EPF PIN celebrates 20 years of BDS
The Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Israel Network (EPF PIN) celebrates this spring the 20th anniversary of the global BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. According to the website, the BDS campaign “upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity”. EPF PIN endorses, supports, and participates in BDS.
The BDS movement began in July 2005 with a call issued by a coalition of representatives of Palestinian civil society: political parties, unions, associations, coalitions and organizations. The call was for individuals and civil organizations to engage in non-violent, punitive economic measures to pressure Israel to adhere to international law in its dealings with the Palestinian people. The BDS movement was inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement.
This 20th anniversary turns out to be quite timely for those in the U.S. where criminalization of protest, resistance, and advocacy are on the rise, and spurious claims of “antisemitism” are becoming tools of authoritarian aggression. This ominous climate, recently highlighted by the persecution of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, calls for the kinds of creative methods of dissent that some have found in BDS.
There are three principal objectives of the BDS movement: ending the occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194. The focused areas of the BDS campaign over its first 20 years are academic boycott, economic boycott, cultural boycott, trade union solidarity, student solidarity, and local governments. The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights offers a list of more than 250 BDS “victories”, as of December 2024.
The Episcopal Church has not endorsed BDS. At the 81st General Convention, resolution D005 “Solidarity with the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement” was adopted with amendment by the legislative committee, but then rejected by the House of Bishops. In other resolutions, however, General Conventions have addressed and approved in principle each of the three objectives of the BDS campaign: 2022-C013 Oppose Legislation that Penalizes Non-Violent Boycotts or Divestitures; 2018-B016 Develop Investment Criteria for Israel and Palestine Based on a Human Rights Screen; and two resolutions that call on the U.S. government to withhold financial or military support from Israel unless it complies with international law and human rights standards (1991-D008 Urge a Peaceful Resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and 2024-D012 Conditioning U.S. Military Assistance to Israel on Human Rights and a Negotiated Peace). In addition, The Episcopal Church endorsed participation in the South African anti-apartheid movement in resolution 1988-B052 Endorse the Boycott Against International Oil Companies in South Africa. The Church’s support of the principles of boycott, sanctions, and other means of economic pressure against injustice has been robust.
Contrary to a common accusation, the BDS movement does not seek the elimination of the state of Israel; rather, it seeks a state of full equality for all. We often think of boycott as an individual expression of disfavor against a specific product or organization; however, it can be much more. It is an expression of collective political will, a “critical tool in the construction of American democracy” that goes back to the very beginning of the republic. It can be much more powerful than individual choice.
In the Palestinian territories, a recent sequence of unprecedented events by the governments of Israel and the United States have made a meaningful political remedy of the situation nearly functionally impossible. Since October 2023, the damage to life and society in Gaza have been so nearly total that “reconstruction” would be almost inconceivable under the best conditions. But just as a tenuous ceasefire took hold, the new U.S. administration promoted a plan to take over real estate development of Gaza for profit and relocate its population, an idea approved by many Israelis. In the West Bank, large scale Israeli military actions are destroying or damaging refugee camps and displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians. Annexation of the West Bank seems immanent.
Palestinians in the region and in the diaspora will determine their responses and methods of resisting these mounting challenges to their liberty and national identity. For others of us who believe in and work toward a just peace that includes freedom, dignity, and full human rights for Palestinians, this anniversary comes when non-violent actions like BDS are more needed than at any time in the past 20 years. EPF PIN encourages all members of The Church to learn about and engage in BDS.