{"id":2092,"date":"2021-05-13T16:09:50","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T15:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/writingfromtheedge\/?p=2092"},"modified":"2021-05-13T16:09:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T15:09:50","slug":"just-as-we-need-it-most-the-uk-cracks-down-on-bds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/writingfromtheedge\/2021\/05\/just-as-we-need-it-most-the-uk-cracks-down-on-bds\/","title":{"rendered":"Just as we need it most, the UK cracks down on BDS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
The timing is either perfect or perverse, depending on your point of view.<\/p>\n
At the very moment that the UK government has announced plans to ban boycotts, divestment and sanctions by public funded bodies<\/a>, the very reasons for supporting non-violent strategies to achieve equality for the Palestinian people look more urgent and compelling than ever.<\/p>\n
As I write this post, Israeli Jews are being killed and maimed by indiscriminate Hamas rockets fired from the Gaza Strip and are now experiencing the same sense of terror which has become common place for Palestinians in Gaza for years. Meanwhile, in Gaza itself, scores of Palestinians have been killed, including many children, as Israeli jets and drones drop shells that will inevitably land in residential areas. An Israeli ground invasion of Gaza is said to be being prepared. None of this has come out of the blue.<\/p>\n
In the weeks and days before we reached this escalation of bloodshed we\u2019ve witnessed a series of events in East Jerusalem which have made clear the disparity between the rights and privileges of Jewish and Palestinian residents of the city. In the last 48 hours, the frustrations, the rage and the acts of Palestinian resistance we are used to seeing in the Occupied Territories have spread to towns across Israel itself. That\u2019s a whole new development and it suggests that Palestinains across Israel\/Palestine are seeing themselves as joined in the same struggle for freedom and equality.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s the rights of Palestinian families battling through the Israeli legal system to keep their homes in Sheikh Jarrah<\/a>; or the assault by Israeli security forces on the Al-Aqsa mosque<\/a>, one of the holiest sites in Islam; or the racist Jewish marches<\/a> through Palestinian neighbourhoods, one thing is abundantly clear: Palestinians are not equal to their Jewish neighbours. You can see it in the legal system, the policing strategy and the attitude of elected Israeli politicians. In short, if you are a Palestinian, the system is rigged against you. After more than 70 years of statehood and more than 50 years of occupation, Israel (the only actor with genuine agency in this conflict) has shown itself to be institutionally and ideologically incapable of resolving the inequality which remains the root cause of the of violence and death we are now seeing.<\/p>\n
Despite this on-going discrimination taking place in plain sight, Palestinians still struggle to get their voices heard or their experience understood. At best, we see headlines which portray the situation as \u2018clashes\u2019, a \u2018conflict\u2019 or even a \u2018war\u2019. In reality it\u2019s none of these things. This is resistance responding to oppression. I don\u2019t condone Hamas rockets any more than Israeli airstrikes, but I\u2019m beginning to wonder if there will ever be a form of Palestinian advocacy or Palestinian resistance which will not be condemned, criminalised, or described as antisemitic. If your aim is to destroy hope, encourage desperation and provoke violence, then banning BDS will go a long way to achieving your ends. Such is the skewed logic and moral vacuum which pervades all discourse on Israel\/Palestine.<\/p>\n