Stop Raping Palestine.

In the U.K.:Victory for Divestment against "Israel" at the National Union of Students:

2012-01-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

"UK’s student body endorses divestment"

At: http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ben-white/uks-student-body-endorses-divestment

January 6, 2012

In a historic move, the National Union of Students (NUS) in the UK has thrown its weight behind campaigns targeting companies complicit in Israel’s occupation and breaches of international law.

A new page on the NUS website that went online today calls on students to campaign against the campus presence of Eden Springs and Veolia. In the preamble, NUS notes:

"In a similar move to the South African Anti-Apartheid movement, activists in Palestine - from Students’ Unions to LGBTQ organisations - have asked international supporters to refrain from supporting companies and institutions that profit from or maintain the occupation."

For both Eden Springs and Veolia, NUS acknowledges the work already done on a number of campuses, and offers “resources and support” to any students wishing to organise their own campaign.

This comes soon after the NUS’ National Executive Committee voted to condemn a collaboration between King’s College London (KCL) and Ahava, an Israeli company located in an illegal West Bank settlement. In fact, NUS President’s subsequent letter to KCL’s Principal is also featured in the 'Global Justice’ section of the website.

James Haywood, member of NUS’ NEC, commented: “NUS has historically been good on global issues - with the exception of Palestine. This is an encouraging step that Palestinians are being treated as equals in their demand for basic rights and protection from breaches of international law.”

_________________________________________________

More bus ads calling for an end to military aid to Israel:

2011-12-12T09:24:00.001-08:00

More bus ads calling for an end to military aid to Israel.

See the full article at:

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/12/ads-calling-for-end-to-aid-to-israel-return-to-bay-area-subways-buses.html

________________________________________

University of Michigan student government bans any comparison of the Israeli army to the Ku Klux Klan:

2011-12-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

"Michigan Student Association accused of stifling speech on Israel-Palestine"

ARAB AMERICAN NEWS

Dearborn, Michigan

At: http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Community&article=5030

December 10-16, 2011; page 15:

ANN ARBOR — A resolution passed by the Michigan Student Association aimed at quelling "vulgar or offense language" or "hate speech" was utilized on Dec. 6, 2011 against an activist who has worked for years with others in the area for the passage of a divestment resolution against products supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestine at the University of Michigan.

An offense against Blaine Coleman was issued by Assembly Speaker Matt Eral according to a report in The Michigan Daily after the activist compared the Israeli military to the Ku Klux Klan.

"Anyone wearing the Israeli army uniform is a Ku Klux Klansman who does not deserve any place at any table in polite society because they are racist killers trying to break the back of Palestine, and they have succeeded," he reportedly said.

Coleman recently made headlines after his ad proposing a "Boycott of Israeli Apartheid" on Ann Arbor buses was denied, prompting the ACLU to file a lawsuit against the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.

Offenses are used to prevent speech at the meetings, with the second one leading to the end of allotted speaking time and the revoking of speech privileges for that meeting. Five offenses results in being banned from the meetings.

Omar Hashwi, a board member, defended the rights of Coleman and his wife Mozghan to speak at the meeting last week. Mozghan was given three offenses for saying that "there is a fan of the Israeli military among you," in reference to an assembly representative who wore an Israeli army sweatshirt.

"She simply pointed out that there is a fan of the Israeli military in the room which was a fact and the rest were silenced as she attempted to give her reasoning," Hashwi said.

His motion was denied, but not before he spoke up in favor of their speech.

"I can't even begin to express to you how mad I am right now that somebody here just got completely silenced for pointing out that somebody's wearing a certain shirt. Somebody's wearing a shirt, so they weren't allowed to talk even further. I'm so mad. I knew this was going to happen when we passed these rules," Hashwi said.

"Saying that somebody in the room is wearing a shirt bans them from speaking? I'm here shaking because I'm also afraid but I will express my opinion. I will always express my opinion to support Palestine and to support people that have been treated unfairly here today and in the past."

Daniel Cobert, another representative, said that the first two speakers at the meeting who spoke about Palestine and Israel spoke civilly but said that Mozghan did not, and that she continued to fight the objection and speak out of turn.

E-mails to other representatives who supported the offenses against her were not returned as of press time.

Hashwi said he didn't agree with the methods of Coleman and his wife but said he did not believe that the comparison between the Israeli army and the KKK constituted a violation of the rules.

"There will always be people who disagree but that gives us no right to take away their speaking privileges," he said.

At the beginning of the current group's terms, a student organization on campus called "Practice What You Preach" authored a resolution urging the University to not make any future investment in what were deemed to be socially unjust companies. They targeted four companies including Hanes Brand, Northrup Grumman (which was alleged to provide military weaponry to Israel to be used against Palestinians), BP, and Monsanto.

The resolution fell two votes short of passing, however.

__________________________________________

Lawsuit for refusing "Boycott Israel" ad on buses

2011-11-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

"Political activist sues Ann Arbor Transportation Authority for refusing advertisements"

DETROIT FREE PRESS (Detroit, Michigan)

Nov. 28, 2011

At: http://www.freep.com/article/20111128/NEWS05/111128069/Political-activist-sues-Ann-Arbor-Transportation-Authority-refusing-advertisements?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

A Washtenaw County political activist sued the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority for refusing to post his ads decrying Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

The ACLU of Michigan filed the suit today in U.S. District Court in Detroit on behalf of Blaine Coleman, who has tried for nearly a year to get his advertisement — “Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid” — displayed on city buses traveling along the University of Michigan campus.

The ads feature a skull attached to what appears to be a spider’s body holding other skulls and human bones.

The lawsuit said the transit authority’s board of directors rejected the ad this month saying it violates transit policy because it would defame or likely hold a person or group up to scorn or ridicule.

ACLU lawyer Daniel Korobkin said in the lawsuit that the refusal violates Coleman’s constitutional free speech and due process rights. He wants U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith to declare the policy unconstitutional.

A message for comment was left with the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.

***************************************

"ACLU files lawsuit against AATA over rejection of ad"

MICHIGAN DAILY

November 29, 2011

At: http://michigandaily.com/news/aclu-files-lawsuit-against-aata

"The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority concerning the company’s refusal to sell advertising space to an Ann Arbor activist who promotes boycotting Israel.

"Following AATA’s refusal of activist Blaine Coleman’s ad, which was intended to read “Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid,” the ACLU lawsuit claims AATA’s advertising policy, which requires all ads to be “in good taste” and bans advertising that is “likely to hold up to scorn or ridicule a person or group of persons,” is in violation of the First Amendment due to its “vague” nature. The ACLU is calling for a judge to rule the policy unconstitutional.The lawsuit also states that Coleman’s ad should not be discriminated against because of its controversial nature...."

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"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad:

"ACLU sues bus agency in liberal Ann Arbor after anti-Israel ad is rejected"

On WDIV-TV News

Detroit, Michigan

November 28, 2011

At: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/Ann-Arbor-bus-agency-sued-over-anti-Israel-ad/-/1719418/4837374/-/fetyjg/-/

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against an Ann Arbor bus agency after it refused to allow an ad that says, "Boycott Israel."

The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Detroit claims the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority is violating the free-speech rights of Blaine Coleman, who wants to put the ad on buses near the University of Michigan.

The lawsuit says the bus agency's board met Nov. 17 and rejected the ad, claiming it violates a policy against ads that ridicule people or groups.

Coleman's ad would say, "Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid." He believes the Israeli government treats Palestinians unfairly.

Ann Arbor Transportation Authority Chair Jesse Bernstein said the agency is not commenting because the case is in litigation.

***************************************

"ACLU sues AATA over refusal of anti-Israel bus advertisement"

AnnArbor.com

Nov. 28, 2011

at http://www.annarbor.com/news/aclu-sues-aata-over-refusal-of-anti-israel-bus-advertisement/

"The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority and CEO Michael Ford over the agency’s refusal to accept an advertisement calling for a boycott of Israel from pro-Palestinian activist Blaine Coleman of Ann Arbor.

"The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Detroit alleges AATA violated Coleman’s First Amendment right to free speech and 14th Amendment right to due process. It argues AATA’s policy is vague and overly broad. It asks the court to order AATA to display the advertisement under the same terms offered to other advertisers and to award Coleman damages, court costs and reasonable attorney fees....

"...The lawsuit alleges that AATA “almost never rejects advertisements for failing to comply with its advertising policy” and offers several examples to support that claim. As evidence, it notes that advertising policy prohibits ads supporting or opposing any candidate for political office or any ballot proposal, but the lawsuit alleges AATA ran political campaign advertisements supporting Joan Lowenstein and Margaret Conners for district court judge in 2008.

"The suit also notes that AATA has accepted ads from religious organizations and run ads with messages such as 'Breastfeeding makes babies smarter,” and “Two-Faced Landlords Can Be Stopped. Housing Discrimination Is Against the Law....' "

***************************************

"Lawsuit Filed Over Rejected AATA Bus Ad"

Ann Arbor Chronicle, at: http://annarborchronicle.com/2011/11/28/suit-filed-over-rejected-aata-bus-ad/

Nov. 28, 2011

"On Nov. 28, 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a lawsuit against the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority in U.S. District Court over an advertisement the transit agency refused to accept for the sides of its buses. [.pdf of complaint]

ACLU of Michigan staff attorney Dan Korobkin told The Chronicle by phone that on Nov. 29 a motion will be filed with the court asking for a preliminary injunction, to compel AATA to run the ad.

"The ad features the text 'Boycott Israel' and 'Boycott Apartheid,' with an image depicting a scorpion-like creature with a skull for a head. At its Nov. 17 meeting, the AATA board voted to affirm the rejection of the ad, inviting Blaine Coleman – whom the ACLU is representing in the case – and the ACLU to discuss the advertising policy. The board’s vote had come in response to a letter the board had received in August 2011 asking the AATA to reverse the decision to reject the ad. [Chronicle coverage of the board's decision, the legal issues and some other similar cases are included in a report of that meeting: "Bus Ad Rejection Affirmed"]...."

***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Associated Press

2:25 p.m. CST, November 28, 2011

At: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-busad-lawsuit,0,331294.story

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against an Ann Arbor bus agency after it refused to allow an ad that says, "Boycott Israel."

The lawsuit says the bus agency's board met Nov. 17 and rejected the ad, claiming it violates a policy against ads that ridicule people or groups.

Coleman's ad would say, "Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid." He believes the Israeli government treats Palestinians unfairly. A message seeking comment was left with the chairwoman of the bus agency.

***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

November 28, 2011

Same AP article in the Columbus, Indiana Republic, at:

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/8098dac6ab0546d681bef4ecee066217/MI--Bus-Ad-Lawsuit/

***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

November 28, 2011

Same article in New England Cable News (NECN), in Newton, Massachusetts, at:

http://www.necn.com/11/28/11/Ann-Arbor-bus-agency-sued-over-anti-Isra/landing_nation.html?&apID=8098dac6ab0546d681bef4ecee066217

***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

Same AP article in MLive.com (Michigan news)

November 28, 2011

at http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/ann-arbor-bus-agency-sued-over-anti-israel-ad/8098dac6ab0546d681bef4ecee066217

***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

November 28, 2011

Same AP article in WNEM-TV News

(Saginaw, Michigan)

http://www.wnem.com/story/16139135/ann-arbor-bus-agency-sued-over-anti-israel-ad

***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

Same AP article on CBS Detroit . com (WWJ TV News)

November 28, 2011

(Detroit, Michigan)

at:

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/11/28/ann-arbor-bus-agency-sued-over-anti-israel-ad/

***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

Same AP article on WNDU-TV

South Bend, Indiana

Nov. 28, 2011

At: http://www.wndu.com/michigan/headlines/Ann_Arbor_bus_agency_sued_over_anti-Israel_ad_134647373.html

***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

Same AP article on WLNS-TV

Lansing, Michigan

Nov. 28. 2011

At: http://www.wlns.com/story/16140548/ann-arbor-bus-agency-sued-over-anti-israel-ad

***************************************

ACLU files motion regarding "Boycott Israel" bus advertisement

"ACLU Files Motion in AATA Bus Ad Lawsuit"

ANN ARBOR CHRONICLE (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Nov. 29, 2011

At:

http://annarborchronicle.com/2011/11/29/aclu-files-motion-in-bus-ad-lawsuit/

"On Nov. 29, 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed with the U.S. District Court (Eastern District of Michigan) a motion for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order, to compel the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority to accept an advertisement it had previously rejected. [.pdf of Nov. 29 ACLU motion]

"The previous day, on Nov. 28, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of activist Blaine Coleman, who had sought to purchase an advertisement for the sides of AATA buses. The AATA refused to run the ad. The proposed ad includes the text, “Boycott ‘Israel’ Boycott Apartheid,” and an image depicting a scorpion-like creature with a skull for a head.... [.pdf of image and text of proposed ad] "

***************************************

Demonstrations at the University of Michigan and at Wayne State University, against spokesmen for "Israel"--

2011-11-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

Above: At the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus.

