[Imc-london-audio] Interview: Boycotting Israel at the Arab American University in Jenin

[aaron at resist.ca]

http://aaron.resist.ca/node/181

Boycotting Israel at the Arab American University in Jenin

---> To download the recorded version of this interview, visit:
http://www.ncra.ca/exchange/dspProgramDetail.cfm?programID=69960

Ashraf is from Tulkarem, Palestine.  He graduated from the Arab American
University in Jenin (www.aauj.edu) in the summer of 2007 with a degree in
computer information technology.  With the student group Green Resistance
at his university, he organized a successful boycott campaign which saw
Israeli products banned from the campus.

In this interview, Ashraf talks about boycotts as a highly effective tool
of non-violent resistance against the occupation, and also reflects on the
campaign as part of an international campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid.

Interview conducted by Aaron Lakoff in Ramallah, Palestine on April 19, 2008.


Aaron: I wanted to talk about the boycott campaign at your school.  Can
you start from the beginning and tell me what kind of Israeli products
were being sold there, and why you and other students decided to start a
boycott campaign.

Asrhaf: Well first of all, in general, Israeli products are almost
everywhere, inside every single Palestinian shop inside the West Bank and
Gaza. In our situation at the Arab American University, we had almost no
Palestinian products.  It was only Israeli juice and Israeli water.  So
first we started by studying how many students buy Israeli juice and
water.  At the beginning we thought of focusing on one product which has
an alternative, like water or juice, so that this would be more effective.
And also for students to understand and buy the other alternative.

So we found out that everyday, 5-6 thousand shekels ($1580 US) goes to
Israel only by buying only Israeli juice, which is called Tapuzina.  And
so if you take the sales taxes, you come up with around 360 shekels which
goes directly to the Israeli army.  Basically half of the Israeli
government's budget goes to the army, so we did a lot of research and
tried to find out how to come up with exactly how many shekels goes to the
Israeli army so that we could create an awareness amongst students.

So by gathering information and statistics from 2005-2006 on how much
Palestinian buy Israeli liquids like water and juice, and we used these
figures in our campaign.

Aaron: And when did the AAUJ decide to stop selling Israeli products?

Ashraf: They stopped about a year ago.

Aaron: What were some of the tactics for this campaign?  How did you
convince other students to get involved?

Ashraf: One of the big powerful ways to create awareness amongst students
is statistics and figures on the ground, because most Palestinians are not
aware of how much money we're giving Israel through buying their products.
And we don't know how much that can really change things, when we know
that the first market for Israel is the Palestinians, we can use that as a
powerful weapon to change the policy of Israel against Palestinians as a
part of the non-violent resistance.  And it actually has been used in
places like South Africa and India, and it worked. And definitely, 100%,
it can work here.

Aaron: What were some of the names of Palestinian companies whose products
you could find at your school?

Ashraf: You could find the Israeli juice, Tapuzina.  You could find the
Israeli water, Ein Gedi.  You could find some other products like ice
cream, citruses, but we mostly focused on juice or water.

Aaron:  I know with some of these Israeli products, sometimes they are
manufactured in settlements, or using Palestinian "cheap labour".  Was
that the case with any of these products?

Ashraf:  Definitely with Tapuzina, on the label of the product, it doesn't
say exactly where it comes from.  It just says "Israel".  And there has
been a court hearing, and at the court they wanted to say exactly where it
comes from, because it does come from a settlement. So far it still says
Israel, but it doesn't say where it comes from.  The same thing with Ein
Gedi.

Aaron: What was the outcome of the campaign?  How was it won in the end?

Ashraf: Well, our main focus was on the students.  Our future plan or goal
was of course to make the university stop brining Tapuzina and Israeli
products on campus.

But at the same time, you can have only Palestinian products on campus,
but the students can buy Israeli products outside.  So basically we were
focusing on students and trying to educate them with statistics and
numbers – trying to make them see that we are actually supporting our
occupier, supporting the Israeli army by giving them our money.  And
according to Palestinian statistics in 2005, Palestinians spend around 800
million dollars only on liquids – juice and water.  800 million dollars
goes directly to Israel.  So focusing on this number, if we can stop
giving Israel 800 million dollars every year just from their water
 it's
actually water from settlements which has been confiscated and stolen from
Palestinian villages
 so by stopping giving this amount of money, 100% it
will change something.

Aaron: How many students are at the AAUJ?

Ashraf:  This year there were around 4 000.

Aaron: And what are the conditions for people going to school there?  What
are some of the obstacles that the Israeli occupation has put in place for
students?

Ashraf:  At the beginning of the first uprising, the first Intifada, most
universities were closed.  For example, Birzeit University was closed for
6 years.  Hebron University was closed as well.  This is why I chose to
study at the AAUJ.  Because when I finished high school, that was the only
university that was sort of available, or easy to access.  Other
universities I would have had to go through checkpoints, or find an
apartment.  Even at our university we had curfews.  The army comes to the
universities and sets up checkpoints in front of the gate and stops
students from getting their education.  So yes, the education system in
Palestine has been widely affected by the occupation.

Aaron: So now that Israeli juices and water aren't sold at your
university, are their Palestinian products which are being sold in their
place?  What are the alternatives?

Ashraf:  Well, now they are selling Egyptian and Palestinian juice.

Aaron: This boycott campaign at your school is in a wider context of a
very large movement here in Palestine for Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions (against Israel).  Can you talk a bit about how you see the
campaign at your school, and how it fits in with this larger, worldwide
campaign to boycott Israeli apartheid?

Ashraf:  Our university was not the only example.  At Birzeit University
they had a boycott campaign. At some other universities, like An-Najah
University, they started a boycott campaign recently.  And also in
villages like Beit Sahour in the 1980's they had a boycott campaign as
well.

I personally feel it's a very powerful way to resist the occupation in a
very non-violent way. Obviously everything is about the economy.  If the
Israeli economy is down, they have to think about that before they do
anything else.  And if we are the main market for Israel, that's something
we can use to resist the occupation.

And the same thing abroad, in other countries in Europe or America or
Canada, definitely the boycott and divestment definitely can create some
pressure.

--->For more information on the global BDS campaign against Israeli
apartheid, see:
www.pacbi.org
www.stopthewall.org
www.caiaweb.org


[Aaron Lakoff is an independent journalist from Montreal, Canada.  He is
currently volunteering with the International Middle East Media Center,
www.imemc.org, in Beit Sahour, Palestine.  He previous reports can be
found on his blog at http://aaron.resist.ca]