Israel government photo

In my university classes, we sometimes discuss which countries that are most supportive of the Palestinians. Turkey and Qatar are close friends of Hamas, but both the students and myself have a hard time listing the Palestinian Authority’s top supporters. Diplomatic friends who work closely with the PA say that Sweden, France, Jordan, Ireland, South Africa and maybe Ecuador and Venezuela are the PA’s top supporters at the moment.

Consequently, with an Israel that is stronger than it has ever been, economically, diplomatically and militarily, and the Palestinians at one of the low-points in their history, how on earth can supporters of the BDS movement claim they’re winning?

There are different ways to measure the success or failure of a movement like BDS. The most obvious would be to analyze to what extent BDS has realized its objectives. The second would be to establish how far it has contributed to actual boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel. Thirdly, what other consequences and impacts it has had.

Regarding the first measure, no sane person could argue that the occupation is closer to end today as compared to 2005. In fact, the opposite is true. The same logic applies to Palestinian refugee return. It can be argued that the situation for Israel’s Arab population has improved, for example the rise in Arab enrolment at Israeli universities, but it is hard to see BDS as a factor in this development.

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When it comes to actual boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel, there have over the years since 2005 been a number of small victories for the BDS movement, the latest of which was Airbnb’s de-listing of accommodation in Israeli settlements (which now seems to be in jeopardy), possible new laws on the way in Ireland and Chileagainst the settlements, academic boycotts, cancelled music concerts, and two U.S. police departments’ cancelling of training in Israel.

While these measures have received much publicity, they have – just like similar measures in the past – done very little to improve the situation on the ground for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.