Above: At Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, November 1, 2011.

Above: At Wayne State University, November 1, 2011

-----------------------------------------------

News media coverage:

"University of Michigan students walk out in protest of Israeli diplomat"-- Ann Arbor, Michigan campus

Published in the Arab American News

October 30, 2011

On the Web at:

http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Community&article=4877

ANN ARBOR — Last year, the a coalition of University of Michigan student organizations set off a national college trend with their walk-out on a pair of Israeli soldiers at a speaking tour on campus that many deemed a PR campaign to "whitewash" UN war crimes accusations.

On Monday, October 24, many of the same students along with new supporters continued their trend as more than 60 students staged a silent, peaceful walkout of Israeli deputy consul Ishmael Khaldi.

"History has proven that there's no use having a dialogue with an occupying power," Students Allied for Freedom and Equality Education Chair Abbas Alawieh said about the decision to walk out on Khaldi, leaving only about 15 audience members in the Kalamazoo Room of the Michigan League building for his speech.

"Our position on this issue is, end the occupation and that will be the end of the problems (in the region)..."

==========================================

Photos of the Wayne State University protests are on the Web at:

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/students-protest-israeli-spokesperson-at-wayne-state-university.html

********************************

First YouTube video from Wayne State is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF1mEHloDF8

Second YouTube video from Wayne State is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7P_qS5msJA

********************************

From 2003, the Wayne State University Student Council's resolution for total divestment against Israel:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EbIZBUj7TAg/S9GHXfkzyeI/AAAAAAAAAIg/38lsFh4ofi0/s1600/WSU.bmp

**********************************************************

Boycott Israel Panic Attack # 1

2011-09-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

Boycott Israel Panic Attack # 1

See the video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbnT1hmdD-w

Israeli Apartheid = South African Apartheid

2011-08-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

The Israeli state is racist to the bone.

That was well recognized by Black American human rights advocates by 1970, when this advertisement appeared in the New York Times:

Here is an example of the extreme racism nurtured by the Israeli state. This editorial cartoon appeared in Ha'aretz, which has a public image as the most influential Israeli newspaper, with the most educated readership:

The cartoon pictures African leaders as cannibals who eat Israeli diplomats.

This cartoon was published in Haaretz on January 12, 1973.

The cartoon's menu includes "Ambassador Hot Pot" and "Chopped Consul".

____________________________________________

Apartheid Israel helped Apartheid South Africa murder Africans

The intimate alliance between Apartheid South Africa and Apartheid Israel is illustrated in these photos from meetings of their top officials in 1975 and 1976:

Above: Israeli defense minister Shimon Peres, South African Prime Minister B.J. Vorster, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in occupied Jerusalem, April 1976.

Above: Israeli defense minister Shimon Peres, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, meet with high officials of the apartheid regime of South Africa, in occupied Jerusalem, April 1975.

Above: Vorster meets with the top Israeli political leaders: Begin, Dayan, and Rabin, in occupied Jerusalem, 1976.

That was the year after Israel had joined the South African invasion of Angola.

____________________________________________

Campaign to boycott all Israeli products at a New York City Food Co-op:

2011-08-10T05:39:00.000-07:00

The campaign to boycott all Israeli products at a Brooklyn, New York Food Co-op:

_________________________________________

"Group Wants Park Slope Food Coop to Consider Boycott of Israeli Products"

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

By Luna Lin

On WNYC (New York), at:

http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2011/aug/10/israeli-boycott/

"A group aligned with the B.D.S. movement wants Brooklyn's Park Slope Food Coop to consider a move toward a boycott of Israeli products.

"Opposing opinions on issues around Israel and Palestine have long been exchanged in the coop's in-store newspaper, the Linewaiters' Gazette.

"But on July 26, the group Park Slope Food Coop Members for Israeli Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions proposed that the coop's board vote on whether or not to hold a referendum to poll the coop's 15,000 plus members on the issue.

" 'I think that's a peaceful way to get the message across,' said member Brenda Iijima. 'It's controversial and I understand everyone's sensitivity. But I think what's happening in Palestine is just unconscionable and sad. We are directly responsible for it in the United States...'

"...The Park Slope Food Coop isn't the only food coop to consider a B.D.S. endorsement. The Olympia Food Co-op's board voted to institute a B.D.S. boycott last year. But the membership of the People's Food Co-op in Ann Arbor, Michigan voted down a motion to support the B.D.S. movement in 2007 by a ratio of 3 to 1, as did the Food Co-Op Port Townsend in Washington because its rules don't permit the coop to boycott products from an entire country.

"Doug Walter, who has been the membership director at the Davis Food Co-op in California for 22 years, said his coop's board voted down the endorsement because only 15 percent of its members supported the move..."

_______________________________________

Boycotting 'Israel' at another Food Co-op --

2011-08-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

Boycotting Israel at another Food Co-op:

See article below.

-----------------------

"Soy Vey! Could a Hummus Fight Kill the Co-op?,

"BroBos pick sides as Park Slope Food Co-op considers Israeli products ban;

"Dershowitz rends garments: we will ‘make them pay!’

"Nobel laureate Tutu backs boycott"

August 3, 2011

New York Observer

See full article on the Web at:

http://www.observer.com/2011/08/soy-vey-could-a-hummus-fight-kill-the-co-op/

Brief excerpts are below:

"Israel and the Park Slope Food Co-op have a lot in common. Both were founded in part by Jewish socialists. Both are governed by a raucous democracy with laws and rituals to rival the Talmud. Both have a soft spot for hummus and couscous.

"And now both are plagued by the Palestinian question.

"Last week, the co-op held its first open discussion about whether or not to endorse B.D.S., an international movement that calls for the boycott, divestment and sanctioning of Israeli products and companies. Supporters see B.D.S. as a nonviolent way to attack Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, while critics claim the movement stinks of anti-Semitism. The issue has been batted around the co-op for years, from the bulk aisles to the letters section of the biweekly Linewaiters’ Gazette, house organ of the organic house...

"When the Gaza flotilla fiasco occurred last summer, it inflamed the issue yet again, which led a group of about 20 co-op members to push for a referendum on B.D.S., the subject of last week’s meeting..."

_________________________________________________________

South African students endorse boycott against Apartheid "Israel"--

2011-08-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

South African student bodies slam "Israeli Apartheid Agents" and endorse nationwide Israel boycott

At:

http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1682

PRESS STATEMENT:

South African student bodies slam "Israeli Apartheid Agents" and endorse nationwide Israel boycott

This afternoon at a joint press conference held at the student center of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, national representatives of the South African Union of Students (SAUS), the South African Student Congress (SASCO) and the Young Communist League (YCL) slammed the pending trip of "Israeli Apartheid agents" to South Africa.

The Israeli mission to South African campuses is expected to arrive on the 11th of August 2011. Palestinian students have written to South African colleagues asking them to challenge and boycott the Israeli delegation.

Today's press conference was hosted by South Africa's oldest, largest and most representative student bodies - the South African Students Congress* and the South African Union of Students**. Furthermore, members of the University of Johannesburg and University of the Witwatersrand's Student Representative Councils were also present.

An extract of the press statement is produced below:

"We, students and youth of a post Apartheid South Africa, who bear the scars of a racist history and who continue to fight for complete liberation, have a duty and responsibility to stand in solidarity with those facing oppression worldwide. Israeli apartheid is one such form of oppression.

"Israeli media boast that a mission of 150 Israeli propagandists will be sent to universities in 5 countries to fix Israel's "serious image problems". The Israeli mission will begin on South African campuses on the 11th of August, with a delegation that includes at least two aides from the Israeli parliament. A delegation member was clear about the intention of their trip: "We have to create some doubt in their [South African students'] minds."

"Don't patronize us! We lived apartheid, we suffered apartheid, we know what apartheid is, we recognise apartheid when we see it. And when we see Israel, we see a regime that practices apartheid. Israel's image needs no changing; its policies do! We urge Israeli students to instead join the growing and inspiring internal resistance to their regime, particularly the boycott from within movement, rather than waste time and money on these propaganda trips to deceive us Black students, South Africans have no need for these Muldergate-like trips.

"A "major focus of the Israeli trip will be the University of Johannesburg (UJ). On 1st April 2011 UJ's Senate, with the full backing of UJ's Student Representative Council, terminated its institutional relationship with Israel's Ben-Gurion University. Indeed, UJ set an academic boycott of Israel precedent that all other South African and international universities can follow.

"Following UJ's decision, and in response to a letter sent to us by Palestinian students, we urge all SRCs, student groups and other youth structures to strategize and implement a boycott of Israel and its campaigns. We declare that all SA campuses must be Apartheid-Israel free zones.

"As with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, international solidarity is key in overcoming Israeli Apartheid. In Nelson Mandela's words: 'It behooves all South Africans, erstwhile beneficiaries of generous international support, to stand up and be counted among those contributing actively to the cause of freedom and justice. We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.'

FOR THE RECORD

A. On Education

1. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories has had disastrous effects on access to education for Palestinians. Palestinian students face poverty, harassment and humiliation as a result of Israeli policy and actions.

2. Israel mounted direct attacks on Palestinian education, including the complete closures of two Palestinian universities in 2003 and the targeting and bombing of more than 60 primary and secondary schools during the Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2009.

3. Israel's assault on the education of Palestinians is illegal under international law. The right to education is a fundamental human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments.

4. The Israeli blockade of Gaza has had a detrimental impact on students. Gaza's electricity supply is controlled by Israel and shut-down for several hours most days, making it difficult for students to study. Moreover, the blockade means insufficient quantities of educational equipment, such as paper, desks and books, reach students.

B. On Israeli Apartheid

5. Several of our senior leaders have compared Israel to Apartheid South Africa, including Comrades Kgalema Mothlantle, Blade Nzimande, Zwelinzima Vavi, Rob Davies, Jeremy Cronin, Ahmed Kathrada, Winnie Mandela, Ronnie Kasrils, Denis Goldberg, the late Kader Asmal and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

6. Both the former and current United Nations Special Rapporteurs for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have requested that Israel be investigated for the crime of apartheid.

7. In an official report commissioned by the South African government in 2009, the Human Sciences Research Council confirmed that Israel, by its policies and practices, is guilty of the crime of apartheid.

8. In November 2010, South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation called upon the Israeli government to cease their activities that are reminiscent of apartheid forced removals.

C. On Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)

8. Palestinian civil society, including student groups, have called for a policy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel until it abides by international law.

9. This call has the endorsement of the largest and most representative coalition of civil and political society in Palestine. The call also has the support of a growing number of progressive Israeli groups.

10. In 2010, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Professor Richard Falk, said: It is politically and morally appropriate, as well as legally correct, to accord maximum support to the BDS campaign.

11. COSATU, South Africa's largest trade union federation was one of the first unions to endorse the BDS call. Subsequently, numerous other international trade unions have also adopted a pro-BDS position.

