"...legislation to punish China for alleged currency manipulation widely blamed here for costing American jobs."

What about legislation to punish corporations for exporting jobs to China's low-wage peonage system? This has cost far more American jobs than any currency manipulations.

Yes, the "boycott/divestment/sanctions" efforts amount to economic warfare against Israel. And it is disappointing that some performing artists are refusing to perform in Isarel, whether it be out of intimidation, or political ignorance, or considered anti-Israelism. But are Israelis any poorer because Carlos Santana, Elvis Costello, The Pixies, Klaxons, and Gorillaz declined to visit? I think not. The artists themselves are on the losing side of the deal. The West is well advanced in a process of moral, social, and economic decline. It is not strange that Western popular culture finds Israel hard to deal with.

Rvajs:

Your comment is not helpful. You describe Israel as "racist". ¨Racism¨ is usually understood to mean discrimination by race. I have seen that there are Israelis of all races, so I know this is not true.

For your information, many if not most nations do treat individuals differently, according to law, depending on the individual's religion or ethnicity. For example, in Germany, Switzerland, and Mexico, citizenship laws favor ethnic Germans, ethnic Swiss, ethnic Mexicans.

Israel does in some cases distinguish between Jews and non-Jews. It is the Jewish Homeland, after all, according to the Balfour Declaration, and the subsequent League of Nations resolution, and according to Israel's own Declaration of Independence.

Moreover, the history and culture of the Middle East has long treated people differently, according to their religion. For example, neither Saudi Arabia or Jordan or the UAR or Pakistan, to name a few countries, will permit Jews to become citizens, own land, and so forth. It is often quite dangerous for a Jew to openly identify himself as such in many Muslim countries. Muslims, on the other hand, work and worship freely and openly in Israel. Christians used to, but the Muslims have been forcing the Chrisian Arabs to leave Muslim areas. The Arab Christian population in Israel has declined over the last 15 years because of discrimination from Arab Muslims.

Finally, to get to the article, I don't see the complaints as justified. The Palestinian Arabs want an independent state, but they get upset because Israel is treating them as such. Independent nations do not generally let foreigners cross their borders in a willy-nilly, unregulated fashion. Usually, you need a visa to enter a country, and a visa to leave and go on to your next destination if you are not returning to your home country. From the article, it sounds like this is all that the Israelis are asking.

Besides, it's easy to get to the Palestinian areas from Jordan. Why would visitors want to enter the Palestinian Arab-controlled areas from Israel instead of from Jordan? Wouldn't Palestinian Arabs and their political supporters prefer to enter the PA territory through Jordan and thereby show solidarity with their Arab brothers and avoid the Israelis entirely? What i'm saying is that there's something strange and contradictory about the complaint.