US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
TypeAdvocacy group
Websiteuscpr.org

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), formerly known as the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation,[1] is a pro-Palestinian advocacy group advocating for the rights of Palestinians.[1][2][3][4] The organization was founded in 2001 after the second Intifada and is now made up of more than 300 member groups in the US working for Palestinian advocacy.[2] USCPR was created with the goal to focus on "denied human rights" instead of focusing explicitly on Palestinian statehood.[2]

Activities

USCPR advocates for multiple campaigns, including BDS, providing a "BDS toolkit" and "Divestment toolkit" on its website.[1][3] It also advocated for prison abolition during COVID-19 and called for a ban of US funding of imprisoning of Palestinian children in the occupied territories.[5]

USCPR has also helped organize pro-Palestinian protests, including a march in DC, in light of the 2023 war in Gaza.[6][7] USCPR is seen as among the largest groups supporting the Gaza War protest movement.[8] USCPR has also encouraged student activism for ceasefire, and has supported such student groups.[8]

In September 2018, USCPR invited Representative Betty McCollum to an event to thank her for sponsoring a bill, Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act. At this event, McCollum became the first representative in the United States to characterize Israel as an apartheid state.[9]

Membership

Notably, USCPR includes both Palestinian-Americans, Jewish-Americans, and other allies working in solidarity with campus groups to create programs highlighting what they consider as Israeli apartheid.[3] For example, USCPR held an event with Jewish Voices for Peace and Georgetown SJP discussing Israeli birthright trips and their context within what they consider Israeli settler-colonialism.[3]

Reception

USCPR is considered one of the foremost pro-Palestinian organizations in the United States.[10] As of 2020, USCPR is one of the organizations blacklisted by Israel, such that its activists are deported from that country.[11]

In 2019, USCPR was sued by Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund and 12 American-Israeli citizens for allegedly providing material support through BDS for terrorist activities during the 2018 Great March of Return.[4][12][13] Critics argued the lawsuit was frivolous and designed to combat BDS through "lawfare".[4][12] The suit was later dismissed, as judges ruled that plaintiffs had failed to provide any sufficient link to terrorism.[13]

In 2023, in light of the October 7 attacks by Hamas, USCPR annual conference was canceled by Hilton hotels due to alleged safety and security concerns. USCPR said that the cancellation was discriminatory.[14][15] The event had generated conservative media attention, which called for a pressure campaign to ask Hilton to cancel the event.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Oxnevad, Ian (2023). The Company They Keep: Organizational and Economic Dynamics of the BDS Movement (PDF). National Association of Scholars. pp. 17–18, 109–110.
  2. 1 2 3 Munayyer, Yousef (2021-10-26), "Defending Palestinian Rights in the Trump Era and Beyond", Rethinking Statehood in Palestine: Self-Determination and Decolonization Beyond Partition, University of California Press, pp. 127–149, retrieved 2023-12-29
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hitchcock, Jennifer (2023-03-15). "Framing Palestinian Rights: A Rhetorical Frame Analysis of Vernacular Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement Discourse". Rhetoric Society Quarterly. 53 (2): 87–103. doi:10.1080/02773945.2022.2095422. ISSN 0277-3945.
  4. 1 2 3 "A US human rights group is being sued by pro-Israel organizations over an alleged connection to 'balloon terror'". Mondoweiss. 2019-12-05. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  5. ↑ Roth-Rowland, Natasha (2020-05-14). "'A different world is possible': Palestine advocates step up fight under COVID-19". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  6. ↑ "The largest Palestine protest in U.S. history shut down the streets of D.C." Mondoweiss. 2023-11-05. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  7. ↑ "National March on Washington: Free Palestine". The People's Forum. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  8. 1 2 Sánchez-Vallejo, María Antonia (2023-12-30). "The Gaza conflict prompts the largest mobilization on US campuses since the Vietnam War". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  9. ↑ Ben-Youssef, Nadia; Tamari, Sandra Samaan (1 November 2018). "Enshrining Discrimination: Israel's Nation-State Law". Journal of Palestine Studies. 48 (1): 73–87. doi:10.1525/jps.2018.48.1.73.
  10. ↑ Awad, Ramah (November 2021). "BDS as the baseline of solidarity: toward a model of co-struggling with Palestinians in their movement for justice and liberation". Human Geography. 14 (3): 362–373. doi:10.1177/1942778620972354.
  11. ↑ Berger, Elizabeth; Jabr, Samah (June 2020). "Silencing Palestine: Limitations on free speech within mental health organizations". International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. 17 (2): 193–207. doi:10.1002/aps.1630.
  12. 1 2 Iraqi, Amjad (2020-04-06). "Jewish National Fund joins campaign to quash Palestine advocacy in the U.S." +972 Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  13. 1 2 "U.S. appeals court upholds dismissal of lawsuit linking American Palestinian group to "terrorism"". ArabAmericanNews. 2023-05-06. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  14. ↑ "Hilton hotel in Texas cancels Palestinian rights group's conference, citing safety concerns - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2023-10-19. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  15. 1 2 "Galleria-area hotel cancels pro-Palestinian conference, citing safety concerns". khou.com. 2023-10-17. Retrieved 2023-12-29.

Further reading

  • Bennis, Phyllis (1 November 2016). "The 2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign: Changing Discourse on Palestine". Journal of Palestine Studies. 46 (1): 34–49. doi:10.1525/jps.2016.46.1.34.
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