Abraham Greenhouse’s blog

The social media efforts which recently brought global attention to Palestinian nonviolent resistance (Khader Adnan) and to the impact of Israeli occupation on Palestinian intimate and family relationships (Love Under Apartheid) did not do so by chance. Neither effort could have succeeded without a sound understanding of several key social media concepts. Although several news articles and blog posts have reported on these campaigns, none have yet explored the question of why the efforts were effective.

Network terminology is becoming increasingly commonplace in Palestine activist circles, as well as among anti-Palestinian groups. We speak of “viral videos” and “links to the far right.” Anti-Palestinians have formed an “Israel Action Network” and refer to “Hubs of Delegitimization.” Are networks the latest innovation in an evolving arsenal of advocacy? Or just a catchy buzzword? The answer is neither.

In the summer of 2010, a small group of activists from across North America released The Veritas Handbook: A Guide to Understanding the Struggle for Palestinian Human Rights. The 347-page document combined a “crash course” on key political and humanitarian issues with an extensive survey of resources for emerging activists and advocacy veterans alike.

I first saw these cards at a Palestine activism conference around 2002, when they were still quite new, being distributed by the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting’s Palestine Israel Action Group (PIAG). With the front side featuring a set of maps depicting Palestinian loss of land from pre-Nakba times to present, and the back featuring a contemporary map showing the fragmentation of the West Bank (alongside various statistics and quotes), these cards are simple, convenient, and effective tools which remain popular a decade after their introduction.

It’s difficult to avoid, especially in the frenzy of consumerism and gift-giving which washes over the West at the end of every year: “I meant to boycott that company,” I’ve had friends tell me, “but it was a gift.” Or, “I bought it before I knew.” But like it or not, our unwitting purchases, or receipt thereof as gifts, play a role in preventing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel from achieving their full potential.

In an oped published Friday, Commentary magazine, the leading journal of neoconservative political analysis, offered advice to anti-Palestinian activists on “how to handle” professors who criticize Israeli policies.

Activists delivered a statement of solidarity from Palestinians to the Occupy Wall Street camp in New York City shortly it was was demolished by police, and an OWS activist who played a role in the deletion of an OWS tweet supporting the aid flotilla to Gaza has ties to a conservative lobbyist and Israel PR groups