LONDON – The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has calledfor the boycott of American projects in the occupied Palestinianterritories in retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s recognition ofJerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital.
In reaction to Trump’s December announcement, the BDS has called for aboycott of “activities organized or sponsored by US institutions, inJerusalem and abroad.”
Managers of US-funded programs in Palestinian territories say theannouncement has been followed by protests and refusals to meet with theirproject managers.
Activists have also urged groups working with the American programs toremove US-linked branding – including the US flag- from their promotionalmaterials.
Palestinians have also rejected US assistance in various areas. Some lawschools, for example, have pulled out of an international event for whichthe US consulate had planned to buy plane tickets.
Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the BDS movement, told The Guardian thatmost Palestinians were upset with Trump’s decision and saw Washington as anaccomplice to Israel’s crimes.link> The activist also warned that Trump’s unconditional support for IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the constant undermining ofPalestinian rights at the United Nations had taken the protests to anunprecedented level.link>
“The latest attempt by the far-right, anti-Palestinian Trump-Netanyahualliance to take off the table UN-stipulated rights of the Palestinianpeople, including Jerusalem, has taken popular Palestinian protests againstthis deepening official US complicity to a level that has not been seensince the 1993 Oslo accords,” he argued.
Israel has placed a travel ban against Barghouti as part of a broad policyto counter BDS. He was recently denied to travel to Jordan for his mother’ssurgery.
Infuriated by the campaign’s worldwide success and growing popularity,Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry published on Sunday a blacklist oforganizations whose activists were partaking in the BDS movement.