The Palestine Service and Research Center (docP) was founded in 2012 and is dedicated to supporting, coordinating, and strengthening the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the Netherlands.
To this end, docP launches its own campaigns and supports organizations and/or individuals who wish to launch campaigns. In 2020, we received permission from the BDS National Committee (BNC) in Ramallah to use the name BDS Netherlands along with the well-known international logo.
Purpose
BDS Netherlands has set itself the following goal:
- providing services to individuals and organizations that disseminate information about, and secure political and material support for, the efforts of the Palestinian people to realize their right to self-determination, their right of return, and their political and social equality;
- actively promoting the goals of the Palestinian “Civil Society Call” of July 2005 and actively employing or promoting the tools of boycott, divestment, and sanctions to achieve these goals; and so on
- anything that is related to the foregoing in the broadest sense and may contribute to it, including research, project development, lobbying, policy advocacy, and financial support.
Board of Directors
The docP board consists of the following individuals:
- Nadia Slimi, Chair
- Nils Brenkman, Treasurer
- Egbert Harmsen, Secretary
- Nicole Hollenberg, Board Member
Manifesto
Statement, October 2012
BOYCOTT ISRAEL’S APARTHEID, FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW
We, a group of concerned organizations, action groups, and individuals, have come together and joined forces for a joint initiative. We condemn Israel’s unjust treatment of the Palestinian people, which has been ongoing for over 70 years.
The system of apartheid is being implemented with increasing openness. Israel systematically violates international law with impunity, through practices including the following*:
- the ongoing occupation and colonization of Palestinian territory, as well as the blockade of the Gaza Strip;
- the ongoing expulsion of Palestinians from their homes, the demolition of houses, the destruction of farmland, and the seizure of land, water, and other resources.
- the construction of the wall, roads, and settlements for settlers on Palestinian territory, and settler aggression against Palestinians;
- full Israeli control over the land, air, and sea borders of the Palestinian Territories;
- the ongoing intimidation, arbitrary treatment, and harassment of Palestinians at roadblocks and checkpoints;
- the frequent detention of Palestinians, including children, without due process, and the torture that takes place in detention centers;
- the denial of the right of return for Palestinian refugees;
- the discrimination faced by native Palestinians within Israel.
This long-standing injustice has caused significant harm to the living conditions and development of the Palestinian people. Basic services such as education, healthcare, employment, housing, sewage systems, waste disposal, food, and water have deteriorated and have become inaccessible due to the population’s restricted mobility.
Israel is creating a system of oppression and undermining democracy by imprisoning elected representatives. Israel is denying Palestinians the right to self-determination by refusing to implement the steps agreed upon in the Oslo Accords—however minimal they may be.
We also condemn:
- the Dutch government’s bias in favor of Israel, and the lack of serious commitment on the part of our country to right this wrong;
- thereby failing to fulfill the constitutional duty to promote the international legal order;
- the EU’s lack of resolve and decisiveness in addressing Israel, despite repeated verbal condemnations of Israel’s human rights violations.
To promote a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, we invite everyone—citizens, civil society organizations, and businesses—to take responsibility and join the call issued on July 9, 2005, by 170 Palestinian civil society organizations**. These organizations are calling for peaceful resistance through a broad boycott campaign. The campaign includes consumer boycotts as well as divestment and sanctions (BDS). Actively support the BDS campaign against Israel until it fulfills its obligations toward the Palestinians.
Boycott Apartheid. For international law!
* UN General Assembly Resolution 181: Partition Plan for Palestine (November 29, 1947)
UN General Assembly Resolution 194: On the Right of Return and Compensation for Palestinian Refugees (December 11, 1948)
UN General Assembly Resolution 273: Conditions for Israel’s admission to the UN (May 11, 1949)
UN Security Council Resolution 242: Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the June War (November 22-1967)
UN Convention on the Elimination and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (November 30, 1973)
UN General Assembly Resolution 10/15 on the Wall in Palestinian Territory (August 2, 2004)
**www.bdsmovement.net