Tuesday, October 29, 2013

[ePalestine] Radio interview: Pittsburgh KQV Global Press Conference - Sam Bahour

World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh KQV Global Press Conference

Oct. 26, 2013


Sam Bahour, Managing Partner at Applied Information Management

Barriers to Entry: Navigating Business, Politics, and the Economy in Palestine

Listen at: http://bit.ly/KQV-Global-Press-Conference (28:35 min)

Onward,
Sam

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Thursday, October 24, 2013

[ePalestine] Statement by Sam Bahour in regards to Positive Investment resolution at UCLA

October 22, 2013


Statement by Sam Bahour in regards to Positive Investment


The above mentioned draft resolution has been brought to my attention by several concerned UCLA students. As a Palestinian-American businessman from Youngstown, Ohio who relocated to the occupied Palestinian territory following the now infamous Oslo Peace Accords which were signed back in 1993, I feel a deep obligation to share with interested parties several flaws this draft resolution incorporates.
  1. The resolution notes a 2010 UC Regents affirmation "that it would not bring forward any discussion about divesting from companies that deal with the State of Israel until such actions were similarly adopted by the United States government." It goes on to state that "divestment resolutions at other UC campuses have had negative effects on campus climate." A reading of the state of affairs across the U.S., particularly of the Jewish American attitudes toward Israel as recently published in an October 1, 2013 Pew Research Report, shows a growing number of Americans, many out of their love for Israel, are calling for non-violent methods to be used to save Israel from itself. Even Secretary John Kerry initiated the current peace talk efforts by noting that the two-state solution has less than two years before it is lost. Nevertheless, it is most revealing that in a draft resolution promoting "positive investment" the drafters found it necessary to make arguments against divestment, as if the two are inherently linked. The fact of the matter is that blocking divestment is all that this resolution is about.
     
  2. The proposal attempts to shift focus to "narratives" which is very disingenuous. The issue is not about narratives; every state that emerged from a colonial past, including the U.S., have multiple narratives that peacefully coexist. Instead, the issue here is the illegal Israeli military occupation that has dragged on for 46 years.
     
  3. In multiple places the proposed resolution makes a glaring inaccurate comparison between "Jewish" and "Palestinian." It should be noted that Palestinians are both Christian and Muslim and if any comparison is to be made it should be equally made between all three monotheistic faiths.
     
  4. The resolution refers to past resolutions that call for no action that will "develop a hostile and unsafe environment." I assume this would apply to UCLA taking no actions that would hint at supporting or covering up illegal practices by other states. If this is the case, I refer you to the long list of UN resolutions and the U.S. State Department Human Rights Reports which document a pattern of gross violations of international law and human rights violations by Israel.
     
  5. The title of the resolution speaks of "positive steps" which are later detailed as actions to promote positive investment in Israel and Palestine. Not only does such an approach reinforce a rather outdated and artificial symmetry between Israel (the militarily occupying force) and the Palestinians (the occupied people who are protected under international law), but it also promotes a concept, positive investment, that does not require a resolution at all. Given the Israeli and Palestinian economies are open market economies, why would a separate resolution be needed if a sincere desire to invest rationally existed. Wouldn't that allude to the need of a resolution for every country on earth that the U.S. is not sanctioning? The fact of the matter is that the pro-Israel lobby has designed this seemingly harmless tool called "positive investment" which in reality is a façade to block the growing number of institutions which are divesting from Israel in protest of its ongoing illegal practices of dispossession, military occupation, and discrimination.
     
  6. The resolution refers to specific firms which is rather odd. I know the business activities and executives in the majority of firms mentioned and it is misleading to believe all that they, or any private sector firm for that matter, do is good or bad. The issue is not to create an illusion of having symmetric investments, but rather to act in a way to cause the removal of the Israeli boot of military occupation from the necks of Palestinians. The EU, along with numerous US business and institutions, churches, and trade unions, have realized this and have taken actions, such as supporting divestment from Israel and firms operating in Israel, to hold Israel accountable. It is tragic that in today's day and age an argument to invest in Israel's economy, which would only reward Israel for its illegal practices, would even be contemplated.
     
  7. Another linguistic flaw, purposely placed no doubt, is the comparison between the "State of Israel" and the "Palestinian Authority." Given 138 countries of the world voted to admit the State of Palestine into the United Nations last year, it is inaccurate to refer to the administrative governing apparatus called the "Palestinian Authority" when referring to the State of Palestine.
     
  8. The resolution goes on to call for investments in companies and ventures "that have spent time and resources on efforts to facilitate cooperative interaction between Israelis and Palestinians by promoting economic and commercial growth for both groups." This nicely worded approach to an action statement is shockingly superficial. Pretending like the issue is the need for "economic and commercial growth for both groups" really strikes home all the previous points made above. The issue is not about "growth," it is about adopting non-violent tools to hold Israel accountable for its actions. Such tools, which were not invented by Palestinians, include boycotts, divestments, and sanctions. I would hope these tools, amongst others, become the focus of the discussion given my understanding that UCLA's voice is one that is expected to call for peace with justice, not merely peace, and surely not "growth" in place of justice.
I actually started writing this statement while on a flight from New York to London after spending one month on a five state speaking tour to present Palestinian investments to the American business community. From London I will fly to Amman to get back home to Ramallah. You may ask why I'm headed to Amman, given the Israeli airport in Tel Aviv is literally 30 minutes from my home. The reason is that I, an American citizen, am prohibited by Israel to use the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv because Israel blatantly discriminates against Palestinians, even if they are U.S. citizens, and forces all West Bank residents to enter and exit from a single bridge crossing to Jordan. It took me six hours to cross 3,452 miles over the Atlantic and six hours to cross the less than half a mile over the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge to get from Jordan to the West Bank. No amount of "positive investment" is going to expose the Israeli-made humiliation that happens during such border crossings, let alone the myriad of other daily acts of this 46 year old military occupation.

As I wrote in a Huffington Post piece titled, Palestine's Investments Require Divestment (07/25/2012), "Investment in Palestine -- without divestment from the Israeli occupation -- only continues to underwrite the status quo of military occupation." This statement is even more relevant today.

Thus, I strongly encourage you to see though this resolution for what it is, a slick bat to beat down the growing momentum toward divestment from Israel as a non-violent tool to encourage Israel to fall in line with international law and join the law-abiding community of nations.

I stand ready and willing to engage further on this issue.

Respectfully,

Sam Bahour

Source: http://bit.ly/Sam-UCLA

Sunday, October 20, 2013

[ePalestine] If You Want Two States, Support BDS (by Kathleen Peratis )

OPEN ZION on THE DAILY BEAST

If You Want Two States, Support BDS

by Oct 16, 2013


I have not only heard all the arguments against BDS, I have made them. I am one of those really liberal Jews who will appear on panels too treif for most mainstream Jews (because they include anti-Zionists) and argue that the liberal Zionist dream is not dead, that a Jewish and democratic Israel is still possible, that Israel (inside the green line) is a democracy. For this I am sometimes mocked. Marilyn Neimark, my co-panelist not too long ago, turned to me when it was her turn and said, "And do you also still believe in the tooth fairy?"

The audience roared. I did not take offense.
Demonstrators hold a placard urging the international community to take action against Israel's settlement policy in the occupied territories as left-wing Israeli and foreign peace activists join Palestinians in a protest. (Gali Tibbon / AFP / Getty Images)
Demonstrators hold a placard urging the international community to take action against Israel's settlement policy in the occupied territories as left-wing Israeli and foreign peace activists join Palestinians in a protest. (Gali Tibbon / AFP / Getty Images)

Most of those who populate the very narrow ground that I stand on (I called them "sad Zionists" in an op-ed early in the year) know that the current peace process is at best a Hail Mary, that the occupation is a lot more entrenched and sustainable than we ever thought, that the two-state solution—along with our liberal Zionist dreams—is going down the drain.   

For all of our efforts, why are we getting nowhere? For one thing, we are fighting the fight with a hand tied behind our backs. We hysterically condemn the use of a nonviolent tool that works. The tool is Boycott, Divestment Sanction (BDS).

The deciders on whether there will be a two-state solution are the Israeli people. It is they at least as much as their government who should be the targets of our advocacy. And not because they favor occupation. On the contrary, any pollster will tell you that a large majority says it favors ending occupation. But that majority neither puts pressure on its representatives nor votes in large numbers for peace candidates. Why? Because ending occupation is low on the agenda of Israeli voters, lower even than the price of cottage cheese.

The nearly 3000 people at the J Street conference two weeks ago are a testament to how much we care. But what tools is this impressive group deploying? I heard nothing new (I watched a lot as it was streamed). They are raising their voices, sending a message to Congress, supporting the administration. That is basically what we have done for 25 years. It does not shake Israelis from their indifference, an indifference that is staggering. As former Haaretz writer Lily Galili said in a recent post, Israelis are tired of "the endless parade of U.S. and European envoys bearing all kinds of solutions to the conflict, from plans to road maps" so much so that by now "Secretary of State John Kerry 's visits are hardly noticed."

Israelis are not demanding an end to occupation because the status quo is working for them. It is "sustainable," as several speakers at the J Street conference pointed out. American Zionists would make a contribution if we were to shake up that indifference, if we were able to make the status quo less comfortable.  

While we might not like all those who wield it, BDS has shown itself to be a tool that unsettles indifference. Few things focus the attention of the Israeli government on the issue of occupation like BDS, even the parve BDS of a limited boycott of settlement products (see Peter Beinart's "Zionist BDS"). I don't denigrate this limited boycott. Not buying Soda Stream or Gush Etzion wine is a start.

But maybe it is time now, maybe past time, to embrace a broader BDS tool for our own goal of ending the occupation—time for us to embrace the wake-up call that occurs when a rock group won't perform in Tel Aviv, when the E.U. refuses to fund Israeli projects that have any presence over the Green Line, when the Presbyterian Church threatens divestment in companies that profit from the occupation.

I know this tool is anathema to the Jewish community. Why is that?

One argument, one I have made myself, is that BDS just makes Israelis feel that the world is against them, engenders a siege mentality and is therefore counterproductive. But what has been gained by such deference? For how long do we have carrots only and no sticks?

Another and related argument is that BDS hurts Global Israel (Bernard Avishai's phrase for the good guys) and strengthens the Greater Israel yahoos because BDS means to isolate Israel and therefore shrinks its commerce and intellectual intercourse. That is true, but that is precisely what the boycott tool is meant to do: disrupt the status quo until justice is restored.

The almost unspoken reason I have kept my distance from BDS is the whiff of anti-Semitism that rises from some of the BDS organizations, including some in the Global BDS Movement.  Their advocacy of the "full" right of return of Palestinian refugees means an end to Jewish Israel.  Their one-sided condemnation of '48 is a rejection of our democratic Zionism. We cannot march shoulder to shoulder with them.

But why have we conflated their goals with their tools? Are they inextricable? I don't think so.

We can, if we choose, use BDS as one of our tools to end occupation rather than eschew it merely because it is wielded by people who may share some, but do not share all, of our goals.  We can create (and name) a pro-two-state, anti-occupation, Jewish BDS movement that is not limited to settlement products but that extends to everyone who profits from the occupation. Let's embrace and not condemn the performers, funders and investors who say they won't perform, fund or invest in Israel until the occupation ends. Let's not attack them and reflexively call them delegitimizers or anti-Semites (unless, of course, they are). And let's do so until Israelis do one thing: place ending the occupation higher on their priority list than the price of cottage cheese.  

I can't conclude without saying a word about fear, the fear of activist Jews that endorsing BDS means you are no longer under the communal tent. Just last week, J Street member Seth Morrison felt he had to quit J Street and remove himself from its listserve because he decided to join Jewish Voice for Peace, an American Jewish organization that supports the Global BDS Movement. What a pity that he was presented with, or felt he had to make, such a choice.

Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/16/if-you-want-two-states-support-bds.html
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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

[ePalestine] Sam on 570 WKBN (Youngstown) Oct 15 2013 - Dan Rivers Show

Listen to the 52min talk show segment at: http://bit.ly/570wkbn-Oct15-2013

Sam will speak in Youngstown at the following times and places:

OCT 16 - Students for Justice in Palestine have invited Sam Bahour to give a guest lecture at the University of Pittsburgh on  October 16th, 7 - 8:30pm, Kurtzman Ball Room, U of Pitt.

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OCT 17 - THE POLITICS OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY IN PALESTINE,
Thurs. Oct. 17th, 7:00pm: ARAB AMERICAN COMMUNITY CENTER, 15 Belgrade Ave, Youngstown, OH 44505
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Wednesday, October 09, 2013

[ePalestine] NEW World Bank on future of the Palestinian economy

The World Bank released today its report Area C and the future of the Palestinian economy examining the economic benefits of lifting the restrictions on movement and access to Palestinian investment and economic activity in Area C.

Press Release: Palestinians Access to Area C Key to Economic Recovery and Sustainable Growth
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/10/07/palestinians-access-area-c-economic-recovery-sustainable-growth

Report: Area C and the future of the Palestinian economy
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2013/10/03/000456286_20131003173450/Rendered/PDF/AUS29220GZ0Are030Box379840B00OUO090.pdf

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Sunday, October 06, 2013

[ePalestine] Sabeel Conference - Chicago - 2013 - Sam Bahour's Keynote

Sabeel, Chicago, Friday, October 4, 2013, 7pm

CONFERENCE THEME: A Wide Tent for Justice: Next Steps for Peace in Palestine/Israel

Keynote Address: Confronting the Myths regarding Peace, Justice, and Economic Investment in Palestine

http://bit.ly/SabeelChicago2013

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Thursday, October 03, 2013

[ePalestine] Chicago's WBEZ: A look at the political economy of Palestine

https://soundcloud.com/wbez-worldview/a-look-at-the-political (16 min)

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[ePalestine] Rawabi: A Planned Palestinian City for the West Bank (PBS)

PBS Newshour - REPORT  

AIR DATE: Sept. 28, 2013

Rawabi: A Planned Palestinian City for the West Bank

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/july-dec13/rawabi_09-28.html

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If you are interested to do business in Palestine contact:

Sam Bahour
Managing Partner
Applied Information Management (AIM)
P.O. Box 2323, Ramallah, PALESTINE
Tel/Fax  +970-(0)2-298-1566
U.S. Fax +1-413-751-0859
Cell. +970-(0)599-378-278
(some operators still use 972 country code)

E-mail: sbahour@gmail.com
Website: www.aim.ps (support AIM's CSR 2013/2014 Scholarship Fund)

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