Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
22 September
CAPITAL CITY'S BDS POLICY REVERSED BY US PRESSURE
On this day in 2015, Reykjavik city council rescinded their decision of a week earlier to adopt the Palestinian call for BDS following threats from Israel, its supporters, its lobby groups and the US. Bjork Vilhelmsdóttir, who moved the original motion sees a silver lining to the defeat: “The message is coming through...The discussions which dominated Iceland’s political life in the last 10 days [mean] people are now very much aware of the Zionist apartheid system in Israel against the Palestinian people.”
عكست سياسة المقاطعة الخاصة بالعاصمة بسبب ضغوط الولايات المتحدة
سبتمبر22
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2015، ألغى مجلس مدينة ريكيافيك قراره قبل أسبوع بتبني دعوة الفلسطينيين لمقاطعة وسحب الاستثمارات وفرض العقوبات على إسرائيل (بي دي اس) بعد تهديدات من إسرائيل ومؤيديها وجماعات الضغط التابعة لها والحكومة الامريكية. يرى بيورك فيلهيلمسدوتير، الذي اقترح الفكرة الأصلية، بطانة فضية للهزيمة: "الرسالة وصلت... المناقشات التي هيمنت على الحياة السياسية في أيسلندا في الأيام العشرة الأخيرة [تعني]ان الناس الآن على دراية تامة بنظام الفصل العنصري الصهيوني في إسرائيل ضد الشعب الفلسطيني".
The city council of Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, has adoped a motion to boycott Israeli-made goods. Reykjavik City Council voted in favor of the motion, put by Björk Vilhelmsdóttir, councilwoman for the Social Democratic Alliance, on Tuesday. The boycott will be in place “as long as the occupation of Palestinian territories continues,” the motion said. According to the motion, it is "a symbolic act," intended to show the city council's support for the Palestinian statehood and its condemnation of “the Israeli policy of apartheid," according to a report in Iceland Magazine.
Following harsh criticism from the Icelandic government, Mayor Dagur B.Eggertsson stated that the decision would be retracted and revised. "We're thankful to the Reykjavik City Council who showed a great deal of courage by accepting this proposal," says Yousef Tamimi, spokesman for the Icelandic BDS movement. "They are good people and their thoughts are with the Palestinian people. Of course we were saddened that they retracted the decision but they were probably not prepared for the strong response from Israel, something that wasn't at all surprising.
But this past week has been very positive in general, we're proud of the fact that the Mayor of Reykjavik opened the discussion on the matter. Tamimi adds that boycotting may seem a bit extreme. "But other methods haven't worked. In the ten years since the BDS movement was founded we've achieved a great deal by applying a peaceful method to show our disaproval of the continuing actions of individuals and institutions that harm others. The decision made by the City of Reykjavík was discussed all over the world and the reaction to it focused attention on the cause."
