[R-G] Author Naomi Klein calls for boycott of Israel

[tchilds at resist.ca]

http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2009/06/author-naomi-klein-calls-boycott-israel

Author Naomi Klein calls for boycott of Israel
By AFP - June 26th, 2009
BILIN , West Bank (AFP) — Bestselling author Naomi Klein on Friday took
her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of
Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters.

"It's a boycott of Israeli institutions, it's a boycott of the Israeli
economy," the Canadian writer told journalists as she joined a weekly
demonstration against Israel's controversial separation wall.

"Boycott is a tactic ... we're trying to create a dynamic which was the
dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa," said Klein, the
author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism."

"It's an extraordinarily important part of Israel's identity to be able to
have the illusion of Western normalcy," the Canadian writer and activist
said.

"When that is threatened, when the rock concerts don't come, when the
symphonies don't come, when a film you really want to see doesn't play at
the Jerusalem film festival... then it starts to threaten the very idea of
what the Israeli state is."

She briefly joined about 200 villagers and foreign activists protesting
the barrier which Israel says it needs to prevent attacks, but which
Palestinians say aims at grabbing their land and undermining the viability
of their promised state.

She then watched from a safe distance as the protesters reached the fence,
where Israeli forces fired teargas and some youths responded by throwing
stones at the army.

"This apartheid, this is absolutely a system of segregation," Klein said
adding that Israeli troops would never crack down as violently against
Jewish protesters.

She pointed out that her visit coincided with court hearings in Quebec in
a case where the villagers of Bilin are suing two Canadian companies,
accusing them of illegally building and selling homes to Israelis on land
that belongs to the village.

The plaintiffs claim that by building in the Jewish settlement of Modiin
Illit, near Bilin, Green Park International and Green Mount International
are in violation of international laws that prohibit an occupying power
from transferring some of its population to the lands it occupies.

"I'm hoping and praying that Canadian courts will bring some justice to
the people of Bilin," Klein said.

Her visit was also part of a promotional tour in Israel and the West Bank
for "The Shock Doctrine" which has recently been translated into Hebrew
and Arabic. Klein said she would get no royalties from sales of the Hebrew
version and that the proceeds would go instead to an activist group.