12. Several international groups have began to advance the BDS call in the cultural, consumer, sports, economic and academic spheres. Earlier this year the largest student union in Europe, the ULU, passed a motion in support of BDS."

ISSUED ON THURSDAY THE 4th OF AUGUST 2011 BY

South African Union of Students, South African Student Congress and the Young Communist League of South Africa

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Themba Masondo +27 (0) 791993421 - masondothemba@gmail.com

Mbuyiseni Ndlozi +27 (0) 11 7174450 - mbuyiseni@gmail.com -

Kate Joseph +27 (0) 722299613 - Katejoseph3@gmail.com

Muhammed Desai +27 (0)842119988 - mdesai.work@gmail.com

* SASCO is South Africa's oldest and largest student organization.

** The SA Union of Students (SAUS) comprises all South African university Student Representative Councils and is the most representative student union in the country.

www.bdssouthafrica.com/2011/07/student-campaign.html

http://www.bdssouthafrica.com/2011/07/student-campaign.html

___________________________________________________________

Students demand divestment against Israeli occupation, at Evergreen State College:"...we will push you until you divest."

2011-05-12T04:06:00.000-07:00

"Board of trustees told to divest"

COOPER POINT JOURNAL (Evergreen State College)

by Erin Finch

THURSDAY, 12 MAY 2011

At: http://cooperpointjournal.com/news/board-trustees-told-divest

The Evergreen State College Board of Trustees’ May 11 meeting was mobbed with students and community members full of opinions on the campus divestment movement. The Library boardroom was at capacity, with students and faculty standing along the walls, spilling out of the room to outside of the doors, straining to hear the comments.

The public comment section of the board meeting was not designated as a discussion of college divestment. However, all but two of the comments voiced during the hour-and-a-half related to this issue.

Those who signed up to make a public comment were given roughly two minutes to speak their piece, while the board remained silent for the duration.

The overwhelming majority of speakers voiced varying levels of support for the divestment resolution passed in 2010 by campus-wide election. While some gave tentative support, calling upon the board to take the vote seriously and debate it openly, others took a more radical position.

Evergreen alum Anna-Marie Murano vehemently demanded that the Trustees obey the student election supporting divestment. “So far, the board of trustees has failed us. The president [of the college] has failed us,” she said.

“I ask you, as people in power, to follow our lead. You don’t need to lead, just follow us. There are plenty of us that will stand in front of you. Look at all the people here today,” continued Murano.

“This is the beginning. This is not the end, this is the beginning, and we will push you until you divest. We will divest. I will tell you: Red Square will start looking like Tahrir Square unless you start doing something,” said Murano, wrapping up her comment dramatically....

...At end of the comment section, Nathan Brockett, the student member of the Board of Trustees, expressed his desire to take some kind of action even if divestment is not an option.

_________________________________________

Divestment against the Racist State of Israel, at NYU:

2011-04-07T03:42:00.000-07:00

"Students for Justice in Palestine rally for divestment from Israel"

by Amy Zhang
Published April 6, 2011
WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS (New York University)

At: http://www.nyunews.com/news/2011/04/06/06protest/

Students for Justice in Palestine called for divestment from Israel in a rally on West Fourth Street on Tuesday. But their voices didn't go unopposed: Gesher: Israel club at NYU and Violets for Israel set up their campaign right across the street.

The issue of contention was the ongoing Isreali-Palestinian conflict, which pits mainstream Palestinians, who demand a state in the West Bank and Gaza strip, against right-wing Israelis, who claim that a creation of a state would destabilize a peaceful Israel.

Shouting war cries while battling the wind and rain, both sides caught the attention of passers-by strolling through the middle of their skirmish.

"Hey Israel, just face it. Apartheid is racist," shouted members of the SJP. "Resistance is justified when people are occupied!"...

***************************************

Boycotting Apartheid Israel on university campuses--in (1) Edinburgh, (2) Colorado, (3) Ottawa, and (4) Johannesburg.

2011-03-31T04:06:00.000-07:00

"Edinburgh University Students Vote Overwhelmingly for Boycott of Israeli Goods"

"Edinburgh University Students Vote Overwhelmingly for Boycott of Israeli Goods"

At: http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/3418-edinburgh-university-students-vote-overwhelmingly-for-boycott-of-israeli-goods-

A motion to boycott Israel was overwhelmingly passed at the Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA) General Meeting on Monday 14th March. In what was described as a ‘landslide’, the motion, ‘Boycott Israeli Goods in EUSA shops and supply chains’ received around 270 votes in favour, with only 20 students voting against...

...After the motion was discussed for around 15 minutes, it was put to a vote and the result was so comprehensive that no count was required. The passing of the motion led to rapturous applause in the George Square Lecture Theatre, where the General Meeting was held, and was by far the most welcomed result of the night.

Similar motions have been passed at SOAS, Manchester, and Sussex Universities in recent years. This latest result seems a clear indication that students in the UK are continuing to play a prominent role in the campaign for a just peace in Palestine.

The motion came in the wake of recent protests against Israeli officials speaking at the University. In February, student activists shut down a talk by Ishmael Khaldi, advisor to Israeli foreign minister Avidgor Lieberman, and, two weeks ago, over 100 students protested against the invitation of Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor to the University.

The proposer of the motion, second year Maths and Music student Daniel Beesley said “I am overwhelmed with the outcome of the General Meeting. It is great to see students of Edinburgh University once again standing up against injustice, just as they did during Apartheid South Africa. EUSA represents that views of students and we are sure they they will take on board what was clearly the opinion of the vast majority who attended the GM, and endorse the boycott.”

The motion’s seconder, Liam O’Hare, a student of International Relations, said: “Israel has occupied, ethnically cleansed and practised apartheid against the Palestinians for 63 years. The BDS movement seeks to force Israel to abide by international law and is gathering huge momentum year on year. I think the General Meeting proved that the student population at Edinburgh University do not want goods from an Apartheid state on campus and, despite the meeting narrowly not being quorate, I fully expect EUSA to act upon this motion.”

___________________________________________

"CU grad lobbying university to pull investments from Israel:

"Board of Regents has no plans to take up the issue"

By Brittany Anas, Staff Writer

Daily Camera (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Posted: 03/30/2011 08:13:53 PM MDT

At: http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_17737840

A University of Colorado graduate is lobbying the school to pull its investments from Israel.

Activist Michael Rabb has started a grassroots movement and has submitted a proposed resolution to the Board of Regents, asking CU to examine its investments and endowments and divest from companies that he says support "immoral occupation and apartheid in Palestine."

"Some of these companies provide weapons and covert surveillance supplies that maintain the occupation by force," says the petition he's circulating at CU. "Others take or exploit Palestinian resources, including scarce water and even the land itself."

But Jewish organizations say Rabb's proposal would divide the university. And so far, the regents haven't taken up the matter.

"For us to get involved in the politics of Palestine and Israel isn't practical," said Regent Steve Bosley, R-Broomfield.

In the past, CU has divested from Sudan and South Africa.

CU system spokesman Ken McConnellogue said CU hasn't researched what investments would be affected by the activists' proposed divestment from Israel, but officials believe it's "minimal." The regents have not requested the university to report that information to them.

The proposed resolution Rabb is asking the board to consider says: "The Arabs in Palestine continue to suffer under Israel's illegal and immoral regime of military occupation, colonization and apartheid, and ... the University of Colorado has a proud tradition of non-discrimination and commitment to human rights."

The Jewish Community Relations Council -- an umbrella coalition representing 37 local and national Jewish organizations in Boulder and Denver -- sent a letter to the Board of Regents calling Rabb's resolution outrageous. In their letter, Janet Sherman, director of the group, and Rick Kornfeld, chairman, say the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should not be compared to apartheid and the government-sanctioned racial segregation in South Africa.

"While it is tempting to look exclusively at one side or the other to shoulder the blame, one-sided reactions do not serve to improve complicated circumstances," the letter says. "Instead, they exacerbate them. Therefore, we condemn all calls and campaigns for boycotting, divestment and sanctions of Israeli academic institutions, professors, products and companies that do business with Israel. We believe that any and all of these actions are counterproductive to the goal of peace."

In the 1980s, a student-led push and ultimately a national movement prompted the regents to selectively divest from certain companies doing business in South Africa. By 1988, more than 150 universities had participated in the anti-apartheid divestment campaign.

In 2006, CU regents unanimously agreed to pull investments from Sudan after a student activist raised the issue. At the time, board members said they were concerned that investments could support genocide in Darfur, and CU became among several universities to divest from the civil war-torn region.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com.

****************************************

Hundreds of Students Demonstrate for Divestment against Apartheid Israel--

March 29, 2011

At: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Carleton+board+meeting+cancelled+students+block+access/4524452/story.html

Carleton University administrators were forced Tuesday to abandon a meeting of the board of governors when some 200 students, yelling, chanting and shouting slogans about democracy, blocked access to the meeting room....

...The students claimed to be protesting the administration’s decision to prevent them from attending the board meeting, and to debate a motion that calls on the university to divest pension funds from companies that do business with Israel. A campus group, Students Against Israeli Apartheid, which was involved in organizing the protest, says the executive committee of Carleton’s board of governors blocked a motion seeking debate on the issue from being added to the meeting agenda, and notified them that only a prearranged group of students would be allowed to attend the public meeting.

The administration has taken the position that its pension fund committee has already reviewed the university investment program. Last fall, Carleton amended the rules governing the plan to state that “environmental, social and governance factors should be considered in investment decision-making.”

SAIA, however, wants Carleton to divest money from companies that deal with Israel, which they claim is violating international law in its relations with the Palestinians. The board’s executive committee turned down the student motion because it felt the pension committee had already addressed the issue.

___________________________________________________________________

"UJ severs ties with Israel's Ben Gurion"

MAIL & GUARDIAN (South Africa)
March 23, 2011

At: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-03-23-uj-severs-ties-with-israels-ben-gurion/

"The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has cut all ties with Ben Gurion University (BGU) in Israel.

"In a heated debate that led to a secret ballot, the senate voted on Wednesday by a strong majority to sever all ties with the university....

"...'Israeli apartheid'

The vote follows a UJ petition in September last year, calling on UJ academics and students to cut ties with BGU. According to Dasantha Pillay of the UJ Petition Committee, "As the UJ senate met today, over 400 South African academics, including nine vice-chancellors and deputy vice-chancellors [highest non-ceremonial university positions], had joined the campaign..."

____________________________________________________________________________

Boycott "Israel",Boycott Apartheid

2010-12-31T15:16:00.000-08:00

"Wayne State Student Council...demanded that Wayne State dump any Israeli investments."

2010-12-17T18:59:00.000-08:00

"Jack soft on Israel"

In the METRO TIMES (Detroit, Michigan)

December 15, 2010

At: http://metrotimes.com/news/letters-to-the-editor-1.1077422

Re: "Leadership for sale" (Dec. 8), Jack Lessenberry can't have forgotten how Israel massacred 1,400 innocent Palestinians in Gaza, less than two years ago.

Yet Lessenberry is not campaigning against Israel. No, Lessenberry is venting his spleen against Helen Thomas.

Helen Thomas is rightly incensed at how Palestine is robbed, starved and massacred. She dared to demand action against Israel, as we all should.

How on Earth did that drive Lessenberry to libel Thomas as "a vulgar anti-Semite"?

Instead, Lessenberry should have joined her in demanding action against Israel, at long last.

Lessenberry should have joined the Wayne State Student Council in April 2003 — when the council demanded that Wayne State dump any Israeli investments.

Instead, Lessenberry has gravely dishonored himself and Metro Times. He chose to shield the Zionists, as they starve Gaza, and to strike Helen Thomas with a libelous death blow.

I hope to see the Metro Times replace Lessenberry's column with one by a human rights fighter who hates racism — like Helen Thomas. It's shameful to shield the Zionists. Stand with the occupied people of Palestine, and boycott Israel.

