While it's true that Israel depends on foreign trade for its existence, and that a successful boycott would therefore ultimately bring it down, its not the way to do it - in fact, it could turn out to be the equivalent of the Treaty of Versailles, which led directly to the Holocaust.

What people often overlook is that such a boycott would hurt the Palestinian Jewish working class far worse before it ever hurt the Israeli Zionist oligarchy, and that its biggest short-to-mid-term effect on the Palestinian struggle would merely be to isolate these workers and drive them further into the arms of ever more extreme fascists such as Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu. I don't want to speculate on where that would lead, but the worst case scenario is that Israel's last days would be punctuated by nuclear war as the most extreme Zionists, having gained control of the military machine, felt themselves backed into a corner.

For a better idea of what people outside the conflict zone can do to help defeat Zionism, we should instead look to the example of the Greek dockworkers who stopped a certain freighter last month in Astakos.

Solidarity, Peace & Freedom
Kaze

"While it's true that Israel depends on foreign trade for its existence, and that a successful boycott would therefore ultimately bring it down, its not the way to do it - in fact, it could turn out to be the equivalent of the Treaty of Versailles, which led directly to the Holocaust."

I disagree strongly. For a start, Israel does not rely on foriegn trade, it relies on a US subsidy. In a way that makes your argument that sanctions are ineffectual more plausible so I am surprised you say the opposite. I also don't agree that the Treaty of Versailles led +directly+ to the holocaust, I feel that was a convoluted path that could have been circumvented at any point. Just because something happened does not mean it was inevitable.

So to the core argument. You claim boycotting Israel will hurt the Palestinians most. This may or may not be true but since the Palestinians are asking for this step then it is not for you to disagree. Boycotts, disinvestment, sanctions, cultural isolation and importantly direct action are our proven tools from the anti-Aparthied campaign in South Africa. The same arguments against disinvestment were made in that campaign 30 years ago and proved to be false. Yes, the townships may have suffered most from the isolation in terms of poverty in the short term (although that it isn't the case here since the UK doesn't import from Palestine), but they gained most politically. Palestinians want us to boycott Israel and it is patronising at best to use Palestinian welfare as an excuse for our own inaction.

It seems to me that the victory against the South African apartheid was a product not of the BDS campaign but of the direct action of South African workers in the ANC.