Divesting from Israel gains ground on the campus front

What could bring together Desmond Tutu, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, and UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk at a single university campus in the US? Israel, of course! Or more specifically, a divestment bill to end complicity in Israeli war crimes and occupation.

On March 18, the University of California Berkeley Student Senate voted 16–4 to pass a bill that called on the university to divest from two companies, General Electric and United Technologies, because of these companies’ roles in supporting the ongoing Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

GE and United Technologies provide Israel with weaponry such as F-15 and F-16 jet fighter parts and the so-called “Blackhawk” and “Apache” helicopter gunships, to attack Palestinian civilian populations, as documented by several human rights groups, as well as providing military support that allows Israel to maintain control over the Palestinian territories in violation of international law.

UC Berkeley was thus moving to become the first large public university to divest from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It was a new chapter in the international move for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel for its ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people. It was also the beginning of a firestorm that would engulf Berkeley for the following weeks, up to the present.

A week after the Student Senate bill passed, Berkeley student president Will Smelko vetoed the bill, claiming that it amounted to an attack on Jewish students—a strange assertion, since the bill was co-authored by an Israeli Jew, approved by a Jewish member of the Student Senate, and had the vocal support of many Jews on the campus. Moreover, there was no clear linkage between Jewish students at Berkeley and the two targeted corporations, GE and United Technologies.

Nevertheless, the Israel lobby struck. Major pro-Israel and Jewish-identified organizations, such as AIPAC, J Street, the Jewish National Fund organized to defeat the bill. On the other side, prominent activists such as Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky sent letters of support for the bill, with Chomsky aptly noting that the bill called for less than Amnesty International’s demand to halt arm sales to Israel. South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu congratulated the Student Senate for passing the bill, noting the power of BDS in ending South African apartheid and acknowledging the role of UC Berkeley students in making that possible.

On April 14, the Student Senate convened to consider overturning Smelko’s veto. Six hundred people attended the meeting. Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein gave an impassioned plea for divestment. Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, gave his approving testimony via Skype. Meanwhile, Israeli Consul General Akiva Tor spoke against the bill, at the same time acknowledging the Israeli occupation of Palestine—perhaps inadvertently, since the official Israeli stance continues to be denial of the occupation, as it is considered illegal under international law.

The Student Senate meeting went over 12 hours, not gathering enough votes to overturn the veto. Around 7 am the following morning, the Student Senate voted to table the bill, meaning it could be revisited later.

Although the bill remains vetoed for now, the events at Berkeley have contributed to an irreversible trend toward advocating for justice and human rights for Palestinians.

Reviewing the movenment for boycott, divestment, and sanctions In protest of the ongoing occupation of Palestine and the Golan Heights (taken from Syria), Palestinian civil society organizations called for international boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel. In July 2005, 170 Palestinian civil society organizations signed a petition titled the “Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights”.

These civil society organizations aimed to build international pressure on Israel to comply with international law, recognize the fundamental human rights of Palestinians, and the UN Resolution 194 which guarantees the right of return for Palestinian refugees. These calls sparked a global Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to end the financial assistance of the Israeli occupation.

Applying strong economic and diplomatic pressure to hold governments accountable for human rights abuses has worked in the past. BDS is modeled after a similar successful campaign against the South African apartheid. Although Israel‘s occupation is not a replication of the South African apartheid, Naomi Klein points out that the “relevance of the South African model is that it proves that BDS tactics can be effective when weaker measures (protests, petitions, back-room lobbying) have failed” (The Nation).

There are several tactics woven into the BDS campaign including individual consumer boycotts, cultural, academic and sports boycotts, as well as pressuring companies, financial institutions and individuals to divest from the occupation, and sanctions.
BDS is a set of tactics, not an end goal. Its success lies not only in applying economic and diplomatic pressure on Israel but in changing public opinion about the occupation. BDS has the possibility to open dialog about the occupation both internationally and within Israel-Palestine.

Since the call for BDS, the movement has grown to include companies, financial institutions, churches, students, schools, community groups, musicians and artists joining in solidarity with Palestinian people. This is an international struggle to hold Israel accountable to international law and principles of human rights.

In February 2009,students at Hampshire College became the first to declare a victory in its divest from Israel campaign. Similar campaigns are taking place at University of Arizona and Carleton University in Ottawa.

Recently, the Danish Bank and one of the largest Danish pension funds divested from two companies that support the Israeli occupation.

Evergreen students have twice attempted to move towards divestment by demanding that the Evergreen Foundation make its investments transparent. The Evergreen Foundation, an organization technically removed but still tied to TESC, bundles its investments with the University of Washington. For years, this gave the Foundation the cover to claim ignorance and lack of control of its investments. This lack of transparency means the Foundation can easily get away with investing in socially irresponsible and environmentally destructive companies.

BDS could be part of a larger struggle to encourage socially responsible investment. This means ensuring our money is not supporting human rights abuses and environmental destruction. Socially responsible investment means matching our actions with
our values of social justice, equality and sustainability.

Perhaps the effort against budget cuts will grow into an effort for students, staff and faculty to reclaim the entire budget and investment process. Given that students’ tuition is the number one source of income for the college, we deserve the right to ensure our money is invested in socially responsible companies.

For more information about BDS you can go to the Global BDS Movement website at http://bdsmovement.net/ or visit the website for the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation at http://www.endtheoccupation.org/. Although MSP (Mid-East Solidarity Project) does not currently have a BDS campaign, the student group organization raises awareness about Middle East issues and aims to build solidarity with Middle Eastern people. MSP meets at 2pm on Wednesdays in the Student Activities Office.