The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was launched in Ramallah in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals,[1]including Lisa Taraki and Omar Barghouti.[2]
PACBI is a member of The Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign National Committee (BNC).[3]
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The Campaign built on a call for an economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel issued in August 2002 and a statement made by Palestinian academics and intellectuals in the occupied territories and in the Diaspora calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions in October 2003.
In 2005 PACBI worked closely with the British Committee for Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) which lobbied the Association of University Teachers (AUT) to adopt an academic boycott of Israeli universities.[4]
PACBI argues that "Israel's colonial oppression of the Palestinian people comprises:"
PACBI's supporters believe that a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions will contribute towards the dismantling of "Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of apartheid".[5]
In July 2009, (PACBI) led the call for the boycott of a proposed concert in Ramallah by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, which was later cancelled. PACBI opposed the concert because it would be held two days after Cohen performed in Israel. The PACBI claimed that Cohen "is intent on whitewashing Israel's colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel." In support of the boycott, PACBI argured that artistic events in Israel are "conscious acts of complicity in Israel's violation of international law and human rights."[6]
In a letter sent to Bon Jovi in January 2011[7], PACBI claims that Bono and Snoop Dogg had cancelled concerts here due to the boycott.[8]
In February 2011, Mazin Qumsiyeh, writing for Al-Jazeerah mentions the PACBI-led boycott of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra[9] since it is "one of the flagship institutions of the Israeli state" and "as long as it continues to partner with the state in planning, implementing, and whitewashing war crimes and international law violations, the Israeli cultural establishment cannot expect to be exempted from the growing boycott movement."[10]