Summary
The South African archbishop emeritus whose praise opens Barghouti’s book and whose statements Barghouti quotes throughout the Introduction as a leading international endorser of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, PDF p.8, p.18-19, p.28, p.32).
Details
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In his praise: he has been to Palestine, where he witnessed “the racially segregated housing and the humiliation of Palestinians at military roadblocks”, recalling South Africa under apartheid; “We could not have achieved our freedom without the help of people around the world using the nonviolent means of boycotts and divestment to compel governments and institutions to withdraw their support for the apartheid regime.” (PDF p.8)
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On Western guilt, as quoted by Barghouti: “I think the West, quite rightly, is feeling contrite, penitent, for its awful connivance with the Holocaust. The penance is being paid by the Palestinians. I just hope again that ordinary citizens in the West will wake up and say ‘we refuse to be part of this.’” (PDF p.15)
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On rights: “I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.” (PDF p.19)
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Defending severing links with complicit Israeli institutions: “It can never be business as usual. Israeli Universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice.” And: “Palestinians have chosen, like we did, the nonviolent tools of boycott, divestment and sanctions.” (PDF p.32)
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With Jimmy Carter and former Israeli attorney general Michael Ben-Yair, he is named among figures who have described Israel as practicing apartheid against the indigenous Palestinians (PDF p.28).
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He was among the earliest internationally renowned figures to support divestment from Israel, in the account of the pre-2005 campaigns (PDF p.63-64).
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In Barghouti’s Chapter 3, Tutu’s Guardian article “Apartheid in the Holy Land” and his “Against Israeli Apartheid” are quoted: “If apartheid ended, so can the occupation, but the moral force and international pressure will have to be just as determined.” (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, PDF p.81, p.83). Chapter 7 quotes his defence of the University of Johannesburg severing ties with Ben-Gurion University and his “it will hurt the blacks” reflection on South Africa divestment (PDF p.129-130); Barghouti also reports Tutu describing Israeli practice as a “worse”, more sophisticated form of apartheid (PDF p.135).
Related pages
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, BDS movement, Apartheid, PACBI