Boycotting Israel is Wrong: The progressive path to peace between Palestinians and Israelis

Description

This is the first progressive book to argue that the BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions) against Israel is the wrong way to broker peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; rather, it argues that peace will come ony when both Israelis' and Palestinians' legitimate claims to statehood are recognised - by both sides. The BDS movement (boycott, divestment, sanctions) against Israel has gained traction and publicity worldwide for a decade. Yet here, Philip Mendes and Nick Dyrenfurth - two politically progressive commentators - argue that BDS is far too blunt an instrument to use in such a complex political situation. Instead, they critically analyse the key arguments for and against BDS, and propose a solution that supports Israel's existence and Palestinian rights to a homeland, urging mutual compromise and concessions from both sides.

Nick Dyrenfurth is a Research Fellow at the National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University and a former advisor to the Hon. Bill Shorten. His books include All That's Left (edited with Tim Soutphommasane), A Little History of the ALP (with Frank Bongiorno) and Mateship: A very Australian history. Philip Mendes is associate professor in the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Medicine, and director of the Social Inclusion and Social Policy Research Unit at Monash University. His books include Jews and Australian Politics (edited with Geoffrey Brahm Levy) and Jews and the Left.

It combines the force of a rigorously argued polemic with the authority of a properly footnoted academic paper, and in just 205 pages manages to provide a historic overview of the changing relationship between Zionism, Israel and the Western left; useful case studies of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) in Australia, the UK and the US; and a progressive dissection of the motives, ideology and methodology of the boycotters." - Fathom