Beyond the Headlines podcast: Palestine activist groups respond to being banned from Israel

Naser Al Wasmi is joined by Ariel Gold and Fatin Al Tamimi

This week, Israel banned 20 activist organisations over their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement against Israel or BDS for short.

The movement, whose co-founder we speak to in the show, is built upon three founding ideas: to put an end to Israeli occupation of all Arab lands and dismantling the wall as per international law, secondly, to recognise the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality, and finally, to respect and protect the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes as stipulated by the United Nations.

These three causes reflect what are widely recognised as the basic human rights Palestinians deserve. For supporting the cause, 20 international groups were banned from entering Israel.

Later in the show, host Naser Al Wasmi is joined by an activist from one of the organisations that were banned, Ariel Gold. The American is an activist at Code Pink: Women for Peace, an NGO aimed at providing a peace and social justice movement. The organisation identifies as women-initiated and has done a lot of work within Gaza. However, with the boycott, the international organisation will be unable to reach those Palestinian beneficiaries who benefit from their work.

Another one of the 20 organisations banned earlier this week was the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Beyond the Headlines features a chairperson of the group, Fatin Al Tamimi, on how this move will interfere with her work promoting Palestinian statehood.

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