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Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS

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aliasesBDS Call, Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights

17 min read

Summary

The founding document of the BDS movement: on 9 July 2005, representatives of Palestinian civil society called on international civil society and people of conscience to impose broad boycotts, divestment initiatives, embargoes and sanctions against Israel, similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era, until Israel recognises the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to Self-determination and complies with international law by ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall, recognising the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality, and respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194 (Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS, PDF p.1-2). The Call is endorsed by 173 named parties, unions, associations, coalitions and organisations (computed from PDF p.3-11) representing the three integral parts of the Palestinian people — refugees, Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens of Israel — and the page gives the Call in ten languages, with the endorsement apparatus varying by version (PDF p.1-35).

What the file is

  • A printout of the BDS Movement page “Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS” at https://bdsmovement.net/call, printed 2 May 2025 (every page footer reads “5/2/25, 2:18 PM”; the PDF metadata gives creation on Fri May 2, 2025, from a Chrome print). The original is the 35-page PDF; the text copy supplied with it (about 9,395 words) is a plain-text rendering with === PDF p.N === markers, PDF p.1-35.
  • Structure: the English Call and its full endorsement list (PDF p.1-11); the Arabic Call with its full endorsement list (PDF p.11-15); the Spanish (PDF p.15-17), French (PDF p.17-19), Italian (PDF p.19-21), German (PDF p.21-22), Slovak (PDF p.28-29) and Russian (PDF p.29-31) Calls, of which only the Arabic among these carries the list; the Hebrew Call with the first two sections of the list (PDF p.22-27); and the Turkish Call with its full endorsement list (PDF p.31-35). Each version except the Turkish is followed by a “Back to top” line.
  • Text quality: the Latin-script versions are clean and complete. The Arabic (PDF p.12-15) and Hebrew (PDF p.23-27) are extracted from the PDF with their right-to-left order reversed line by line, so word order in the text copy is scrambled; those passages were reassembled in printed-page order, and spot checks against the original at PDF p.27 confirm the list order and the “Back to top” close. The Turkish endorsement list (PDF p.32-35) runs on without line breaks between entries.
  • The Call is unsigned by any individual; it speaks as “representatives of Palestinian civil society” (PDF p.2) and is endorsed by the organisations listed in the Section by section entries below. As printed in the English list: “Pax Christie International” as the affiliation of the Arab Educational Institute – Open Windows (PDF p.7), “Bethlehen” for Bethlehem in the Zakat Committee-al-Khader entry (PDF p.11), and “implementer” in the Spanish appeal (PDF p.16) stand as printed and are not corrected.

