flexible as well, researchers in south korea say they have produced the world's first foldable battery. thanks for watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters. "the stream" is next. you're in the stream. is the boycott strange u.s. israeli relates or just making headlines? >> our digital producer wajahat ali is here. whenever we barely touch israel and

palestine, it's a huge issue. >> when i talked to friends -- >> on either side. >> i'll try get as much of the diverse community feedback. for example, henry, israel is its own country and should run it as it sees fit. there's a reason why israel does what it does. all the nations have said they want to destroy israel and drive them into the sea. it is the same in the case of south african thawed. unprovoked war which they lost, i support the settlements. speaking about settlements here is lance. bds should complete israel boycott, settlement is just one symptom of the rest of israel. as you can see a light hearted discussion. >> no shortage of discussions on this topic.

achieving a two state peace agreement between israel and palestine. for decades, the u.s. have called on israel to stop the settlements, they are illegal, the u.n. has passed several resolutions, opposing them. matters in their own hands, launching a boycott, known as bds, hoping to successfully pressure israel where successive administrations have failed. too surprising, when secretary of state john kerry started off a fire storm of criticism when he cautioned that israel could face growing isolation if it didn't reach a peace deal with palestinians. so why is bds such an insendary issue?

for more we are joined by lara freedman, the director of policy and government relations, americans for peace now, josh ruebner, author of a new book, shattered hopes, obama 's fair your to broker israeli-palestinian peace. , avi mayer, and yousef munayyer. the first time we heard about this boycott was when scarlt jo scarlett joscarlett johanssen was in the news, soda stream. >> in 2005 emotional 170

different palestinian organizations called upon the international civil society to engage in these types of campaigns as a way of helping them to lift israel's boot of oppression off of their neck. so that's where the call emanated from. and of course it is modeled after the successful campaign for boycott divestment and sanctions that help lead for the downfall of thawed in south africa. >> this was a bit of an unknown issue, when scarlett johanssen and sow today stream hit the air waves. >> in this particular case, the actress had signed a very lucrative contract with seed stream to be their global ambassador.

soda stream is based an illegal settlement in the west bank that profits from the palestinian labor and resources. when she signed along to soda stream, began to put pressure on oxfam, the organization she was also global ambassador for. saying it was simply incomprehensible, that oxfam is engaged with could be a spokesperson as well for a corporation that's doing so much damage to the palestinians. >> lara give us a little bit of historical perspective. why is the u.s. opposed to the

israeli. >> in 1969, israel came into position of these lands and it basically left them in limbo. to make them part of israel to give them back, for whatever it was they left them in limbo all of these years. this is not land that descrealt thinks is part of -- israel thinks is part of israel. under international law it's problematic and as a policy issue it has always been opposed by every u.s. administration. there has not been an effective way to take that issue seriously and we have seen a deepening of settlement. when you talk about settlements in bds, i'd like to focus on what josh said. soda stream is not really the best example of what bds movement is about. because for a lt of us who are protest -- lot of us who are

protesting soda stream, soda stream move your factory, into sovereign israel and i'll buy a machine of yours for all my friends. i draw the green line bright. what you do on your side of the green line you have a right to do, until there's agreement, what you do on the other side you don't have a right to do. i want to make it very, very clear, where josh and i differ respectfully on this because i do not think it's right to boycott soda stream if it's inside israel , i do believe it's right the boycott if it's in the occupied territories. >> there are others who would like the boycott movement to really achieve more. talk a little bit about that. >> well, the boycott divestment and sanction movement has three central objectives that are really all tied together. the first is ending the occupation, in the west bank and

gaza and providing self-determination for the palestinians who live there. equality for palestinians inside israel and inside the green line and a equitable solution in coordinates with international law u.n. resolution 194 to the palestinian refugee issue, the right of return of palestinian refugees. as is very clear, the policies of the israeli state, are doing so on both sides of the green line. and so the distinction that lara makes is not one that i would make at all. and in fact i want even make that in roared to the settlements either. because -- in regard to the settlements either. yes the settlements may be located in the west bank but they don't sprout up when it rains a little bit. these are driven by policies of the state which are formulated

at the very corridors of power of the israeli state, the israeli political establishment and so on. and so i think that every target within the israeli -- >> well yousef -- >> lawful nobody violent way to push for equality for marinians palestinians, it won't show a tangible impact until tipping point is reached. he thinks we're getting closer all the time. dahlia says the bds campaign will achieve a big fat doughnut zero. jeweg, the only impact is cosmetic and avi you're joining us from jerusalem. going off sol's comment there u.s. has a special relationship with israel, unconditional support, they give billions of aid. do you think the bds campaign

has any impact on u.s.-israeli relations or towards the israeli-palestinian conflict? >> if there is impact it is only been positive. the u.s. support for the state of israel is at its highest point at a quarter-century matched with the highest level of support of all time. this is a bipartisan issue, it goes across the aisle. and what we've seen in recent days actually have been a very significant backlash genetics the bds movement. because this isn't usually a conversation about tactics. there is no one who would argue that tactics aren't better than suicide bombings or rockets. the question is what is the end game? it's been made clear by bds leadership that, the end game, other leaders of the bds movement are very clear, in their desire to see israel eliminated as the nation-state of the jewish people and that is

