Churches in Toronto to endorse boycott of Israel", National Post, June 28, 2006
Academic boycott
In May 2006, Britain's lecturers' union, the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, voted to support an academic boycott against Israel. [Lecturers back boycott of Israeli academics] by Benjamin Joffe-Walt (Guardian) May 30, 2006 The ban expired four days later when a merger between the lecturer's union and a larger union came into effect. [British academic boycott expires after teaching unions merge] by Tamara Traubmann (Haaretz) June 12, 2006
A prominent Palestinian academic, president of Al-Quds University Sari Nusseibeh, has argued against the boycott telling Associated Press "If we are to look at Israeli society, it is within the academic community that we've had the most progressive pro-peace views and views that have come out in favor of seeing us as equals... If you want to punish any sector, this is the last one to approach." He acknowledges, however, that his view is a minority one amongst Palestinian academics. [Palestinian university president comes out against boycott of Israeli academics] (AP, Haaretz) June 18, 2006 [Palestinian academic opposes Israel boycott] (AP, YnetNews) June 18, 2006
References
External links
- [link] An example of site calling for the boyocott of israeli products.
- [Office of Antiboycott Compliance] at the United States Department of Commerce
- [Israeli university boycott: how a campaign backfired] by Tamara Traubmann and Benjamin Joffe-Walt, The Guardian, June 20, 2006
- [The anti-Israel Academic Boycott] by Andre Oboler (Zionism on the Web)
- [CUPE boycott of Israel won't help cause of peace]
- [The Arab Boycott] at JVL
- [Report: Port firm's parent boycotts Israel] at UPI (accessed March 1, 2006)
- [U.S. urges UAE to end its boycott of Israel] By David R. Sands and Shaun Waterman at The Washington Times March 2, 2006
- [The Academic Boycott of Israel]
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