—Blaine Coleman, Ann Arbor

______________________________________

"Campuses work to further the BDS movement"

2010-11-29T04:48:00.000-08:00

Campuses work to further the BDS movement

By Nick Meyer
Sunday, 11.28.2010, 01:14am

ARAB AMERICAN NEWS

At: http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Community&article=3630

The apartheid situation in South Africa ended in the 1990s in large part because of boycotts on college campuses, and many scholars have argued that the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDS) is the most effective way for ending the current blockade and occupation of Palestine by Israeli military forces.

The BDS movement against companies with Israeli ties has been active at American campuses in recent weeks in response to desperate pleas from human rights organizations, the United Nations, and world political leaders to end the occupation.

Sabra hummus removed after divestment push

On November 19, Chicago's DePaul University announced that their dining services organization would discontinue the sale of hummus made by Sabra, an Israeli brand that students have said is known for its vocal and material support of the Israeli army, which has been accused of numerous war crimes in Gaza by the U.N. The products were removed from store shelves for the rest of the semester with a ban likely in the near future according to the Huffington Post.

DePaul's Students for Justice in Palestine organization provided research that the Strauss Group, which co-owns Sabra hummus, had direct monetary ties with Israeli forces that continue to enforce the illegal occupations of Palestinian land.

The boycott is being used as a blueprint for how to effect change at the college level from the ground up.

Sabra hummus is also the target of a boycott launched by The Princeton Committee on Palestine at Princeton University in New Jersey as the group has created a referendum asking the school's dining services to sell an alternative brand of hummus.

EMU in Virginia, University of Southern California pushing for divestment

At Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Virginia, a group of students is pushing for divestment from companies supporting Israel's military as well.

The liberal arts Christian college's Students for Morally Responsible Investment (SMRI) group has met recently with the administration and other Mennonite institutions in an attempt to continue the BDS movement and to promote the peaceful ideals of the Mennonite church.

Divestment resolutions have been passed at various schools across the country including one by the University of Michigan-Dearborn's student government.

The University of Southern California's Students for Justice in Palestine organization is also planning to make its own push for divestment from companies supporting the Israeli military.

Columbia University checkpoints raise awareness

Echoing a demonstration held this year at UM-Dearborn by the Arab Student Union, New York-based Columbia University students dressed as Israeli soldiers stopped other students on their way to class at mock checkpoints resembling those set up in the West Bank in Palestine. The event was held on Thursday, Nov. 18.

Some students were ordered to the ground and blindfolded in demonstrations of life for Palestinians at military checkpoints in the West Bank.

Other students on campus came together for a counter-demonstration, saying that the checkpoints didn't accurately represent the situation in the occupied West Bank.

The Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said its demonstration was meant to protest human rights violations at checkpoints that many human rights activists have witnessed from their time working in the West Bank.

_____________________________________________________

"End U.S. Aid to Israel" --

2010-11-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

Berkeley:

"Palestine, American Wars, and Islamophobia in America"

End U.S. Aid to Israel
Billions for Education, Not War and Occupation
Defend Civil Liberties and End FBI Raids

Speakers include:

Hatem Bazian, UCB
Michael Shehadeh, LA 8
Ziad Abbas, MECA
Barbara Lubin, MECA
Jeff Mackler, UNAC
Masao Suzuki, Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Blanca Missé, UCB Student Worker Action Team
Cal Students for Justice in Palestine
UCB Muslim Student Association

Sponsors: United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC), Cal. Students for Justice in Palestine, UCB Muslim Student Association, Middle East Children's Alliance, One Struggle One Fight, Arab Resource Organizing Center, Alliance for South Asians Taking Action, and the International Socialist Organization.

For more info, call 510-268-9429, email teachinNov30@gmail.com, or visit teachinNov30.wordpress.com.

Download the flier.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - 7:00pm

UC Berkeley • Pauley Ballroom

Location:

2475 Bancroft Way

Berkeley, CA

______________________________

Irish Trade Union Votes Unanimously for Boycott against Israel

2010-11-26T13:47:00.000-08:00

"Another BDS Victory: Irish Trade Union TEEU Votes to Boycott Israel"

ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER

November 26, 2010

At: http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/3039-another-bds-victory-irish-trade-union-teeu-votes-to-boycott-israel

At its biennial conference last weekend, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) unanimously voted to “support for a boycott campaign of Israeli goods and services and a policy of disinvestment from Israeli companies” as a result of the Israeli state’s continuing breaches of international law and human rights abuses against the people of Palestine."

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) welcomed the passing of the motion[1].

TEEU General President, Frank Keoghan, welcomed the motion saying: “It is an expression of the solidarity and empathy that members of the TEEU, and indeed all Irish people, feel for the suffering people of Palestine, that this motion received the unanimous support of our Conference.”

The motion was submitted by the TEEU’s Executive Management Committee, and speaking from the floor one delegate outlined the rationale for the motion, saying: “The global trade union movement has consistently demonstrated its commitment to Palestinian rights by adopting labour-led sanctions as a form of effective solidarity with Palestinians. The TEEU should be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Palestinian trade union brothers and sisters, those brave Israelis – Jewish and Arab - who promote BDS, and those trade unions from Britain, to Belguim, to Canada to South Africa and beyond that have taken the principled decision to support BDS.”

IPSC National Chairperson Freda Hughes praised the passing of the resolution saying: “The IPSC congratulates the TEEU on passing this historic motion, and we proudly welcome the TEEU into the ranks of the Palestinian-led worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) coalition that will finally bring to an end Israeli apartheid, occupation and the oppression of the Palestinian people”.

[1]: The full text of the motion reads as follows:

Conference pledges its support for a boycott campaign of Israeli goods and services and a policy of disinvestment from Israeli companies as a means of encouraging the Israeli government to comply with International Law and to cease violating the human rights of the Palestinian people and will pursue active engagement with Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups and civic society organisations as appropriate.

_________________________________

Demonstrations against Israeli military on U.S. campuses --

2010-11-11T18:59:00.001-08:00

At Arizona State University, Nov. 8, 2010:

Last month's University of Michigan protest, against the Israel Defense Force, has now spread to Arizona State University.

See this video, which YouTube has rapidly blocked, to anyone under 18:

"Arizona State University students protest IDF speaker"
Full protest video on the Web at: http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/arizona-state-university-students-protest-idf-speaker.html
IDF soldiers seem to be facing similar protests wherever they speak, for example on October 20, 2010 at the University of Michigan --

______________________________________

At the University of Michigan, Oct. 20, 2010:

See the YouTube video, which has been viewed by over 65,000 people.

It's at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPDkq2JHfA0

Here is the article in the Arab American News--

Click on the article to enlarge it.

______________________________________

"Anti-Israel boycott by Muslim shops goes Scotland-wide"

2010-09-05T12:01:00.001-07:00

(Click on the photo to enlarge it)

Full article published in The Herald (Scotland), Sept. 5, 2010, at:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/anti-israel-boycott-by-muslim-shops-goes-scotland-wide-1.1052960

---------------------------------------

Harvard dumps all holdings in Israeli companies:

2010-08-15T16:16:00.000-07:00

Harvard University fund sells all Israel holdings

August 15, 2010

On the Web at:

http://usacbi.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/harvard-university-fund-sells-all-israel-holdings/

"In another blow to Israeli shares, the Harvard Management Company notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that it had sold all its holdings in Israeli companies during the second quarter of 2010..."

_____________________________________

Many more victories are ahead this Fall, for the movement to boycott and divest from Apartheid Israel.

South African campaign to boycott Apartheid Israel:

2010-08-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

Click on photo to enlarge it.

It shows protesters in Johannesburg, South Africa, calling for the boycott of Apartheid Israel, on January 2, 2009. This was during the Israeli aerial bombardment of Gaza.

Notice the raised shoe in the upper right-hand side of the photo. It indicates a profound disrespect for the occupation of both Iraq and Palestine.

________________________________

Boycott the Nazi State of Israel

2010-08-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

Click on the images to enlarge them.

"Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion."

2010-07-26T03:56:00.000-07:00

"Economist tallies swelling cost of Israel to US"

By David R. Francis, Staff writer

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

December 9, 2002

At: http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html

By David R. Francis, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor / December 9, 2002

Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today's population, that is more than $5,700 per person.

This is an estimate by Thomas Stauffer, a consulting economist in Washington. For decades, his analyses of the Middle East scene have made him a frequent thorn in the side of the Israel lobby.

For the first time in many years, Mr. Stauffer has tallied the total cost to the US of its backing of Israel in its drawn-out, violent dispute with the Palestinians. So far, he figures, the bill adds up to more than twice the cost of the Vietnam War.

And now Israel wants more. In a meeting at the White House late last month, Israeli officials made a pitch for $4 billion in additional military aid to defray the rising costs of dealing with the intifada and suicide bombings. They also asked for more than $8 billion in loan guarantees to help the country's recession-bound economy.

Considering Israel's deep economic troubles, Stauffer doubts the Israel bonds covered by the loan guarantees will ever be repaid. The bonds are likely to be structured so they don't pay interest until they reach maturity. If Stauffer is right, the US would end up paying both principal and interest, perhaps 10 years out.

Israel's request could be part of a supplemental spending bill that's likely to be passed early next year, perhaps wrapped in with the cost of a war with Iraq.

Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid. It is already due to get $2.04 billion in military assistance and $720 million in economic aid in fiscal 2003. It has been getting $3 billion a year for years.

Adjusting the official aid to 2001 dollars in purchasing power, Israel has been given $240 billion since 1973, Stauffer reckons. In addition, the US has given Egypt $117 billion and Jordan $22 billion in foreign aid in return for signing peace treaties with Israel.

"Consequently, politically, if not administratively, those outlays are part of the total package of support for Israel," argues Stauffer in a lecture on the total costs of US Middle East policy, commissioned by the US Army War College, for a recent conference at the University of Maine.

These foreign-aid costs are well known. Many Americans would probably say it is money well spent to support a beleagured democracy of some strategic interest. But Stauffer wonders if Americans are aware of the full bill for supporting Israel since some costs, if not hidden, are little known.

One huge cost is not secret. It is the higher cost of oil and other economic damage to the US after Israel-Arab wars.

In 1973, for instance, Arab nations attacked Israel in an attempt to win back territories Israel had conquered in the 1967 war. President Nixon resupplied Israel with US arms, triggering the Arab oil embargo against the US.

That shortfall in oil deliveries kicked off a deep recession. The US lost $420 billion (in 2001 dollars) of output as a result, Stauffer calculates. And a boost in oil prices cost another $450 billion.

Afraid that Arab nations might use their oil clout again, the US set up a Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That has since cost, conservatively, $134 billion, Stauffer reckons.

Other US help includes:

• US Jewish charities and organizations have remitted grants or bought Israel bonds worth $50 billion to $60 billion. Though private in origin, the money is "a net drain" on the United States economy, says Stauffer.

• The US has already guaranteed $10 billion in commercial loans to Israel, and $600 million in "housing loans." (See editor's note below.) Stauffer expects the US Treasury to cover these.

• The US has given $2.5 billion to support Israel's Lavi fighter and Arrow missile projects.

• Israel buys discounted, serviceable "excess" US military equipment. Stauffer says these discounts amount to "several billion dollars" over recent years.

• Israel uses roughly 40 percent of its $1.8 billion per year in military aid, ostensibly earmarked for purchase of US weapons, to buy Israeli-made hardware. It also has won the right to require the Defense Department or US defense contractors to buy Israeli-made equipment or subsystems, paying 50 to 60 cents on every defense dollar the US gives to Israel.

US help, financial and technical, has enabled Israel to become a major weapons supplier. Weapons make up almost half of Israel's manufactured exports. US defense contractors often resent the buy-Israel requirements and the extra competition subsidized by US taxpayers.

