BDS: A Campaign by Souls Striving for Freedom of Souls

Confronting the brutal force of a colonial occupation with a similar force having no mercy has been a sordid history of humanity, with mistakes repeated, but the wisdom of lessons remains evasive.

BDS, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement launched in 2005, chose to adopt non-violent methods in resisting the brutal force of the Israeli colonial occupation, pursuing an approach where souls wage their struggle without any loss to human life.  This movement consists of the largest Palestinian civil society organizations, trade unions and networks that stand united in the Movement, facing up to the Israeli colonial occupation in order to attain freedom, justice, equality and respect of the human rights of Palestinians in the occupied lands (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) and those with Israeli citizenship.

All colonial occupation authorities use a barbaric force to obtain their ill-gotten material gains from lands they occupy and exploit their conditions, as the case is now in Palestine. But when usurpation of occupied Palestinian lands takes place behind a false disguise of religiosity, it certainly  “adds insult to injury”, an insult to the holy spiritual message of the Torah and injury, causing Palestinians to live under and suffer from the inhuman practices of the Israeli occupying power. Israel has been pathologically alert to any threat against its existence. This obsession has led to a military mindset, constantly feeling an urge for war, which was translated into a fixation on possessing the most advanced deterrent force.  However, consequences of Israel’s two wars against Lebanon in 2006 and Gaza in 2008-09 were largely disappointing to its government and people.  Israel suddenly found itself confronted with a threat to its legitimacy while acknowledging that its military power proved ineffective. This threat was felt in Western countries reactions in the wake of the two wars, countries and governments who previously stood on Israel’s side, be it right or wrong. According to Israeli politician Natan Sharansky “Israel is facing an international campaign that aims to delegitimize it…… a real war that threatens our strategic interests, and we must counteract them one by one.”

That is why the non-violent resistance put forward by BDS against the colonial Israeli occupation is a conscientious struggle for souls where no barriers of gender, color, race, ethnicity and self -created dogmas exist in the endeavor to free humanity from such egotistical acts that are always generated by greedy motives behind conflicts that entail extreme violence and catastrophes.

A colonial occupation resorts to brutal force and distortion of ethical spiritual values in order to attain its ill-gotten gains by all means necessary. This is what is actually happening in occupied Palestine at the hands of the Israeli State. Acting without such gains, makes the colonial occupation a losing venture and sooner or later will have to terminate its tenure, freeing the occupied territories hopefully without any loss to human life.

The support which BDS is getting from some Jewish and Israeli organizations is not meant only to protect Palestinian souls that are being badly harmed by the Israeli colonial occupation, but it is intended to protect Jewish souls as well, from being utterly corrupted by the same Israeli colonial occupation, in obeying army orders to carry out atrocities against Palestinian souls. The current policy of the Israeli colonial occupation that is hell bent on swindling the Palestinian people in occupied Palestine is a policy that will return to haunt Israelis with the same method and effects, according to the law of reciprocity. Jewish souls are at stake in this conscientious boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against companies and organizations profiting from ventures exploiting resources in occupied Palestine.

The recent law which is seeking Palestinian recognition of Israel as a “Jewish state” reserved only for Jews is only a prelude for the transfer of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. This is another theft of Palestinian human rights that exceeds the shameful past South African apartheid laws.  The BDS campaign is not based on the mere tactic of boycotting products manufactured by Israeli colonial settlers, but on a consensus of  major Palestinian civil society groups whose minimum requirements include the realization of the Palestinian inalienable right to self-determination, ending the 1967 Israeli occupation, as well as social discrimination against Palestinians who are citizens of Israel and recognizing the rights of Palestinian refugees as stated in United Nations resolutions,  especially number194 which calls upon Israel to allow repatriation of Palestinians who wish to return to their homes or compensate those who choose not to return.

The non-violent campaign of the BDS Movement makes peace more attainable because armed confrontations create rivers of blood that are extremely difficult to cross to reach a peace settlement. For these reasons, the campaign is being supported by many Jewish, American and European organizations in a struggle of souls for the peaceful survival of all souls in our world. Without divisions created by race, gender and ethnicity related disputes, souls become related to a single human race where the welfare of one affects the well being of all. It is then that all will stand to support those who suffer and are subjected to enormous harm and being ignored.

The BDS, in its non-violent campaign is, thus, reviving a Middle East saying: