Consumer resistance or resisting consumption? The case of the BDS in the occupied Palestinian territory

In 2005, Palestinian civil society called for an international campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The ongoing BDS campaign represents an attempt to produce both Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law, and Israeli recognition of Palestinian rights. Economic and political pressure on Israel is to be exerted until three conditions are met, namely, the end of the occupation, equal rights for Palestinians in Israel, and the right to return for Palestinian refugees (BDS 2005). The campaign encourages Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt, i.e. the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza) and Israel, Israelis, as well as the global diaspora and those wishing to express solidarity with Palestinians, to engage in the cultural, economic, and academic boycott of Israeli goods and services. It also asks governments and organizations, at home and overseas, either to divest from companies that directly or indirectly facilitate the ongoing occupation and the oppression of Palestinians, or to impose political and economic sanctions (BDS 2015a). The BDS movement has encouraged a wider and more sustained conversation about the politics and economics of the Israeli occupation than any other campaign (Hever 2015).