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US, Europe under Israel pressure over Palestine: Academic

Sunday, 06 March 2016 9:56 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 06 March 2016 11:24 AM ]

An overall view of the UN Security Council in session ©AFP

Press TV has conducted an interview with Lawrence Davidson, a professor at the West Chester University from Pennsylvania, about recent calls by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on the international community to pressure Israel to release the bodies of Palestinians killed by its soldiers.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Given what the PLO is trying to do in terms of reaching out to the international community, how effective do you think this outreach is going to be?

Davidson: I don’t think it’s going to be very effective at all. These calls on the international community to pressure Israel have been made repeatedly in the past for various reasons in reaction to various atrocities and they’ve never had any really effective consequences. And I don’t think this one is going to have it either.

Press TV: And what are the main obstacles in your opinion that they have not been so far effective?

Davidson: I think that when you reach the governmental level, the Israeli government and Israeli interest lobby have much more influence over the policy and the actions and reactions of governments in Europe and in the United States and elsewhere than do NGOs or international NGOs. And they have more influence than nine bodies of Palestinians.

Press TV: In terms of international law response to the situation that we described, there are a lot of NGOs that are constantly supporting the Palestinian cause, have you heard of any recent action or statement or comment coming out of any of these NGOs?

Davidson: No, I haven’t except the comment made on your program just now, but I have no doubt that there have been various comments and your guest referred to various reports. Human Rights Watch brought out a report recently detailing the egregious behavior of the Israelis. These things come out a lot.

She is correct in that there needs to be something else done whether it’s coming together of all those NGOs or humanitarian groups and acting collectively or essentially or “and or” it’s not “either or” but and, backing the boycott movement, I think that’s slow but steady increase in the pressure of the boycott movement will in fact eventually have some positive consequences, but just reports by the international community or...by this group or that group isn’t going to move Israelis at all.

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