Abstract
One of the stated goals of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is “equality in Israel.” This might imply a partnership between Palestinians and Israelis in promoting the movement’s goal. Yet core Palestinian BDS activists diverge in their perspectives on the role of dissident Jewish Israelis in the movement. Officially, The Palestinian BDS National Committee considers such Israelis as allies. However, some core BDS activists have repeatedly raised reservations about this partnership, as illustrated by the case of Israeli journalist Amira Hass’s expulsion from a conference at Birzeit University. To understand these divergent viewpoints, this article looks at the spatial trajectories of BDS campaigns, and especially at the movement’s implicit acceptance of the “boomerang model.” This model assumes that pressure exerted in the West will eventually come back to be applied on Israel. To that end, the article focuses on the history and cultural capital of core BDS activists, and particularly on their split habitus and distinction from other actors.