a goal that no matter where you might sin on the opposition, on israeli policy? the majority of americans, i would say the majority of the international community simply doesn't agree with. >> josh is there controversy over the bds movement over whether it should include the right of return of palestinians to israel? >> well, the bds movement that was illustrated by palestinian civil society is very clear on this issue but i would challenge this notion that providing equality of palestinian citizens of israel and finally allowing palestinian refugees their guaranteed right of return to homes from which they were ex island, is making sure that israel complies with international law. south africa didn't stop being

south africa because thawed ended. the united states didn't end being the united states after we ended slavery. all the bds movement is doing is asking israel to behave in a way that is commensurate with the obligation and responsibilities wrorld. >> all right on that note we're going to hit a break. in another bds controversy the american studies association endorsed the study saying this is potentially a threat to american-israeli relations. even the u.s. congress moved the cut funding for any institutions which endorsed the boycott, which leads someone to ask, will this chill free speech, think about that. we're back in two minutes. >> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story

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>> we are talking about a boycott with islamic countries, and if doing so is helping. the new york state legislature introduced a bill to cut state funding to a state institution that participated in buoy ots of israel. it led to a response saying: been >> there's a similar bill in congress. why such concern? >> it's note ability.

not what lawmakers are saying, but academics. in the aftermath of this vote by 800 members out of 5,000 members to boycott israel, there has been a backlash to the point more than 200 university, college and university presidents from across the spectrum came out and said they will not support the boycott. that it runs counter to academic freedom and the values that the institutions hold dear. it is telling that when it is viewed as targetting israel as a whole, rather than publishing israel for whatever perceived offense, it's something that will not pass, that the u.s. public will not support. it will be increased as it point. >> it's one thing for academics to have a stake in it.

what is the cop gregsal -- congressional center in this. what stake to law makers have. >> i kapt comment on -- can't comment on lawmakers motivation, but reports of the u.s.'s relationships are greatly exaggerated, that, as i said, the relationship is at a high, and i believe it is in america's interest and certainly in israel's interest to maintain that connection. it's possible that that is what lawmakers are trying to do. >> do you think the efforts, to combat israeli boycotts are constitutional. true unconstitutionality lies in the measures tape to stop, silence, eliminate discussions. eric says: ccr says:

>> a lot of people say the influence of congress to pass the bill is due to undue influence of the israeli lobbies on the u.s. political system. do you think there's an influence and if it exists, does it, in the long run, hurt reputation. >> to the question of what the lawmakers have in for pushing there legislation, we know it came to be after the former israeli ambassador to the united states, that they asked for the legislation to be put forward. they respond to that in congress. the bigger issue is american lawmakers are doing enough horrible things to support israeli policies trampling on palestine rights. it goes to another level, i think, of

egregiousness when they take the support where it tramples on the rights of american citizens in supporting israel in efforts to occupy and colonize territory. the new york times should be commended for the position it took. everyone should take a stand against movements that are clearly against the first amendment of the u.s. constitution. >> i don't think there's a lot of disagreement. i would point out that if you read the articles, there has been a number of them, organizations on my right, saying this is a bad idea. that this is not the right way to go. i don't think the law, the legislation in the house is going anywhere. i worry that it's the first shot across the bow. my argument is when you go after all of the rail as opposed to

focussing on settlements, it's a problematic case. we do not support that, we are not part of the bds movement. we support boycotting with the israeli patriotic movement who say they need to see the green line. if we are not willing to draw the green line and say this is israel, and this is not, we cannot expect others to do it. the folks on the right, or the activists that want it to be palestine will say there is no green line. there is one. this is not how you fight bds. it is misdirected, misguided and, you know, i think it's really, really stupid. >> josh, your group is advocating against bills like congress. >> to pick up on something youcef said, i think the frantic efforts that we are seeing right

now by the israel lobby to try to legislate against bds at the state and at the federal level put paid to the notion that bds is something of little significance. it's clear that the israel lobby is concerned. it's also clear that the u.s. political class is becoming increasingly concerned. i pity john kerry. here he is breaking his back to try to force upon the palestinians a framework agreement that is incredibly beneficial to israel, that would have a long-term military presence in the jordan valley, where palestinians would have no sovereignty over their border or air space or were not allowed be returned to their homes or lands. he's warning israel that if they don't take their deal, they see the writing on the wall that israel will become apartheid state and a pariah state.

kerry is trying to warn israel that this is the reality of where global society is heading. israel and its supporters would prefer to bury their heads in the sand, pretending that the international community is going along and agrees with israel's apartheid policies. >> we'll get some more comments after the break. >> we had community feed back. james says on google+: >> that's one sigh. >> the israeli foreign minister promised within 45 days the public would see the plan israel has in place to fight the boycotts. secretary of state john kerry warned israel about the momentum of a boycott movement and what can happen if it doesn't find a peaceful solution.

should israel be worried. give us your thoughts. . >> i'm elliott aker maup, a

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