Boycott, Divestment, & Israeli Economy

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Sat Jul 13 10:15:06 PDT 2002


BBC says that the Israeli economy is highly dependent upon export to the US and the European Union:

***** Friday, 26 January, 2001, 15:24 GMT Israel's economic tightrope

...Its small domestic market means that its economy is driven by exports, about 40% of which go to the US, with the European Union taking in another 30% of these exports....

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1113000/1113734.stm> *****

An Arab boycott of Israel wouldn't be effective, even if predominantly Arab nations managed to get one going. Boycott/divestment campaigns in Europe and USA, in contrast, might actually have some impact upon the Israeli economy, if they are really well organized (though it's unlikely that a campaign will become more than symbolic in the USA in the near future).

Academic boycotts should be examined in this context. They may have more than symbolic impacts if they are concentrated on the moratorium on funding of and research cooperation with Israeli R&D efforts:

***** Friday, 26 January, 2001, 15:24 GMT Israel's economic tightrope

...The hi-tech industry has enjoyed annual growth of between 15% and 20% in Israel in the last decade and, with those exports reaching about $7bn a year, it now counts for nearly half the country's total sales abroad....

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1113000/1113734.stm> *****

***** The OCS also supervises bi-national R&D cooperation, infrastructures and agreements, which complement Israel's unique range of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the US, Canada, the European Union, EFTA and other European countries. Israel also has R&D agreements with France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Ireland and India. Bi-national R&D funds have been set up with the US, Canada, Britain and Singapore, and Israel participates in the Fifth Framework Program of the European Union's Commission on Science, Research and Development (see box).

<http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0jdq0> *****

The moratorium on European grants and contracts for Israel, as advocated by Steven Rose, et al., is a very good idea:

***** Coordination des Scientifiques pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient

UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS CALL FOR EUROPEAN BOYCOTT OF RESEARCH AND CULTURAL LINKS WITH ISRAEL

Despite widespread international condemnation for its policy of violent repression against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories, the Israeli government appears impervious to moral appeals from world leaders. The major potential source of effective criticism, the United States, seems reluctant to act. However there are ways of exerting pressure from within Europe. Odd though it may appear, many national and European cultural and research institutions, including especially those funded from the EU and the European Science Foundation, regard Israel as a European state for the purposes of awarding grants and contracts. (No other Middle Eastern state is so regarded). Would it not therefore be timely if at both national and European level a moratorium was called upon any further such support unless and until Israel abide by UN resolutions and open serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians, along the lines proposed in many peace plans including most recently that sponsored by the Saudis and the Arab League.

(this letter was published in The Guardian (London) on Saturday 6th April with the first 120 signatures [see it at <http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4388633,00.html>])

<http://www.pjpo.org/appelinst.html> *****

The following petition is also good:

***** APPEL AU BOYCOTT DES INSTITUTIONS SCIENTIFIQUES ISRAELIENNES / CALL FOR A BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS

The campaign against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority launched at the end of March 2002 by the government headed by Ariel Sharon, in defiance of United Nations Resolutions and the Geneva Conventions, has led to a military reoccupation of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and to a dramatic increase in human rights violations. Under these circumstances, I can no longer in good conscience continue to cooperate with official Israeli institutions, including universities. I will attend no scientific conferences in Israel, and I will not participate as referee in hiring or promotion decisions by Israeli universities, or in the decisions of Israeli funding agencies. I will continue to collaborate with, and host, Israeli scientific colleagues on an individual basis.

<http://www.pjpo.org/> *****

Even if you disagreed with Mona Baker on her particular decisions, you could still support the above campaigns. -- Yoshie

* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list