| Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Parliament. He is secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, a political party. He was a presidential candidate in the 2005 elections. Rabbi Arthur Waskow, founder and director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia. The Park Slope Food Coop, one of the oldest and largest in the country, is set to vote Tuesday on whether to hold a referendum on boycotting goods from Israel to protest the Israeli government's policies toward Palestinians. We host a debate on the international advocacy effort called the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, or BDS for short, which is inspired by the international boycott movement against apartheid South Africa. "We believe this campaign is for the sake of both Palestinians and the Israelis, because it would help us liberate ourselves from the last segregation and occupation system in the world. And it would help liberate the Israelis from the last colonial settler system in modern history," says Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Parliament who supports the BDS movement. "The result of the way BDS is framed, on almost everyone I have talked to who feels attracted to it, is that the society, as well as the government, of Israel is wrong, and it must be attacked," counters Rabbi Arthur Waskow, who is opposed to BDS. He is the founder and director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia. "That, even using methods that are not outright violence, is not a ... |
