BOYCOTT ISRAEL TO STOP APARTHEID AND ETHNIC CLEANSING

CONTENTS
1. Questions and Answers about Boycott
2. Links to web sites, articles, and activist materials about Boycott
3. Partial list of products to boycott that are sold in the Seattle area, and where they are sold; What You Can Do
4. Boycott Handbill
5. Trader Joe's Handbill
6. Victoria's Secret Handbill


The Palestine Solidarity Committee calls on the consumers of Washington State to boycott Israel and to avoid purchasing Israeli products sold in local stores.

We are boycotting specific products including all goods produced in Israel or by Israeli-owned companies. We will also boycott products sold by companies that conduct business with Israel or supply goods or services to the Israeli armed forces. We will not boycott products simply because they are kosher or associated with Jewish cultural practices. Our boycott is directed at the State of Israel, not at the Jewish people of the world.

For over sixty years, the State of Israel has imposed apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing on Palestinians, violating their human rights, ignoring international law, and disregarding criticism. The UN General Assembly regularly passes resolutions condemning Israel's violations, and in 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled against Israel's construction of a separation barrier.

The State of Israel was formed by expelling almost 800,000 Palestinians and destroying over 500 Palestinian villages. These people and their descendents have never been allowed to return to their homes, nor have they received restitution. Since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, several million Palestinians have lived under Israeli military dictatorship. Israel has continuously displaced Palestinians in order to make space for illegal Jewish-only settlements, and has regularly demolished Palestinian homes and orchards and taken over their farmlands.

In 2002 Israel began to build a "separation barrier" that is really an Annexation Wall, taking large amounts of Palestinian land, and cutting off many farming villages from their own lands. The Israeli occupying army maintains around 700 checkpoints in the West Bank, cutting off all freedom of movement to Palestinians -- while constructing "bypass highways" for Israeli settlers only. The Israeli army routinely arrests and imprisons Palestinians without charge or trial. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has compared Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians to the apartheid of South Africa.

The US government uncritically supports Israeli policies year after year to the tune of $3 to $6 billion annually in aid. This support is continuing even after the recent Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, which resulted in over 1400 Palestinian deaths (mostly non-combatants), well over 5,000 injuries, and massive destruction of housing and infrastructure. Because of the US government's unquestioning support of Israel regardless of its atrocious behavior, we US citizens have an urgent responsibility to work to change Israeli policies.

We have seen that Israel's successive governments refuse to listen to criticism by the United Nations, human rights activists, and the World Court alike, and that Israel's behavior is becoming more extreme and brutal year by year. An economic boycott is a legitimate, moral, and non-violent form of political action. Boycotts are taking place in dozens of countries around the world. From New York and Toronto to Durban and Qatar, ordinary citizens are organizing to refuse to buy Israeli products.

It worked in South Africa; it can work in Israel/Palestine. Palestinians have the right to self-determination, and it is time for us to support this right through economic pressure.