February 01, 2014 12:05 AM
By Rami G. Khouri
The Daily Star
STORY SUMMARY
If you think the controversy of actress Scarlett Johansson’s relationships with Oxfam and the Israeli company SodaStream is a minor side story about Hollywood celebrities, think again.
This is the latest signal of a major direction of Palestinian and global activism against Israeli settler-colonial policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, which reveals Israel’s weak spot globally and its growing isolation because of its occupation and treatment of Palestinians.
I refer mainly to the movement for the boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) of Israel for its denial of Palestinian human rights in three related arenas: the second-class status of Palestinian citizens of Israel; the Apartheid-like conditions Israel imposes on Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip; and the structural denial of rights to exiled Palestinian refugees living outside of historic Palestine.
The continuing BDS activism of Palestinians and their supporters challenges any international company, individual, organization or government whose policies acquiesce in or promote the illegal, immoral and oppressive nature of the Israeli occupation and other forms of human rights denials to Palestinians.
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Categories: Americas, Arab World, Israel, Palestine, United States