This panel brings together leading boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) protagonists, rights-activists and academics to discuss the BDS movement and its prospects.
The week commencing 6 November marks 100 years since the Balfour declaration, in which the British government promised the Zionist movement a Jewish national home in Mandate Palestine. It is also 50 years since the start of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories (East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip). The Israel/ Palestine conflict is ongoing, but the diplomatic and political process has been stagnant for almost two decades. Since 2005, however, Palestinian civil society has led a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, aiming to pressure the latter to concede basic rights to Palestinians. The movement has grown apace, scoring some high profile successes and, especially since 2010, attracting attention in the corridors of power. This panel brings together leading BDS protagonists, rights-activists and academics to discuss the movement and its prospects. What sort of transnational solidarity does the BDS movement propose? What sorts of normative claims does the movement make? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What are its most important achievements and failures to date?
Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement.
Samia Al-Botmeh, Assistant Professor, Birzeit University.
John Chalcraft, Professor of Middle East History and Politics, Department of Government, LSE.
Nicola Pratt, Reader, International Politics of the Middle East, University of Warwick.
Rafeef Ziadah, Lecturer Comparative Politics of the Middle East, SOAS.
Ayça Çubukçu, Assistant Professor in Human Rights, Department of Sociology, LSE.
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