It finally happened - I saw Naomi Klein in person! We made our way to Ramallah to see her speak as part of the Shock Doctrine being published in both Hebrew and Arabic and at the invitation of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign National Committee. Essentially, this is calling for the boycotting of Israeli products, divesting Israeli companies, and imposing sanctions on Israeli until the end of the occupation - a strategy very similar to that of South Africa. Naomi spoke a lot about the comparison of the Israeli and South African apartheid regimes, and noted that although they are not necessarily identical, the definition of apartheid was created after South Africa to ensure that all apartheid regimes, and not just those identical to South Africa (which is essentially impossible because each state is unique), would be recognized and abolished.
Noami outlined two main reasons that Israel currently has no interest in peace: the first is that its people are able to comfortably live a normal and fun life with no repercussions of the "war" being experienced by them. Secondly, and probably most importantly, is that Israeli companies are not feeling the financial pinch of war that often accompanies wartime, and they are therefore not pressuring the government to stop. There is actually a large sector of the economy that is profiting significantly from Israel's "homeland security" measures, as Palestine is essentially being used as a test laboratory for security products that are later exported to other countries. As the violence towards Palestine has increased over the last three years profit has increased - within the first eight months of 2008 exports to Canada from Israel went up 45%, and within the first seven days of the assault on Gaza the trade index in Tel Aviv went up 10.7%. Profitability is clearly a large factor as to why the focus in Israel is on security and not on peace.
The question arose as to whether or not the BDS tactic would hurt Palestinians. The thoughts on this were as follows: firstly, black South Africans were also hurt during the South African boycott, but most understood it to be temporary and as a tool for their liberation. Palestinians have suffered enough, and many believe that they can suffer a bit more as long as they can see the end of the tunnel. But secondly, and probably most importantly, is that the call to use the BDS tactic has come from Palestinians themselves and is overwhelming supported in Palestine. It is paternalistic and against the principles of solidarity for us as outsiders to deny their request because we are worried about the negative affects it would have on them. If this is what they feel will help most, then we should assist them in any way possible.
Today, some of us went to Jenin, a city and a refugee camp side by side in the north of the West Bank. The refugee camp was the site of the battle during the second intifada from April 3 to 11 2002, wherein 350 houses were demolished and 65 Palestinians were killed, some by being in their house when it was bulldozed. Israel claimed that the reason for the attack was that several suicide bombers had used the camp as a base. While I've been reading that Jenin at the time wasn't a very conservative place, the posters of martyrs and militia that were plastered all over the camp suggested to me that Jenin already was or has become somewhat extremist in its views. I have to wonder if the case would be different if the occupation did not exist. This is not to say that suicide bombings are ever permissable, but could at least some of them have been prevented if Palestine was given the soveriegnty and respect it deserves?
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