Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

The BDS movement is a campaign to help Palestinians. The letters BDS stand for "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions". They help Palestinians by attempting to put economic and political pressure on Israel. They want an end of Israeli occupation of Palestine. The group thinks that they can create a Palestinian state by boycotting the Israeli government.Marcelo Svirsky (28 October 2011). Arab-Jewish activism in Israel-Palestine. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 121. Charles Tripp (25 February 2013). The Power and the People: Paths of Resistance in the Middle East. Cambridge University Press. p. 125. Christopher C. Joyner (1984). "The transnational boycott as economic coercion in international law: policy, place, and practice". Vanderbilt Journal of International Law 17 (2): 206–286. 

The movement may be hurting the Palestinian economy while having little overall effect on the Israeli economy. An example is the Israeli-owned soft drink company SodaStream. Hundreds of Palestinians lost good paying jobs in the West Bank when SodaStream moved its factory to southern Israel. SodaStream denied the move was BDS-related but their profits fell after BDS targeted them. 

The movement has become popular on many US college Campuses. And recently too UMD student gov passes resolution on Yom Kippur calling for Israel boycott, The final vote passed 29-1. With the resolution’s passage, the association will call on the state university and its charitable foundation to cease ties with any organization that supports or profits from “Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation,” which includes “boycotting goods, services and academic partnerships linked to complicit institutions.” Jewish students and organizations condemned the vote, calling the timing exclusionary and deliberate. Currently Israel is concerned about the increasing number of American Jews who oppose Israel's policies. Some have even joined BDS campaigns.

 References 

Category:Civil rights
Category:Palestine
Category:Arab–Israeli conflict