U.S. Backs Down and Grants Visa to Omar Barghouti, Palestinian Advocate of Israel Boycott

[Jefferson23]

April 11, 2011

From Democracy Now, transcript.

SNIP* AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Arab League called on the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza. For now, a tense ceasefire remains in place in place.

To discuss these developments, we’re joined by Palestinian activist and author, Omar Barghouti. He lives in the West Bank. He’s a founding member of the BDS movement, a nonviolent campaign to boycott, divest and sanction Israel until it complies with international law. His book is called Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. After months of extended delays and an international public pressure campaign, in March the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem granted Omar Barghouti a visa to visit the United States for a tour for his book.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

OMAR BARGHOUTI: Good morning.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. You were a resident here in the United States. You lived here for many years now.

OMAR BARGHOUTI: Yes, I lived here for 11 years.

AMY GOODMAN: You went to Columbia University.

OMAR BARGHOUTI: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: But you still had trouble coming in to the United States.

OMAR BARGHOUTI: I think I never had trouble until my book tour was announced. So I think it is connected to the book tour. There was a clear attempt to cancel this book tour. I never had any security issue with the U.S., or anywhere else, actually. So there was absolutely no excuse. The visa was issued and then delayed. Some processes came up after it was supposedly approved.

AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about what’s happened just in the last few days in Gaza, 19 Palestinians killed.

OMAR BARGHOUTI: I think it’s another chapter in ongoing Israeli aggression. What’s important is to place this in context, because for many viewers, they would forget that the context is occupation. Israel continues to be the occupying power that’s controlling Gaza, and it has imposed a very illegal, barbaric and immoral siege on Gaza, causing the slow death of hundred, even thousands, of Palestinians, the pollution of the water supply, and many problems with access to healthcare, education. During the 2008-2009 attack on Gaza, Israel destroyed many houses, hospitals, university buildings and schools and so on, U.N. centers. So that’s the context that we have to see this in. It’s not enough to see it as a ping-pong: Hamas attacked this, and Israel retaliated. Israel is never retaliating, because it’s the occupying power, and occupation, by definition, is aggression and violence.

AMY GOODMAN: On Sunday, the Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El Araby affirmed an Arab League request to the U.N. Security Council to allow for the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Gaza.

in full: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/11/us_backs_down_and_grants_visa