• US policy and trade sanctions reduce US exports to the Middle East about $5 billion a year, costing 70,000 or so American jobs, Stauffer estimates. Not requiring Israel to use its US aid to buy American goods, as is usual in foreign aid, costs another 125,000 jobs.

• Israel has blocked some major US arms sales, such as F-15 fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1980s. That cost $40 billion over 10 years, says Stauffer...

____________________________________

"Olympia Food Co-op boycotts Israel, pulls products"

2010-07-21T04:11:00.001-07:00

"Olympia Food Co-op boycotts Israel, pulls products--

"Olympia Food Co-op: Products pulled after board decides to boycott nation"

Published in THE OLYMPIAN (Olympia, Washington, USA)

On the Web at:

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/07/21/1310754/israel-cleaned-from-co-op-shelves.html

by ROLF BOONE; Staff writer

Published July 21, 2010

OLYMPIA – Olympia Food Co-op members will get another chance next month to discuss a controversial board decision to boycott Israeli products at its two stores.

Nine of the co-op board’s 10 members voted Thursday to participate in the international boycott. Harry Levine, a staff representative to the board, said he didn’t take a stand on the issue.

Not everyone on the co-op staff agrees with the decision, Levine said. He said that outside of his role as a board member, he supports it.

“My personal view is that boycotts can be effective tools in changing governments,” he said. “I personally support it, and I’m an American Jew.”

The board voted to boycott Israeli products as a way to “compel Israel to follow international law and respect Palestinian human rights,” according to a statement the board released. The boycott announcement has been posted on the co-op’s website, www.olympiafood.coop, as well as at its two stores.

Israeli products removed from the stores include gluten-free crackers, ice cream cones and a moisturizing cream, Levine said.

This is not the first time that the 33-year-old co-op has taken part in a boycott, he said. It has boycotted products from Norway and China in objection to whaling and human rights violations.

Members have been asking the board since at least 2008 to boycott Israeli products, Levine said. About 50 co-op members were at Thursday’s board meeting, he said. The co-op has 15,000 to 20,000 members who are considered active. It costs $29 over a period of four years to join the co-op, although $24 of that is refundable if a member leaves.

Since last week’s vote, the co-op has received more positive than negative e-mails from all over the world about the decision, as well as phone calls, Levine said. An employee who answered the phone at the co-op’s east-side location Tuesday said the store had received a “few hundred calls....”

---------------------------------------

MEETING

A meeting to discuss the Olympia Food Co-op’s participation in a boycott of Israeli products is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 11 at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. N.W., board member Harry Levine said Tuesday.

HOW TO COMMENT

To comment on participation in the boycott, send an e-mail to board@olympiafood.coop or call 360-357-1106, ext. 12.

---------------------------------------

"Palestinian Holocaust is ongoing"

2010-07-20T04:30:00.000-07:00

"Palestinian Holocaust is ongoing"

ANN ARBOR.COM

July 20, 2010

In Letters to the Editor, at:

http://www.annarbor.com/news/opinion/boycott-israel-proposal-deserves-local-discussion/

There is rarely an issue of AnnArbor.com that does not showcase Zionist propaganda to whitewash the crimes of Israel against Palestinians. One can easily find numerous entries for "Holocaust" when searching in AnnArbor.com, including today's front-page Holocaust article showcasing Beth Israel Congregation (now famous for refusing to hear any presentation about Palestine from someone who attended services there).

At a time when Israel has been charged with war crimes, murder of human rights activists and more, AnnArbor.com continues to preferentially treat the Zionist narrative and publish materials that evoke suffering and injustice that happened over 60 years ago, while completely suppressing any discussion of the ongoing Holocaust of Palestinians at the hands of the racist state of Israel.

How is it that the European Holocaust, which ended in 1945, is a front-page AnnArbor.com article, whereas the Ann Arbor City Council discussions over boycotting Israel has received zero news coverage throughout the life of AnnArbor.com?

How is that a local Ann Arbor human rights campaign, against the Holocaust of Palestinians, conducted in front of AnnArbor.com’s reporter and photographer, simply never appears in AnnArbor.com news coverage? Is that not local enough for you?

How is it that instead you shower the European Holocaust with urgent front-page coverage and photo, instead? What does that say about the value of Arab life, to the AnnArbor.com editors?

Biased reporting makes for an ignorant and ill-equipped population.

Discussion of the Boycott Israel proposal, which has been going on since 2002 at Ann Arbor City Council meetings, deserves prominence and local discussion. Again, the Palestinian Holocaust is ongoing. Palestinian survivors of that Holocaust live in Ann Arbor, too.

“Never again” should mean "never again against anyone -- including Palestinians."

Join the Boycott Israel movement to stop the genocide that is ongoing against the Palestinian people.

Mozhgan Savabieasfahani
Ann Arbor

___________________________________

Strong Union Support for Palestine

2010-07-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

July 9, 2010

Israeli Government Officials Rebuffed At ILWU Local 10 In San Francisco

Posted by marcy/مارسي newman/نيومان under Boycott, Labor Organizing, U.S. Organizing

At: http://usacbi.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/israeli-government-officials-rebuffed-at-ilwu-local-10-in-san-francisco/

A delegation of representatives and supporters of Israel on July 6, 2010 including the Deputy Israeli Consul for the Pacifica Northwest Gideon Lustig failed in their efforts to pressure San Francisco ILWU Local 10 to reject their positions in protest of the attack on the Gaza aid flotilla, against the blockade of Gaza and the apartheid wall that Israel has constructed placing the Palestinians in a ghetto.

The Israeli government and its supporters around the world have been shaken at the growing support for a labor blockade of Israel. Dockers in South Africa, Sweden and India have taken direct labor action to stop the movement of Israeli ships and cargo.

The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions PGFTU had initially called for the world labor boycott of Israeli’s apartheid and criminal policies in an appeal to international labor.

http://www.transportworkers.org/node/1456

At the Port of Oakland SSA terminal on June 20, 2010, a mass picket line of over 500 trade unionists and community activists was successful in stopping the loading and unloading of the Israeli Zim ship Shenzhen in the first labor action in the United States against the policies of Israel.

The Israeli consulate sent a delegation to ILWU Local 10 in an effort to get the Local to drop their positions. The result however was a rejection of the Zionists appeal and reaffirmation of the Local’s opposition to the Israeli actions. UC Irvine Lecturer Roberta Seid who was with the delegation and is the Education/Research Director of Stand With Us, a international Zionist “education” organization attended as well. This outfit organizes to coerce US universities and education administrations to take action against critics of Israel including disciplinary action against students and actions to fire and witchhunt professors and academics who criticize Israel. She had flown in from Los Angeles and was allowed to speak at the meeting. Her efforts as well to “educate” the ILWU Local 10 officers and rank and file failed miserably.

She had defended the deadly attack on the Gaza Aid Flotilla and the Israeli government murder of US trade union activist Rachel Corrie who was run over by a US supplied Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer run by Israeli military forces while standing in front of a Palestinian house facing demolition. http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/rachel-corrie-s-dreams-11453

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1675.shtml

While attending the meeting she was strongly challenged and sent packing to join the dispirited and shocked Israeli delegation who were completely stunned by the union’s rejection of them. On the very same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was being warmly greeted by US President Barak Obama at the White House. The US government which arms and supports the Israeli regime in its apartheid policies sees Israel as a key imperialist outpost for US interests in the region and helps do damage control for the racist policies on a global level.

In San Francisco, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senators Barbara Boxer and Senator Feinstein in California have also supported the Israeli attack on the Peace Flotilla and defended Israeli crimes. They continue to be the biggest supporters of US military and economic aid to the apartheid government of Israel.

The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee which had sparked the action against the Zim Shenzhen in the Port of Oakland supports ILWU Local 10 in continuing its principled positions in the face of intense pressure by the Zionist regime and its supporters.

Local 10′s steadfastness has also been greeted warmly by the besieged Palestinian trade unions.

http://www.transportworkers.org/node/1483
www.transportworkers.org/node/1451
www.transportworkers.org

--------------------------------------

Warsaw Ghetto and Gaza Ghetto are the same:

2010-07-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

Gaza Freedom Graffiti in the Warsaw Ghetto

On "Kampania Solidarności z Palestyną", at:

http://www.kampania-palestyna.pl/index.php/2010/06/29/gaza-freedom-graffiti-in-the-warsaw-ghetto/

Monday 28th June 2010

Yesterday, Israeli and Polish activists met in the ruins of Warsaw’s old Jewish Ghetto.

The activists sprayed ‘Liberate All Ghettos’ in Hebrew, followed by ‘Free Gaza and Palestine’ in English on a wall of an original block in the ghetto. The block is across the street from the last fragment of the remaining perimeter wall of the Ghetto. They also hung Palestinian flags from the wall.

This was first time such an action took place in the ghetto.

Yonatan Shapira former Israeli Air Force captain and now refusnik and BDS activist said:

‘Most of my family came from Poland and many of my relatives were killed in the death camps during the Holocaust. When I walk in what was left from the Warsaw Ghetto I can’t stop thinking about the people of Gaza who are not only locked in an open air prison but are also being bombarded by fighter jets, attack helicopters and drones, flown by people whom I used to serve with before my refusal in 2003.

I am also thinking about the delegations of young Israelis that are coming to see the history of our people but also are subjected to militaristic and nationalistic brainwashing on a daily basis. Maybe if they see what we wrote here today they will remember that oppression is oppression, occupation is occupation, and crimes against humanity are crimes against humanity, whether they have been committed here in Warsaw or in Gaza’.

Ewa Jasiewicz, activist with Kampania Palestyna and one of the co-ordinators of the Free Gaza Movement who just returned from participating in the Freedom Flotilla said:

`Yonatan could have been the pilot in the Blackhawk that dropped commandos onto the Mavi Marmara that killed nine activists from our flotilla. I could have been one of them. Poland is full of the ruins of ghettos and death camps and shrines to those who sacrificed their lives in the defence of not just their communities but in resistance to fascism.

People here need to wake up and realise that occupations and ghettos did not end with the end of the second world war. These tactics and strategies of domination and control of other people and lands are present in Palestine today and are being perpetrated by the state of Israel. We have a responsibility to free all ghettos and end all occupations’.

Poland continues to deepen its’ military and political alliance with Israel whilst ignoring its obligations under international law to stop the ghettoization of the West Bank by Israel’s apartheid wall and to ensure the protection of civilians.

Kampania Palestyna together with the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, calls for an end to Israeli impunity and degradation of human rights and international law.

Ewa Jasiewicz said, ‘Poland can no longer be a Greenzone for the normalisation of Israeli apartheid. We all have the responsibility to end the occupation and ghettoization of the Palestinian people’.

Yonatan Shapira said: ‘I was always taught growing up that the atrocities that happened to the Jewish people here happened because the world was silent. And therefore I cannot be silent. The Jewish people needed to be liberated from the ghettoes, and now Israelis need to be liberated from the crimes of their own government. Each one of us can take part in this global struggle for justice, and support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement for the sake of not just the Palestinian people but for Israelis too’.

www.kampania-palestyna.pl

www.bdsmovement.net

photos by Ania Łapińska

For photos and video see: www.kampania-palestyna.pl and www.pl.indymedia.org

________________________________

Bristol City Council votes for imposition of sanctions against Israel:

2010-07-02T13:26:00.000-07:00

"Condemnation over Gaza attack"

Evening Post (Bristol, U.K.)

June 30, 2010

On the Web at:

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Condemnation-Gaza-attack/article-2361116-detail/article.html

BRISTOL City Council has voted to condemn Israel for the Gaza convoy incident that saw nine human rights activists killed.

Members called for the Government to "hold Israel to account for this illegal action" and to impose sanctions on the country until it "complies with international law and ceases perpetrating human rights abuses".

Two Bristol men were aboard the Freedom Flotilla of ships when the Israeli military opened fire on May 31. One of them, Cliff Hanley, spoke in support of the motion before last night's council debate.

