Sixteen organizations from around the world denounced travel restrictions on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) co-founder Omar Barghouti. In a public letter to their respective foreign ministers on Sunday, international academic boycott organizations publicly condemned Israel’s refusal to renew Barghouti’s travel documents. Organizations from the American, Asian, and European countries demanded freedom for Barghouti to travel and for their ministers “to impress on the Israeli government the absolute necessity of ceasing its repressive measures against Palestine’s civil leaders.” Barghouti, who lives with his family in the city of Acre in Israel, is Palestinian, but was born in the Gulf state of Qatar. After marrying his wife, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, he was granted permanent residency in Israel for the past 23 years. The activist regularly travels internationally to speak at events aimed at bringing attention to BDS strategies of ending Israel’s il...

Human Rights Watch wasted no time in condemning Israel’s imposition of an effective travel ban on Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, told The Electronic Intifada on Tuesday that “Israel’s refusal to renew Barghouti’s travel document appears to be an effort to punish him for exercising his right to engage in peaceful, political activism, using its arsenal of bureaucratic control over Palestinian lives.” Previously, in light of direct threats against Barghouti by Israeli ministers, Amnesty International had expressed its concern for the “safety and liberty” of Barghouti, amid what it called “an escalation of acts of intimidation” by the Israeli government against human rights defenders. Activists are urging thousands of people to contact the US State Department to protest the Israeli move. EU passivity But given opportu...

Leading Palestinian human rights activist and BDS advocate Omar Barghouti: "The US continues to oppose Palestinian basic rights, Arabs will make their own democracy." But Obama's speech was still too much for Netanyahu : he won't accept 1967 borders or return of refugees.

Effectively canceling a planned speaking tour, the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem has inexplicably delayed the granting of a visa for Omar Barghouti, founding member of the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) campaign, due to tour the United States this April for the release of his new book, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights . Nobel Peace Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu called the book “lucid and morally compelling… perfectly timed to make a major contribution to this urgently needed global campaign for justice, freedom and peace.” Former President of the UN General Assembly, Father Miguel d’’Escoto Brockmann called it “timely and responsibly written by a man who understands that creative nonviolence is the only way out of the dire situation in Palestine.” Thanks to Muzzlewatch