Section by section

  • English Call — the situation (PDF p.1): one year after the ICJ advisory opinion found the Wall illegal, Israel continues building the colonial Wall, expands Jewish colonies 38 years into the occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, has unilaterally annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan, is de facto annexing large parts of the West Bank by means of the Wall, and is preparing, in the shadow of its planned Gaza redeployment, to build and expand West Bank colonies. Fifty-seven years after Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most stateless, and Israel’s entrenched system of racial discrimination against its Arab-Palestinian citizens remains intact.
  • English Call — grounds, appeal and demands (PDF p.1-2): hundreds of UN resolutions since 1948 have condemned Israel’s colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal; all international intervention and peace-making has failed to compel compliance; people of conscience historically fought injustice, as in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through boycott, divestment and sanctions. The appeal and the three demands follow, as quoted under Key passages. The measures are “non-violent punitive measures” (PDF p.2) and conscientious Israelis are invited to support the Call.
  • English endorsement list — Unions, Associations, Campaigns (PDF p.3-4): Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine; Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen’s Rights (PICCR); Union of Arab Community Based Associations (ITTIJAH), Haifa; Forum of Palestinian NGOs in Lebanon; Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU); General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW); General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT); Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities’ Professors and Employees; Consortium of Professional Associations; Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC); Health Work Committees, West Bank; Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC); Union of Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC); Union of Health Work Committees, Gaza (UHWC); Union of Palestinian Farmers (UPA); Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI); General Union of Disabled Palestinians (GUPD); Palestinian Federation of Women’s Action Committees (PFWAC); Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI); Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign; Union of Teachers of Private Schools; Union of Women’s Work Committees, Tulkarem (UWWC); Dentists’ Association – Jerusalem Center; Palestinian Engineers Association; Lawyers’ Association; Network for the Eradication of Illiteracy and Adult Education, Ramallah; Coordinating Committee of Rehabilitation Centers, West Bank; Coalition of Lebanese Civil Society Organizations (150 organizations); Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR).
  • English endorsement list — Refugee Rights Associations/Organizations (PDF p.4-6): Al-Ard Committees for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria; Al-Awda Charitable Society, Beit Jala; Al Awda Palestine Right-to-Return Coalition, U.S.A; Al-Awda, Toronto; Aidun Group, Lebanon; Aidun Group, Syria; Alrowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center, Aida refugee camp; Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced (ADRID), Nazareth; BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem; Committee for Definite Return, Syria; Committee for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights, Nablus; Consortium of the Displaced Inhabitants of Destroyed Palestinian Villages and Towns; Filastinuna – Commission for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria; Handala Center, ‘Azza (Beit Jibreen) refugee camp, Bethlehem; High Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return, Jordan (including personal endorsement of 71 members of parliament, political parties and unions in Jordan); High National Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return, Ramallah; International Right of Return Congress (RORC); Jermana Youth Forum for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria; Laji Center, Aida camp, Bethlehem; Local Committee for Rehabilitation, Qalandia refugee camp, Jerusalem; Local Committee for Rehabilitation of the Disabled, Deheishe refugee camp, Bethlehem; Palestinian National Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return, Syria; Palestinian Return Association, Syria; Palestinian Return Forum, Syria; Palestine Right-of-Return Coalition; Palestine Right-of-Return Confederation-Europe; Palestinian Youth Forum for the Right of Return, Syria; PLO Popular Committees – West Bank refugee camps; PLO Popular Committees – Gaza Strip refugee camps; Popular Committee – al-‘Azza (Beit Jibreen) refugee camp, Bethlehem; Popular Committee – Deheishe refugee camp, Bethlehem; Shaml – Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Center, Ramallah; Union of Women’s Activity Centers, West Bank Refugee Camps; Union of Youth Activity Centers – Palestine Refugee Camps, West Bank and Gaza; Women’s Activity Center – Deheishe refugee camp, Bethlehem; Yafa Cultural Center, Balata refugee camp, Nablus.