He was joined by a number of pro-Palestinian protesters outside the council chamber, who want a boycott of all Israeli goods and companies in Bristol.

Mr Hanley said: "We question the morality of the council having money invested in Israeli banks or investment funds where it gains interest derived in any way over 60 years of ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine, the illegal occupation of the West Bank and the brutal starvation and slaughter of the people in Gaza."

Proposing the motion, Lib Dem councillor John Kiely (Easton) compared life in Gaza to Bristol during the Blitz.

The Conservatives put forward an alternative motion, with what they described as "less emotive language" and calling for Israel to "exercise restraint".

The amendment failed and while the Conservatives voted against the Lib Dem motion, the majority of the council approved it.

________________________________

Major British labor union votes to endorse Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

2010-06-29T03:36:00.000-07:00

UNISON Emergency Motion on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

Published: 28/06/10, on Labournet

On the Web at: http://www.labournet.net/ukunion/1006/unison2.html

Text adopted by overwhelming vote at UNISON National Delegate Conference 16 June 2010

Emergency Composite Motion 1 -
Israel’s Attack on the Flotilla

Conference condemns the attack by the Israeli army and navy on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which was in international waters 90 miles off the coast of Gaza, in which nine people were reportedly killed. We note that these boats were carrying much-needed humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza. We repeat the demand of Conference 2009 for an end o the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which has been in place since 2007.

We note that the passengers on the boat were civilians, including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a holocaust survivor, parliamentarians, activists, artists and other non-combatants. Israel’s attack, in international waters, appears to be an act of piracy. We call for an independent international enquiry into the circumstances of this attack, and for the criminal prosecution of those committing and ordering these illegal acts.

We support the strong condemnations of Israel issued by Governments around the world, as well as those statements by trade unions, including the TUC and ITUC.

Conference reaffirms the demands of last year’s conference and call for an immediate end to all UK arms sales to Israel, and for recognition of the results of the 2006 Palestinian election.

We call for the immediate release of all those detained by Israel during this attack, and for the return of all their seized property.

We note that a further aid boat, the MV Rachel Corrie, which was delayed as a result of an Israeli sabotage attempt, is currently sailing to Gaza, and we support the demand of the Irish government that Israel allow it safe passage to Gaza.

In an attempt to justify this attack, Israel has been brazenly lying, attempting to define it as an attempted lynch of its troops by passengers on the boats. This is a further sign that Israel does not respond to words of condemnation, only action will have any effect.

Conference reaffirms the support of Conference 2009 for an economic cultural and sporting boycott of Israel, and call on Unison to join the scores of unions around the world who have endorsed the Palestinian United Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. Further to that as an immediate sanction for the illegal attack on the Flotilla we call on the Government to expel the Israeli ambassador.

Conference condemns the Histadrut’s statement of 31st May which supports uncritically the Israeli Government’s action against the Flotilla and agrees to suspend our relations with the Histadrut pending the outcome of our review of our relations as previously agreed by National Delegate Conference.

Islington
Manchester Local Government
Wolverhampton

_____________________________

At the Oakland, California port:Hundreds of demonstrators blockade Israeli goods.

2010-06-22T04:22:00.000-07:00

From Mondoweiss, June 21, 2010, at:

http://mondoweiss.net/2010/06/update-from-oakland-victory.html

On June 20th an “ad hoc coalition of dozens of community and labor organizations” converged at the Port of Oakland with the goal of blocking, for 24 hours, the unloading of an Israeli ship.

Dockworkers approached but did not cross the picket line. Management insisted that the line should be crossed. An arbitrator was brought in and the union argued that crossing the line posed a threat to the health and safety of workers. The arbitrator agreed and the ship was prevented from unloading for 24 hours...

...Quick follow-up on today's action at the Oakland docks: we won!

Something like 400 or 500 people - many who had also been there at 5:30 in the morning, plus others who hadn't made the first shift - turned up to resume the picket line at 4 p.m. I was surprised there weren't more: I had assumed there would be far more people in the afternoon, with the BART running, but I guess even in the Internet age it's hard to get people out with only a a couple of hours notice.

Still, there were more than enough people to re-create strong picket lines at all three gates to the berth where the Israeli ship was coming in. Faced with the prospect of workers again refusing to cross the picket line and the arbitrator again ruling in their favor, the company that runs the dock (SSA, or Stevedoring Services of America, which has also run the port of Basra, Iraq, since the American invasion in 2003) elected to cancel the evening shift.

The ship docked while we picketed, and presumably it will be unloaded tomorrow - right now we don't have the strength to keep up the picket line indefinitely, and even if we did, we can't really ask the longshore workers to stay off the job forever. But we succeeded in delaying it for a full day, which was exactly what we'd hoped to achieve.

And while none of the local TV stations made it to the 5:30 a.m. picket - despite an extensive media outreach effort - they were there in droves this afternoon. The couple of segments I caught tonight weren't too bad, even though they gave disproportionate time to the two Zionist counter-protestors who camped out, waving Israeli flags, across the street from the afternoon picket. As of 11:00 p.m. PDT on Sunday, Google News finds 284 stories about the action, and my sampling suggests that most of them - such as this story from the Bay Area News Group, which includes the Oakland Tribune, the San Jose Mercury News, and most of the other community papers in the region - are fair if not actually sympathetic.

One final observation: the Oakland police were out in force from before dawn until our closing rally at 7 p.m., but aside from bugging us to stay out of the almost completely deserted roadway in front of the pier, they made no effort to interfere with the picketing, even when we blocked the two or three cars that tried to cross the line.

In fact, they weren't even dressed in riot gear, and some of them went out of their way to be polite. Quite a change from their behavior at the same location in April 2003, when we called a similar early-morning community-labor picket to protest a ship being loaded with supplies for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the cops responded by blasting us, without the slightest provocation, with an array of "sub-lethal" toys they had recently received from the Department of Homeland Security, including "flash-bang" grenades and guns firing wooden dowels and bean-bag rounds.

I'll never forget either that action or today's, but this one was a lot more satisfying!

_______________________________________________

South African Municipal Workers Union demands that all cities break their ties to Apartheid Israel:

2010-06-22T04:02:00.000-07:00

Click on image to enlarge it.

--------------------------------------

"SAMWU Declares, Every Municipality an Apartheid Israel Free Zone!"

SAMWU PRESS STATEMENT.

South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU)

04 June 2010.

On SAMWU Web site at:

http://www.samwu.org.za/index.php?Itemid=1&id=621&option=com_content&task=view

At its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting Friday 4th June, SAMWU unanimously endorsed a motion to immediately work towards every municipality in South Africa to become an Apartheid Israel free zone.

As part of the global Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions Campaign (BDS) SAMWU has agreed to engage every single municipality to ensure that there are no commercial, academic, cultural, sporting or other linkages whatsoever with the Israeli regime. Every SAMWU branch will immediately approach municipal and water authorities to become part of the BDS campaign, and to publicly declare their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

This decision was taken in response to the appalling actions of the Israeli regime against the Palestinian people, and especially the recent military intervention against the peace flotilla that aimed to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza.

The SAMWU CEC congratulated the ANC Government for exercising diplomatic pressure on the Israeli regime but urged Government to take further steps to isolate the regime until there is a genuine independent democratic state for all the people of Palestine.

SAMWU pledged its active support to the Coalition for a Free Palestine (CFP), and also congratulated its sister union SATAWU for refusing to handle Israeli goods at the ports.

Finally the CEC urged all unions and civil society organisations to join in this crucial campaign, to take whatever action they can to further isolate Israeli Apartheid, and to be a positive part of the solution to the terrible humanitarian catastrophe that faces the Palestinian people.

For further comment contact Steve Faulkner, SAMWU’s International and Equality Officer on 0828175455

Issued by;

Tahir Sema.
South African Municipal Workers' Union of COSATU.
National Spokesperson.
tahir.sema@samwu.org.za
Office: 011-331 0333.
Cell: 0829403403.

_______________________________________

"Rachel Corrie’s Alma Mater Calls for College Divestment"

2010-06-09T04:38:00.000-07:00

Click on photo to enlarge it:

Photo: The Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural in Olympia, Washington

Courtesy of the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project

-------------------------------------------------

"Rachel Corrie’s Alma Mater Calls for College Divestment"

Palestine Monitor

9 June 2010

On the Web at: http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1441

The student body of the Evergreen State College—the alma mater of slain U.S. peace activist Rachel Corrie—passed two resolutions supporting the international BDS campaign last week.

The first resolution “calls for The Evergreen State College Foundation to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, as part of instituting a socially responsible investment policy,” according to a TESC Divest press release. The second resolution demands that all Caterpillar, Inc. equipment be banned from campus use.

Around 80 percent and 70 percent of participating students voted in favour of the resolutions, respectively. TESC Divest organiser Nathan Schuur reported that out of Evergreen’s 4321 students, 1531 voted on the resolutions as part of the annual student government elections, a record turnout for the college.

“Rachel Corrie’s story is very important to many of us at Evergreen and in greater Olympia. Various movements to end the occupation have been active on campus at least since Rachel’s death in 2003. Palestinian solidarity runs very deep here. Evergreen encourages critical thinking and students tend to be very anti-occupation.” –Nathan Schuur, TESC Divest student organiser.

Getting Out the Vote

Voter turnout and support for the resolution result from doggish campaigning by Schuur and nine other student organisers. “It’s the end of the quarter here, so we were all very busy with school, but we all found time to organise get-out-the-vote activities almost every day,” Schuur said. “We gave presentations to classes, we dropped in on student group meetings to tell them about the resolutions, we canvassed at campus events, and we knocked on every door in campus housing.”

When civil rights activist and former political prisoner Angela Davis spoke on campus during election week, Schuur and another organiser asked her to support the resolutions and gave her a Palestinian keffiyeh prior to the event. She then mentioned the importance of voting for divestment during her talk, according to Schuur.

Anna Simonton, another TESC Divest organiser and second-year student at Evergreen, said that the organisers used three key ideas when advocating among their peers: human rights, accountability, and transparency. “We wanted to convey that there are these atrocities going on in which the U.S. is complicit, and the only thing that’s going to change it is a grassroots effort of BDS,” Simonton said. In addition to the message that “here’s a problem and here’s what you can do,” Simonton found students to be especially responsive to the point that “there’s no transparency in our college at all.”

Academic Transparency and Accountability

As a public institution, the college cannot receive direct donations. The TESC divestment campaign specifically targets money that donors give to the college through a non-profit organisation called The Evergreen State College Foundation, whose goal, according to Simonton, “is to get the biggest possible returns on that money. To this end, the foundation struck a deal with the University of Washington to pool Evergreen’s endowment, worth about $7 million, with the UW’s, worth somewhere around $2 billion.”

Since more than 60 investment firms manage the UW Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF) the Evergreen Board of Trustees has historically claimed itself unable to maintain oversight on its funds. In actuality, the CEF already has regulations that prevent it from investing in the tobacco industry or any company doing business with the Government of Sudan, meaning that mechanisms do exist for specifying how the money is invested.

The Board has also previously discharged divestment responsibility by saying that the UW Consolidated Endowment Fund is doing Evergreen a favour. Simonton summarized this perspective from the trustees’ eyes: “We can’t ask the folks at UW for anything else because they are giving us such a great deal by allowing our measly $7 million to be pooled with their $2 billion.”

Next Moves

Simonton considers this position a challenge to the TESC Divest campaign, but suggested that “with pressure from UW students, and good communication between Evergreen and the UW, the entire CEF could divest.” The campaign’s success this spring makes such a move seem possible. Once the student vote came through, the Evergreen student government, The Geoduck Student Union, passed its own resolution supporting the measures with a unanimous vote. Also since the resolutions’ passage only a week ago, the campaign has garnered more than 1,400 petition signatures from outsider supporters. At the US Social Forum in Detroit later this month, Simonton and other Evergreen activists will participate in the BDS People’s Movement Assembly, where they will connect with BDS organisers from UC Berkeley, Hampshire, and University of Michigan Dearborn.

