BDS movement facts for kids
The BDS movement is a campaign to help Palestinians. The letters BDS stand for "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions". They help Palestinians by attempting to put economic and political pressure on Israel. They want an end of Israeli occupation of Palestine. The group thinks that they can create a Palestinian state by boycotting the Israeli government.
The movement may be hurting the Palestinian economy while having little overall effect on the Israeli economy. An example is the Israeli-owned soft drink company SodaStream. Hundreds of Palestinians lost good paying jobs in the West Bank when SodaStream moved its factory to southern Israel. SodaStream denied the move was BDS-related but their profits fell after BDS targeted them.
The movement has become popular on many US college Campuses. But no US schools have sold any stocks and none are expected to do so . Israel is concerned about the increasing number of American Jews who oppose Israel's policies. Some have even joined BDS campaigns.
Images for kids
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A BDS demonstration outside the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, April 2017
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Area C (blue), the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, in 2011
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Norman Finkelstein has criticized BDS's position on the Palestinian refugees.
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BDS was founded one year after the International Court of Justice had ruled the West Bank barrier illegal.
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BDS protest in Melbourne, Australia against Israel's 2007–present Gaza blockade and 2010 attack on a humanitarian flotilla, June 2010
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Mahmoud Abbas has not endorsed BDS.
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Desmond Tutu was a supporter of BDS.
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Criticism of the BDS
See also
In Spanish: Boicot, Desinversiones y Sanciones para niños
