Resolved: People Should Support the Boycott, Divestment and Sactions Movement (BDS)

I will begin by giving an overview of what BDS is and then I will go into my argumentsBackgroundThe Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement is an international campaign to place economic, social and political pressure of the State of Israel to end the occupation of Palestine, grant full equality to Arab/Palestinians Citizens of Israel and recognize the right of return for Palestinian refugees. It began in 2005 when 170 non-governmental organizations in Palestine, including political parties, trade unions, youth groups and academic organizations, issued a call to the international community to place pressure on Israel through boycotts and international sanctions. [1] Contention 1: International Law and Human RightsThe State of Israel is committing numerous violations of International law, human rights, and UN resolutions [2]. In this debate I shall focus on the issues related to the occupation. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal under numerous treaties and UN Resolutions. After seizing the territory in 1967, the United Nations Security Council issued resolution 242, which called upon Israel to immediately withdraw from all territories captured in the 6 Day War (The West Bank, the Gaza strip, East Jerusalem, the Sinai and the Golan Heights). While Israeli forces have withdrawn from the Sinai and returned the Territory to Egypt, and Israeli forces have "disengaged" from Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights are still under Israeli occupation and thus Israel is in violation of this resolution [3]. Further violations of International law include the annexation of Jerusalem, which violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, which restricts the annexation of territory taken in war. This view is affirmed by the United Nations Perhaps the biggest violation of international law in regards to the occupation is the creation of settlements in these territories. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva convention states that it is illegal to transfer the citizens of the occupying nation to occupied territories [5]. This interpretation was affirmed by the International Court of Justice in 2004 [5]. Contention 2: South Africa Shows Boycotts WorkThe international boycott and divestment campaign against apartheid South Africa demonstrates how campaigns like BDS can be successful [7]. Sanctions and Divestment from South Africa, especially in the US and the UK caused a great deal of strain on the South African economy. This ultimately forced the South African government to agree to end apartheid and hold democratic elections which resulted in the end to the boycotts and sanctions [8]. While the short term campaign did not result in the end of apartheid, in the long term campaign did [9]. However this only was able to happen because the movement gained enough support in the public that states and large corporations became involved and implemented sanctions and divestment policies of their own. Contention 3: BDS has already show successBDS has already been successful in causing companies to divest from the Israeli occupation. A recent example of this is the British security company G4S recently announced that they would be selling their Israeli subsidiary in response to pressure from the BDS movement [10]. In order to achieve greater sucess, however, more people will need to support the BDS movement. Sources[1] . https://bdsmovement.net...[2] . http://www.diakonia.se...[3] . http://www.un.org...[4] . http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu...[5] . http://www.jpost.com...[6] . http://www.icj-cij.org...[7] . http://www.investopedia.com...[8] . http://2001-2009.state.gov...[9] . http://www.aljazeera.com...[10] . http://www.independent.co.uk...