“A lot of people have their eyes of Evergreen,” Simonton said. “We have to make the Board recognise that they have to answer.” In the case that CEF on the whole will not divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation, “the Evergreen Foundation should pull the money out of the CEF and invest it responsibly,” she said.

Schuur confirmed that “We are a very organised movement with a very wide base of student support and will not back down until the Board listens to the voice of students and ends their complicity in violations of human rights in Occupied Palestine.” Representatives from the campaign will present their demands at a Board of Trustees meeting this Thursday.

International Support

In addition to the endorsement of numerous student groups, celebrities, other university divestment campaigns, national peace groups, and hundreds of individuals across the U.S., TESC received during their campaign a letter of support from students in Gaza, which can be read here: http://www.tescdivest.org/letter.php.

Simonton said that she and the other organisers did not have direct contact with the students in Gaza, so the letter came as a surprise: “I was so stunned when I got this email that I started to cry. I was on autopilot—you know, passing out handbills, saying sound bytes like ‘vote for human rights, vote for human rights.’ That letter really drove it home to me that we’re doing something that affects people.”

______________________________________

Huge divestment victory at Evergreen State College.

2010-06-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Whole student body votes for divestment against Israeli occupation, at Evergreen State College!

That successful divestment resolution is here:

http://usacbi.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/the-evergreen-state-college-passes-divestment-campaign/

More details below--

Watch the video - UC Berkeley divestment supporters speak.

The video starts with Berkeley testimony from a student from Gaza: why the siege must end.

Spread the word!

Just minutes ago, the students at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, the alma mater of Rachel Corrie, announced that the whole student body voted overwhelmingly in favor of divestment from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation and in favor of making their campus Caterpillar-free.

What's more remarkable is that the decision was not made by a student council and thus vulnerable to veto by just one person, as we saw in Berkeley. No, it was decided through a campus-wide vote. No one, not the promoters of the divestment policy, not its detractors, knew how the students would vote in complete privacy.
The results? The divestment vote won by a landslide 79.5%! The Caterpillar vote by an equally impressive 71.8%!

The Evergreen College Board of Trustees and Board of Governors actually hold the purse strings of the Evergreen College and the Evergreen Foundation respectively. You can imagine the pressure that will be brought upon them to ignore the student votes.

We need you to email them right and ask them to respect the voice of the students and divest!

Board of Turstees Direction Carver T. Gayton (tescbot@evergreen.edu)
Foundation Vice President Lee Hoemann (foundation@evergreen.edu)

Also, go to http://tescdivest.org/ to sign a petition in support of the students!
Immediately after the student vote, the student union passed a unanimous resolution requesting full disclosure of all corporations, including those held through mutual funds, in which The Evergreen State College Foundation and The Evergreen State College are invested and asking the Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors to make public a plan of action for divestment from companies that profit from the occupation of Palestine.

Please email Mr. Gayton and Ms. Hoemann today and ask them to divest.
Many of you followed with baited breath the struggle for divestment at the University of California at Berkeley and San Diego. We sent you this report about the inspiring students from Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Well the attacks on the bill's supporter's, including Jewish Voice for Peace, were vicious and predictable, so we decided to respond and also document what we had learned about how the anti-divestment groups work.

We think it's important reading for those working on other campuses.

Most important, we interviewed the UC Berkeley student supporters of divestment so you could hear them in their own words. We can't possibly convey how incredibly inspired we were by them, but we think this ten-minute video clip will do the job for us. One thing is certain.

If you want to know where today's smart, compassionate, curious and socially engaged students of all backgrounds are gravitating to, it's the campus divestment movement.

Congratulations Evergreen. During these very painful times when we see peacemakers being attacked on the seas outside Gaza, in B'ilin and N'ilin and Sheik Jarrah, it's hugely inspiring to see that real change is happening with an entire new generation.

Sydney Levy
Director of Campaigns
Jewish Voice for Peace
PS: A lot of information and misinformation is going around about the Gaza flotilla. Here's a good primer to share with friends and family: Lying About The Gaza Flotilla Disaster

Contact us directly at Jewish Voice for Peace. 1611 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 550. Oakland, CA 94612 510-465-1777 info@jvp.org

Divestment demanded against Israel-- at Duluth, Minnesota, and at City University of New York (CUNY)

"Northland Protestors Speak Out Against Israel"

June 1, 2010

Northland's NewsCenter, KBJR-TV, NBC 6, KDLH-TV, CBS3, KRII-TV Range 11, Northland CW, MY 9

Duluth, Minnesota

At: http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/95370414.html

The attack on a humanitarian aid convoy by Israel off the coast of the Gaza strip has caused outrage among some here in the Northland.

Multimedia--

Watch The Video

A group of protestors assembled outside the Duluth Federal Building to have their voices heard.

The protest is sponsored by the Northland Anti-War coalition and the Twin Ports Break the Bonds Campaign.

The United Nations reports that at least 10 civilians were killed when Israeli forces attacked the convoy. Many more were wounded.

Activists in Duluth say they are demonstrating in solidarity with protestors in the Middle East and around the world.
The U.N. says Israeli forces boarded a six-ship convoy, inbound towards Gaza. The purpose of the fleet was to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and to break the Israeli blockade.
However, Israel attacked the fleet and protestors say they're outraged.
"As an activist for peace and social justice, I am shaken and hurt to the core by Israel's actions," said Carl Sack, an activist.

Protestors say they're asking the State of Minnesota to divest from financial bonds they have with Israel. Demonstrators are also calling upon the U.S. government to send a message in light of what happened.

They're asking the feds to stop sending aid to Israel.

______________________________

"Time for CUNY to Divest from Israel"

by The Editor
CUNY Graduate Center Advocate

June 1, 2010

At: http://www.gcadvocate.com/2010/05/time-for-cuny-to-divest-from-israel/

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.“
–Nelson Mandela

Israel’s unwarranted and outrageous attack upon the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is another sad reminder that the leaders of Israel are determined to indefinitely continue and defend the punishing and illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip and the continued isolation of the West Bank, which has caused and continues to cause immense suffering and loss of life for the Palestinian people.

Deaf to the cries and condemnations of the international community, Israel has pursued a calculated policy of punishment and humiliation against the Palestinians, explicitly designed to create a permanent crisis in the region, thus further justifying Israel’s continued policy of separation and apartheid.

From the terrible 2008 Gaza Massacre to Monday’s premeditated assault upon the Mavi Marmara, Israel has sent a clear signal to the international community that it has no intentions of either abiding by international or humanitarian law, or of negotiating in good faith with the Palestinian people. Faced, like South Africa in the 1980’s, with a clear demographical disadvantage, Israel has chosen to isolate its minority population in a last ditch effort to maintain its implicitly racist policy of Zionist rule.

Because of this, it is now more important than ever, that the institutions responsible for supporting and abetting Israel’s continued aggressions against the Palestinians, including the City University of New York, be forced, at the very least, to end their investment in any company that aids in any way the blockade, isolation, and occupation of the Palestinian territories. Since Hampshire College’s successful and groundbreaking disinvestment in companies that support the occupation of Palestine in 2009, there has been a growing student disinvestment campaign, which has spread to universities across the nation from UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, to Columbia and NYU. This movement is dedicated to convincing their college and university budget and finance committees to rearrange their investment portfolios so as to disinvest from companies such as: United Technologies, which manufactures Blackhawk helicopters used by the Israeli military, General Electric, which supplies the propulsions systems for Apache helicopter gunships, also used by the Israeli Defense Forces, ITT Corporation, which provides night vision goggles to the Israeli military, Motorola, which is engaged in a $400 million project to provide radar systems for enhancing security at illegal West Bank settlements, Terex, which provides trucks for logistical support to the Israeli military, and Caterpillar, which provides many of the bulldozers and construction equipment used to build new settlements and to destroy Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza.

While this kind of disinvestment is a good start, the current intransigence of the Israeli government calls for more aggressive forms of disinvestment. Universities and other institutions should be encouraged not only to disinvest in companies that support the Israeli occupation and isolation of Palestine, but any companies that engage in direct business with or provide investment to Israel in any capacity.

Last March, The UC Berkeley Student Senate passed a resolution, supported in large part by the UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine, (the resolution is reprinted below), urging the university to end all investments related to General Electric and United Technologies. The resolution passed the Student Senate but was callously vetoed by the Student Senate President Noah Stern. Currently UC Berkeley students are campaigning to overturn that veto, but UC President Mark Yudof, the same individual who recently raised UC tuition by 32%, has issued statements this month making it clear that the university policy supports disinvestment only in the case of genocide — a ridiculous and incredibly irresponsible high bar to set for taking action. While this may sound like a defeat, the resolution has gained steam and is being proposed at several other campuses in the UC system including UC San Diego and UC Riverside. It is time that the student government at CUNY including the Doctoral Students’ Council, The University Student Senate and the University Faculty Senate, took up the resolution as their own.

In the meantime, it will be imperative these next few weeks that those of us who care about the suffering and humiliation taking place in Gaza remain vocal and outspoken critics of Israel’s policy, and that we call on the US Government to unreservedly and critically condemn the attacks on the Mavi Marmara and the continued blockade of Gaza.

Click here to see the full version of the “Bill in Support of UC Disinvestment from War Crimes”

______________________________

Dearborn protesters demand divestment against Israel, and a cutoff of all aid to Israel.

Click on photo to enlarge it.

____________________

"Dearborn protesters decry Israeli raid"

by Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News

June 2, 2010

At:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100601/METRO/6010408/1409/Dearborn-protesters-decry-Israeli-raid

Dearborn -- About 200 protestors are gathering this afternoon at Dearborn City Hall, protesting the attack of a flotilla reportedly carrying aid to Gaza.

They carried signs reading "Divest in Israel" and "Stop All U.S. Aid to Israel Now" at the rally that began at 4 p.m. Maha Mustafa of Dearborn carried a small Palestinian flag as she protested the Monday attack by Israeli forces that reportedly killed nine people.

"This is about humanity," said Mustafa, who came with her teenage daughter. "This doesn't have a religion. This doesn't have a color. That ship was under siege and denied to take aid."

The rally is the first of a handful of events this week in Metro Detroit condemning the raid, which has sparked an international outcry against Israel. Student groups at local universities also plan a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. Thursday at Dearborn City Hall.

Israel implemented the blockade against Gaza in 2007 to protest the area's takeover by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Richard Nodel, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit, said the local Jewish community "continues its strong support of Israel's right to defend itself, including its blockade on Gaza, a terrorist-controlled enclave on its border."

"That blockade -- in which Egypt participates -- prevents more sophisticated arms from reaching the hands of the Hamas terrorists who continue to plan terror attacks and fire missiles at Israel. For Israel and Israelis, the blockade is a life-and-death situation," Nodel said in a statement Tuesday.

Nodel said video shot during the operation "clearly shows, Israeli seamen were ambushed yesterday while attempting to board a ship trying to get through the Gaza blockade."

A Metro Detroit native who was arrested Monday during the raid, meanwhile, has been released, her sister said.

Huwaida Arraf, who grew up in Roseville and graduated from the University of Michigan, was aboard the Gaza-bound ship Challenger 1 when Israeli soldiers stormed the ship. No one on Arraf's ship was killed.

Mariam Arraf, who lives in Clinton Township, said her sister told her that she was assaulted during the detention in an Israeli prison.

"She told me that they would use a lot of physical force," said Mariam Arraf today. "She told me they used Tasers on them and that she was elbowed in the jaw."

Mariam Arraf said her sister told her she didn't know why the flotilla came under attack.

"They had white flags and they were in international waters," Mariam Arraf said. "They had no weapons and they were not doing anything wrong."

Mariam Arraf said her sister was taken to an unknown location and thrown from a moving car by Israeli soldiers.
She said an ambulance took her to Jerusalem where she was given assistance.

"She did not know where she was," Mariam Arraf said. "She had no cell phone ...no money."