  • English endorsement list — Organizations (PDF p.6-11): Abna’ al-Balad Society, Nablus; Addameer Center for Human Rights, Gaza; Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association, Ramallah; Alanqa’ Cultural Association, Hebron; Al-Awda Palestinian Folklore Society, Hebron; Al-Doha Children’s Cultural Center, Bethlehem; Al-Huda Islamic Center, Bethlehem; Al-Jeel al-Jadid Society, Haifa; Al-Karameh Cultural Society, Um al-Fahm; Al-Maghazi Cultural Center, Gaza; Al-Marsad Al-Arabi, occupied Syrian Golan Heights; Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Gaza; Al-Nahda Cultural Forum, Hebron; Al-Taghrid Society for Culture and Arts, Gaza; Alternative Tourism Group, Beit Sahour (ATG); Al-Wafa’ Charitable Society, Gaza; Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ); Arab Association for Human Rights, Nazareth (HRA); Arab Center for Agricultural Development (ACAD) and its Gaza namesake; Arab Educational Institute – Open Windows; Arab Orthodox Charitable Society, Beit Sahour; Arab Orthodox Charity, Beit Jala; Arab Orthodox Club, Beit Jala; Arab Orthodox Club, Beit Sahour; Arab Students’ Collective, University of Toronto; Arab Thought Forum, Jerusalem (AFT); Association for Cultural Exchange Hebron, France; Association Najdeh, Lebanon; Authority for Environmental Quality, Jenin; Bader Society for Development and Reconstruction, Gaza; Canadian Palestine Foundation of Quebec, Montreal; Center for the Defense of Freedoms, Ramallah; Center for Science and Culture, Gaza; Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ramallah/Al-Bireh District; Child Development and Entertainment Center, Tulkarem; Committee for Popular Participation, Tulkarem; Defense for Children International-Palestine Section, Ramallah (DCI/PS); El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe; Ensan Center for Democracy and Human Rights, Bethlehem; Environmental Education Center, Bethlehem; FARAH – Palestinian Center for Children, Syria; Ghassan Kanafani Society for Development, Gaza; Ghassan Kanafani Forum, Syria; Gaza Community Mental Health Program, Gaza (GCMHP); Golan for Development, occupied Syrian Golan Heights; Halhoul Cultural Forum, Hebron; Himayeh Society for Human Rights, Um al-Fahm; Holy Land Trust, Bethlehem; Home of Saint Nicholas for Old Ages, Beit Jala; Human Rights Protection Center, Lebanon; In’ash al-Usrah Society, Ramallah; International Center of Bethlehem (Dar An-Nadweh); Islah Charitable Society, Bethlehem; Jafra Youth Center, Syria; Jander Center, al-Azza refugee camp, Bethlehem; Jerusalem Center for Women, Jerusalem (JCW); Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC); Khalil Al Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah; Land Research Center, Jerusalem (LRC); Liberated Prisoners’ Society, Palestine; Local Committee for Social Development, Nablus; Local Committee for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, Nablus; MA’AN TV Network, Bethlehem; Medical Aid for Palestine, Canada; MIFTAH, Ramallah; Muwatin-The Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy; National Forum of Martyr’s Families, Palestine; Near East Council of Churches Committee for Refugee Work, Gaza Area; Network of Christian Organizations, Bethlehem (NCOB); Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace, Jerusalem; Palestinian Counseling Center, Jerusalem (PCC); Palestinian Democratic Youth Union, Lebanon; Palestinian Farmers’ Society, Gaza; Palestinian Hydrology Group-Gaza; Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, West Bank; Palestinian Society for Consumer Protection, Gaza; Palestinian University Students’ Forum for Peace and Democracy, Hebron; Palestinian Women’s Struggle Committees; Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PWWSD); Popular Art Centre, Al-Bireh; Prisoner’s Friends Association – Ansar Al-Sajeen, Majd al-Krum; Public Aid Association, Gaza; Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies; Saint Afram Association, Bethlehem; Saint Vincent De Paule, Beit Jala; Senior Citizen Society, Beit Jala; Social Development Center, Nablus; Society for Self-Development, Hebron; Society for Social Work, Tulkarem; Society for Voluntary Work and Culture, Um al-Fahm; Society of Friends of Prisoners and Detainees, Um al-Fahm; Sumoud-Political Prisoners Solidarity Group, Toronto; Tamer Institute for Community Education, Ramallah; TCC – Teacher’s Creativity Center, Ramallah; Wi’am Center, Bethlehem; Women’s Affairs Technical Committee, Ramallah and Gaza (WATC); Women’s Studies Center, Jerusalem (WSC); Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, Jerusalem (WCLAC); Yafa for Education and Culture, Nablus; Yazour Charitable Society, Nablus; YMCA-East Jerusalem; Youth Cooperation Forum, Hebron; YWCA-Palestine; Zakat Committee-al-Khader, Bethlehem; Zakat Committee-Deheishe camp, Bethlehem; The Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People (PCR); Alternative Voice in the Galilee (AVIG).
  • Arabic version (PDF p.11-15): the Call in full in Arabic, dated 9 Tamuz (July) 2005, with the endorsement list repeated in full in Arabic under unions and networks, refugee-rights institutions and organisations, and organisations, corresponding to the English list.
  • Spanish version (PDF p.15-17): the Call in full in Spanish, dated 9 July 2005, with the endorsement frame only and no individual endorsers.
  • French version (PDF p.17-19): the Call in full in French, dated 9 July 2005, with the endorsement frame only and no individual endorsers.
  • Italian version (PDF p.19-21): the Call in full in Italian, dated 9 July 2005; its endorsement note gives the count, over 170 organisations, with no individual endorsers.
  • German version (PDF p.21-22): the Call in full in German, dated 9 July 2005, ending directly after the three demands, with no endorsement frame or list.
  • Hebrew version (PDF p.22-27): the Call in full in Hebrew, dated 9 July 2005, in gender-inclusive slash forms, with the endorsement frame and the first two sections of the list (Unions, Associations, Campaigns; Refugee Rights Associations/Organizations) repeated in Hebrew; the Organizations section is not repeated.
  • Slovak version (PDF p.28-29): the Call in full in Slovak, dated 9 July 2005, with the endorsement frame only; its first demand adds the word illegal to the Wall (see Open questions).
  • Russian version (PDF p.29-31): the Call in full in Russian, with no separate title or date line, no endorsement frame and no list, ending directly after the three demands.
  • Turkish version (PDF p.31-35): the Call in full in Turkish, with no separate date line, the endorsement frame, and the endorsement list repeated in full in Turkish in one continuous run, corresponding to the English list except as recorded under Open questions.

