Numerous Actions Towards Divestment

There has been a lot of recent activity in the area of boycotting and divesting from Israel.  Below is a summary of the latest news.

• The Basque city of Arbizu voted to boycott Israeli products, businesses that deal with Israel, and Israeli sport or cultural initiatives.  The November 28 decision was made to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.


• On December 15, the regional council of Sør-Trøndelag in Norway approved a boycott of Israeli goods and an educational effort to inform their public about the situation in Palestine.  Sør-Trøndelag was the first region in Norway to boycott South Africa and contains the country's third largest city.


• Speaking of Norway, last week their Finance Minister, Kristin Halvorsen, expressed her support for her party's upcoming campaign to boycott Israeli consumer products.


• For the first time, a major human rights group has called on the US to withhold direct aid to Israel.  On January 3, Human Rights Watch urged Bush to cut aid corresponding to the amount  of money that Israel spends on building settlements and the Wall. 


• The Canadian Anglican Church approved a resolution at its General Synod in November to explore divestment options.


• On December 10, over 40 Jewish and Palestinians organizations circumvented the European Union by publishing the EU's own report that determined Israel was violating the road map and international law in East Jerusalem.  The EU foreign secretaries had decided against releasing the report.


• The Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine, with twenty member groups, has launched a campaign in Quebec for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.


• And finally, on January 9, Israeli poet Aharon Shabtai removed his name from a international poetry festival in Jerusalem to protest the treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints and in East Jerusalem.

Comments

[Womble]

HRW is beyond repair; for crying out loud, they have publically admitted a while ago that the extent of their investigation of abuses directly depends on how much money they get from private donors for investigations against a specific country (the Jerusalem Post ran an article about it in August). Besides, they obviously don't understand even the basics of the basics of the US aid thing. The US is TREATY BOUND on this matter in the framework of the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord, and they cannot cut the aid as they please.

As for the Norwegians- as usual, the people prove to be a great deal smarter than the ones claiming to represent them:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3204618,00.html

"Large food chains in Norway say there has been no reduction in the sales of Israeli products in the wake of boycott calls by the Socialist Left Party, a poll undertaken by Dagsavisen newspaper shows.

According to a report in the Norway Post, consumers in the stores who took part in the survey said they are not interested in boycotting Israeli products even if they have heard of the call for a boycott on Israel."

I am sure the Canadians will follow the suit.