Tutu Backs Israeli-Settlement Funding Boycott
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, the South African activist who fought to end apartheid, joined a worldwide campaign calling on corporations profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestinian Territories to pull out their funding.
Tutu is among 1.5 million people who have joined the initiative, launched by the global campaign organisation Avaaz, as Israel continues its offensive against the Gaza Strip.
The campaign targets companies including Hewlett Packard, G4S, Caterpillar, ABP and Veolia, which are either directly or indirectly financing activities in the occupied territories that serve Israeli settlements which are illegal under international law.
Tutu said that the withdrawal of trade with South Africa by multinational corporations with a conscience in the 1980s ultimately brought the apartheid state - bloodlessly - to its knees.
Those corporations understood that by contributing to South Africa's economy, they were contributing to the repression of black South Africans, Al Jazeera reported.
"So they cut off apartheid's oxygen supply. Where the world's political and diplomatic leaders had failed, civil society succeeded."
"The crisis we are witnessing in Gaza today is not a Jewish or a Muslim crisis. It is a human crisis," he said, adding, "Those who continue to do business with Israel fund the perpetuation of a profoundly unjust status quo."
"Those who withdraw their business are saying Israelis and Palestinians are equally entitled to dignity and peace. Gaza is going to test who believes in the worth of human beings."
The call for divestment comes after several public pull-outs in recent months.
