On a number of occasions, Palestinians and their allies have attempted to use economic pressure to make a political statement. As early as the Arab Revolt of 1936, calls for an economic boycott were made. More recently, the first Intifada included a comprehensive plan for the West Bank and Gaza Strip to sever ties with Israel. In 2005 a new movement emerged, calling itself Boycott, Divest, Sanctions for Palestine (BDS). Although the movement was begun in 2005, the political and economic structure of this movement have not been extensively analyzed. In this paper the origins and scope of the BDS movement will be discussed, with an emphasis on the types of campaigns BDS has been involved in and the types of groups that have joined the movement. The BDS movement will also be analyzed within the context of globalization, which has altered the form and structure of boycotts both within Palestine and globally. Drawing both on the economics literature that addresses the question of how, when and why economic sanctions impact targeted economies, as well as the political literature that examines why some sanctions lead to political changes, while others do not, the paper will compare the attempt by BDS members to pressure Israel with previous attempts to pressure countries as diverse as Cuba, South Africa, Iraq and Iran. By comparing the case of BDS both to previous Palestinian boycotts and other sanctions movements the paper plans to contextualize the BDS movement within the broader structure of the global economy.