Key passages

  • “One year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which found Israel’s Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, Israel continues its construction of the colonial Wall with total disregard for the Court’s decision” (PDF p.1).
  • “We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and People of Conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era” (PDF p.2).
  • “Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall” (PDF p.2).
  • “Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality” (PDF p.2).
  • “Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194” (PDF p.2).
  • “Questo appello è stato sottoscritto da oltre 170 organizzazioni (partiti politici, sindacati e associazioni) che rappresentano in modo integrato le tre parti del popolo Palestinese: i profughi palestinesi, i palestinesi sotto occupazione e i palestinesi cittadini di Israele” (this appeal was signed by over 170 organisations (political parties, unions and associations) representing in integrated form the three parts of the Palestinian people: Palestinian refugees, Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens of Israel, translation) (PDF p.21).

Evidence the work relies on

  • The International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion of 2004, as the Call presents it: the Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory is illegal (PDF p.1).
  • The hundreds of UN resolutions since 1948 condemning Israel’s colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal and calling for immediate, adequate and effective remedies, as the Call presents them (PDF p.1-2).
  • UN Resolution 194, as the stipulation for the refugees’ return to their homes and properties (PDF p.2).
  • The South African precedent, as the Call presents it: apartheid was fought through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions (PDF p.2).
  • The endorsement list itself (PDF p.3-11) as the Call’s evidence of breadth: 173 named entries (computed), among them the Coalition of Lebanese Civil Society Organizations counted as 150 organizations and the Jordan committee’s 71 personal endorsements.

Analysis

  • The work is a primary political document, not an argument built on cited research: a short situational preamble, a chain of grounds, an appeal, a duration condition and three demands, followed by the endorsement list that constitutes most of its length. Its method is legal and moral framing — persistent violations of international law, the failure of intervention and peace-making, and the South African analogy — rather than documentation; it gives no sources, figures or apparatus beyond the ICJ opinion, the UN resolutions and Resolution 194 it names.
  • Its organising claim is unity across the three segments of the Palestinian people: the demands map one-to-one onto Palestinians under occupation (demand 1), Palestinian citizens of Israel (demand 2) and refugees (demand 3), and the endorsement frame repeats the same three parts. The Italian version’s count of over 170 organisations is borne out by the English list’s 173 named entries (computed from PDF p.3-11).
  • The Call prescribes no state formula: its stated end condition is recognition of self-determination plus the three demands, and nothing in the text argues for one state or two.
  • Limits of this copy: it is the live BDS Movement page as printed on 2 May 2025, not a 2005 artefact, so the endorsement apparatus it shows is the page’s current state; the versions are not uniform (see Open questions), and the Arabic and Hebrew survive in the text copy only in reversed extraction order.

People, organizations, places and events

  • People: no individual is named as an author or signatory; the only individuals counted are the 71 members of parliament, political parties and unions in Jordan whose personal endorsements are included with the High Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return, Jordan (PDF p.5).
  • Organizations: PACBI, BADIL, and the 173 endorsing entries listed in the Section by section entries above, including the Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (PDF p.3-4).
  • Places and events: the West Bank including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights (PDF p.1); the Wall; the ICJ Advisory Opinion of 2004 (PDF p.1).

Concepts

BDS movement, Right of Return, Self-determination, Apartheid, Separation wall

How it relates to other sources

Open questions

  • The ten versions do not carry the same endorsement apparatus: English, Arabic and Turkish give the full list; Hebrew gives the first two sections only; Spanish, French and Slovak give the frame only; Italian gives the frame with the over-170 count; German and Russian give neither frame nor list. Whether these differences belong to the page’s translations as published or arose in printing cannot be settled from this file.
  • The Turkish list, as read, does not name The Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People (PCR) or Alternative Voice in the Galilee (AVIG), the last two entries of the English list (PDF p.11); the Turkish Organisations section otherwise corresponds to the English.
  • The Russian text adds a word the English does not have, “Иордана” (of the Jordan, translation), after the West Bank (PDF p.30), and its third demand names respecting and protecting without the English demand’s promoting (PDF p.31). The German appeal as printed mixes in the English word “and” (PDF p.22). The Slovak first demand calls the structure the illegal Wall where the English demand says only “the Wall” (PDF p.29 against PDF p.2). All stand as printed.
  • The Call dates itself 9 July 2005 in the English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Hebrew and Slovak versions; the Russian and Turkish versions carry no date line in this printout.
  • Falk’s 2004 dating of the originating call against this document’s 9 July 2005 date is held unresolved, as on Barghouti’s source page.

Coverage

PDF p.1-35 of 35, read in full.

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