Burston on "Israel Apartheid Week"

[Jayhawker Soule]

From Haaretz:

It's Israeli Apartheid Week. Just tell the truth

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement is mounting its annual Israeli Apartheid Week. Yet this year, there is something different - people have begun telling the truth about BDS. ...

I found it a worthwhile read.

[sandandfoam]

Thanks Jay. It was a good read. For someone such as I with little knowledge of Israeli politics the paper seems to offer a balanced insight.

[Caladan]

I read this piece yesterday. it was especially interesting to read Norman Finkelstein's criticism of the movement.
its a general phenomenon I've been following for some years now. I think that because of the attitude and agenda of many in such a movement, they lost plenty of Israelis who could be very informative about political processes in the Israeli-Palestinian landscape. many Israelis are highly critical about various Israeli issues, perhaps especially when it is done in Israeli environment. but when people make this kind of movement less about the ordinary routines of Palestinians and more about demonizing an entire state, there is not much that Israelis feel they can contribute.
this is how I feel on numerous occasions. there are plenty that we criticize as Israelis talking amongst ourselves, but when complete strangers spew venom at a nation as a whole, I will prefer going into a bunker, give the best version of the Israeli side of the story that I can, knowing that the criticism I will supply them with is going to go over their heads anyway.
too many times I got into arguments with people on line who believe they have strong conviction about the Palestinians as the underdog, but when the arguments drags long enough, very soon you realize that their knowledge about the conflict, the societies of the conflict, or even the region as a whole, are highly superficial. I had people arguing with me in what seems to be fiery passion, only to find out that at the end I had to explain to them who Fatah are, who Hamas are, what is the Gaza strip, what is the west bank, etc.
its discouraging, and shamefully it is also a loss. social and political criticism is de facto a pastime in Israel, I simply find it sad that there are people who were led by various campaigns to such a level that they watered down the Israeli-Palestinian issue to the most convenient self serving components.
in many ways, it's no longer about the Palestinians, its almost a business enterprise which stands on Israeli politics for its survival. and Finkelstein nailed it when he said that their biggest problem is their attitude when it comes to the recognition of Israel. which unfortunately comes from great ignorance about the modern Israeli state.