"The conference chair, Israel Maimon, called the move 'outrageous and improper,' while Omar Barghouti, a founder of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement that advocates protests against Israeli policies, declared, 'Palestinians deeply appreciate Stephen Hawking's support.'
"In fact, the decision to withdraw from a conference is a reasonable way to express one's political views. Observers need not agree with Hawking's position in order to understand and even respect his choice. The movement that Hawking has signed on to aims to place pressure on Israel through peaceful means.
"In the context of a Mideast conflict that has caused so much destruction and cost so many lives, nonviolence is something to be encouraged. That is equally true of attempts to inspire cooperation on the Palestinian side.
"Chances for a peaceful solution in Israel and Palestine are remote enough without overreactions like Maimon's. Foreclosing nonviolent avenues to give people a political voice -- and maybe bring about an eventual resolution -- only makes what is already difficult that much more challenging."
Ali Abunimah was also encouraged by Hawking's boycott action. Abunimah writes in The Guardian:
"One of the most deceptive aspects of the so-called peace process is the pretense that Palestinians and Israelis are two equal sides, equally at fault, equally responsible -- thus erasing from view the brutal reality that Palestinians are an occupied, colonized people, dispossessed at the hands of one of the most powerful militaries on earth.
"For more than two decades, under the cover of this fiction, Palestinians have engaged in internationally-sponsored "peace talks" and other forms of dialogue, only to watch as Israel has continued to occupy, steal and settle their land, and to kill and maim thousands of people with impunity.
"The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) aims to change this dynamic. It puts the initiative back in the hands of Palestinians. The goal is to build pressure on Israel to respect the rights of all Palestinians by ending its occupation and blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip; respecting the rights of Palestinian refugees who are currently excluded from returning to their homes just because they are not Jews; and abolishing all forms of discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel."
Abunimah ends with a prediction:
"When we look back in a few years, Hawking's decision to respect BDS may be seen as a turning point -- the moment when boycotting Israel as a stance for justice went mainstream.
"What is clear today is that his action has forced Israelis -- and the rest of the world -- to understand that the status quo has a price. Israel cannot continue to pretend that it is a country of culture, technology and enlightenment while millions of Palestinians live invisibly under the brutal rule of bullets, bulldozers and armed settlers.
This Real News video provides a valuable visual summary of the Hawking boycott action:
If Israel is to have the future it desires, then Israel's friends must firmly tell them: "Give me your car keys; friends don't let friends drive drunk." Ali Abunimah provides the text we need to set that axiom in motion:
"Israel cannot continue to pretend that it is a country of culture, technology and enlightenment while millions of Palestinians live invisibly under the brutal rule of bullets, bulldozers and armed settlers."
As they used to say in the American South where I grew up: "That will preach, brothers and sisters."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
2
