Calls for Boycott of Israel and Support for BDS

Boycott efforts against Israel as part of the political conflict between Arabs and Jews in the region have a long history. Boycotts were organised at the Fifth Palestine Arab Congress, during the Arab Revolt in Palestine, at the World Islamic Congress, the Bloudan Conference and by the Arab League. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded in 2005 with the stated goals of achieving an end to the occupation and colonisation of all Arab lands and a right of return for the Palestinian refugees of 1948 and their descendants, as well as mobilising international support for this. While these demands ostensibly relate to human rights, they pursue a further agenda. At first, this agenda is based on a strategic ambiguity that leaves open what is meant by all Arab lands. Those who can rally behind this demand include both supporters who advocate an end to the occupation and settlements in the West Bank, and those in the BDS movement who propagate the dissolution of Israel as a state—including the militant groups who share the BDS founding call and seek a violent end to Israel in favour of a Palestinian state on that territory.