Huwaida Arraf, who lives in New York City, will remain in Jerusalem and continue her mission on behalf of the Free Gaza Movement, her sister said.

"She said she's staying there because she still has a lot of work to do," Mariam Arraf said. "My sister is very brave and fearless even though we worry about her safety."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100601/METRO/6010408/1409/Dearborn-protesters-decry-Israeli-raid#ixzz0phLezP7Q

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Divestment demanded against Israel-- at Duluth, Minnesota, and at City University of New York (CUNY)

2010-06-03T04:27:00.000-07:00

"Northland Protestors Speak Out Against Israel"

June 1, 2010

Northland's NewsCenter, KBJR-TV, NBC 6, KDLH-TV, CBS3, KRII-TV Range 11, Northland CW, MY 9
Duluth, Minnesota

At: http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/95370414.html

The attack on a humanitarian aid convoy by Israel off the coast of the Gaza strip has caused outrage among some here in the Northland.

Multimedia--

Watch The Video

A group of protestors assembled outside the Duluth Federal Building to have their voices heard.

The protest is sponsored by the Northland Anti-War coalition and the Twin Ports Break the Bonds Campaign.

The United Nations reports that at least 10 civilians were killed when Israeli forces attacked the convoy. Many more were wounded.

Activists in Duluth say they are demonstrating in solidarity with protestors in the Middle East and around the world.

The U.N. says Israeli forces boarded a six-ship convoy, inbound towards Gaza. The purpose of the fleet was to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and to break the Israeli blockade.

However, Israel attacked the fleet and protestors say they're outraged.

"As an activist for peace and social justice, I am shaken and hurt to the core by Israel's actions," said Carl Sack, an activist.

Protestors say they're asking the State of Minnesota to divest from financial bonds they have with Israel. Demonstrators are also calling upon the U.S. government to send a message in light of what happened.

They're asking the feds to stop sending aid to Israel.

______________________________

"Time for CUNY to Divest from Israel"

by The Editor
CUNY Graduate Center Advocate

June 1, 2010

At: http://www.gcadvocate.com/2010/05/time-for-cuny-to-divest-from-israel/

______________________________

Demonstrations for action against Apartheid Israel----In Baghdad, Cairo, Madrid, Ankara, Washington, and Ann Arbor:

2010-06-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Some of the worldwide protest demonstrations from May 31, 2010 --

-- immediately after Israel massacred human rights activists who were trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza on boats:

Photo 1 from Baghdad demonstration.

Click to enlarge.

Over 3,000 Iraqis demonstrated against Israel across the Tigris River from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, May 31, 2010.

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Photo 2 from Baghdad demonstration.

Click to enlarge.

Over 3,000 Iraqis demonstrated against Israel across the Tigris River from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, May 31, 2010.

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Click to enlarge.

Demonstrators in Ankara, Turkey, outside the Israeli ambassador's residence.

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Click to enlarge.

Demonstrators in Cairo.

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Click to enlarge.

Demonstrators in the Occupied West Bank were attacked with tear gas by the Israeli military.

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Click to enlarge.

Demonstrators in Pakistan burn an Israeli flag.

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Click to enlarge.

Demonstrators in front of Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid.

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Click to enlarge.

A protest was held in Washington, D.C..

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Click to enlarge.

Thousands protested in London.

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Click to enlarge.

Thousands protested in London.

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Click to enlarge.

Outside the Ann Arbor, Michigan Federal Building, over 30 people protested.

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Israel massacres humanitarian aid convoy 80 miles from Gaza.

2010-05-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

See the full interview with Free Gaza Movement co-founder, Great Berlin, below.

-----------------------------------------------------

May 31, 2010

On the Web at:

http://www.rferl.org/content/Interview_We_Are_Not_Terrorists_Gaza_Activist_Says/2058141.html

At least 10 pro-Palestinian activists were killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying supplies for the Gaza Strip on May 31.

Greta Berlin, co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement, an organizer of the convoy, spoke with RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service correspondent Anna Zamejc about the deadly event.

RFE/RL: What happened this morning?

Greta Berlin: We were attacked by Israeli militaries. We were flotilla, six civilian ships and about 4:30 this morning Israeli "commandos," if that's what you want to call them, rappelled down off a helicopter and landed at least on the deck of the Turkish [ship], not sure about the other one, looked around and started to shoot at us.

They have killed 10 people that we know of -- that's the number I'm going to stick with right now until I get further confirmation. Then they commandeered the ships and forced them to go in the Ashdod port. They were several members of parliament on board, including MPs from Sweden, Norway, and Germany. We were 70 miles off the coast of Israel, they attacked us. That is a crime; they committed a crime on international waters.

RFE/RL: The Israeli officials say there were weapons aboard the flotilla to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip, which was the reason Israeli commandos stormed the ship. Is that true?

Berlin: I suppose, if you consider the paper and wheelchairs and crutches weapons, then the Israelis might have a point. Look, everyone on those ships was inspected before we left.

The only weapons that were on board belonged to the Israelis. They might have planted them -- after all they stormed us and they killed us.

All you have to do is to look at the statistics what actually happened. We have at least 10 people dead, they were civilians! They stormed our boats! We have manifest on every one of those boats that say what is on those boats. And it was 4:30 in the morning when everybody is sleeping.

I will venture to say that Israel is lying about this, because the weapons that I saw coming on board this morning belonged to Israel.

RFE/RL: So you claim Israel planted the weapons after they stormed the ship?

Berlin: If there were weapons, they planted those weapons.

RFE/RL: You said that so far 10 people have been confirmed dead. What nationalities were they?

Berlin: I don't know yet, we have heard nothing. We have heard nothing from the ships, they've jammed all our communication, they took all our cell phones away, we have not been able to communicate with anybody since 3:30 this morning, Cyprus time.

RFE/RL: They were also rumors that Muslim leader Raed Salah is among the casualties. But this is something you haven't confirmed yet, right?

Berlin: Yes, it's what I've heard but we haven't confirmed it. Nobody has any firm information about people who were killed and wounded.

RFE/RL: This was not the first time you went to Gaza with aid. How many times have you sent those ships to the Gaza Strip and why was the last convoy stormed by Israel?

Berlin: Since August 2009 the Free Gaza Movement has gone nine times to Gaza. The first five we entered Gaza, we took members of parliament on our yard and nothing was done to us. There were many, many threats. Israel has threatened us all along, the last thing they want is for the people of Gaza to be free and to be able to rebuild their society. We went in five times, the last three were brutally stopped and we only had one boat.

A pro-Palestinian activist is evacuated to a hospital in Jerusalem.So the Free Gaza Movement along with four other partners said: "We would not go back to Gaza again unless we have a flotilla. We need to take something substantive, not just sort of a token that says: 'we support your desire to be free.' We want to take back a substantive amount of supplies and take them into Gaza." And that's what we get.

Israel is terrified that if we open up a sea route to Gaza, Gaza eventually will be free and will have its own might to do its own trade. Gaza is the only territory in the world that has no access to its sea. Every other territory that borders water or an ocean has the right to its territory except for Gaza. We were trying to say to the world: a million and half people who live in Gaza are in outdoor prison and Israel has no right to do it.

RFE/RL: What kind of supplies do you carry on the ships and what goods were onboard the last flotilla sent to Gaza?

Berlin: That's another reason Israel is terrified. Because the small amount of supplies we brought in on the yard was very small, they were just tokens. We're coming in with 10,000 tons of supplies Israel refuses to allow into Gaza. Israel only allows 81 items into Gaza. They won't allow any rebuilding supplies, they don't allow paper, they don't allow crayons for the children, they don't allow jam, they don't allow chocolate.

We didn't bring anything in on those ships except items that were already forbidden by Israel and were forbidden for the people of Gaza could not rebuild their infrastructure. We had cement, water-purification systems, prefab homes, 20 tons of paper -- Israel doesn't allow the people of Gaza to print their own books.

So there wasn't any way that Israel was going to take this easily because we have said to the world that Israel occupied Gaza and they are treating people as so they have the right to commit a slow-motion genocide on them and it hasn't gotten in and we will still continue to try to do that, then we will be successful opening a sea lane from Gaza to the rest of the world.

RFE/RL: When it comes to people on board the ships, do you have full control over who enters them? There were six ships in the flotilla; Israeli media claim that people related to terrorism were on board one of the ships. What's your response to that?

Berlin: I can only speak for the Free Gaza Movement, we are one of five partners. Every single one of our passengers has been vetted. They had to have two recommendations before they get on board and we know exactly who was on board. But frankly, as far as I'm concerned, the only terrorist we saw this morning was Israel.

RFE/RL: So can you acknowledge from your side, that there were no people on board you would know of who had any links to terrorism?

Berlin: I'm the wrong person to ask, you need to ask the Turks. Because the people Israel is accusing of being terrorists, were on the Turkish ship. We are responsible only for our own passengers.

No, I don't acknowledge any of that. The terrorists that came on board that boat last night were Israelis. They came armed to the teeth, they killed at least 10 of us, none of them were killed.

For all I know, there was one wounded in some kind of a scuffle. But they do this all the time, they kill a hundred Palestinians to every one Israeli.

Now they're killing 10 peaceful activists who were showing up in blue jeans. That is no excuse. If they thought there were any terrorists on board, they could have boarded the boat the way they did last summer, arrested the passengers, taken them off to jails. They did not need to have this kind of force.

RFE/RL: What kind of consequences will this morning's event have?

Berlin: I do think that Israel is becoming ostracized among the world community the way South Africa was. Between the Lebanon war, Operation Cast Lead last year, and now attacking civilians on board what I call "ships of mercy," I think it's probably high time for the governments of the world to tell Israel, "You can't do this anymore."

We're doing this because the governments have refused to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes. So when governments don't do that, then civil society has an obligation do that.

This is why the Free Gaza Movement has been, in fact for the last two years to begin with, is to tell the world that Israel has no right to practice collective punishment on a people that are occupied. And Israel in fact is occupying them because they don't get anything that doesn't go through Israel first.

So this is a real challenge for Israel, because we are challenging their status quo of being able to hold 1.5 million people in prison.

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University of Johannesburg may break all ties with Israeli university--

2010-05-24T03:57:00.001-07:00

University of Johannesburg Senate considers breaking its ties with an Israeli university (May 17, 2010)

-- The President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) says:
"What Israel is doing in Palestine amounts to apartheid."

________________________________________________

"Varsity row over Israel links"

by LIONEL FAULL, in the "Mail & Guardian" (South Africa)

May 21, 2010

At: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-05-21-varsity-row-over-israel-links

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is considering cutting academic ties with Israel's Ben-Gurion University (BGU) in protest against Ben Gurion's alleged association with Palestinian human rights abuses.

An "extraordinary" meeting of the university's senate debated the matter on Monday.

The university's current partnership with Ben Gurion dates from August when the two signed an academic cooperation and staff exchange agreement, relating to water purification and micro-algal biotechnology research.

This re-established a relationship forged between the former Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) and Ben Gurion in the apartheid 1980s. RAU merged with Technikon Witwatersrand in 2005 to form the University of Johannesburg.

In October, 52 academic staff members signed a petition opposing the current partnership. It states in part: "The Palestinian people are currently victims of an Israeli occupation, which violates their human rights as well as international law. Their plight has been repeatedly compared with that of black South Africans under apartheid."

Professor Steven Friedman presented the pro-boycott argument in the senate on behalf of the petitioners. "We are not asking UJ to join a boycott campaign against Israel," said Friedman, who is the director of the joint UJ-Rhodes University Centre for the Study of Democracy.

"But we are asking them not to sign agreements with institutions which collaborate with governments that commit human rights violations," he told the Mail & Guardian.

Friedman argued that:

* Israel has 53 apartheid-style laws that discriminate between Jews and non-Jews;

* The Israeli occupation of Gaza is a colonial exercise; and

* The Ben Gurion offers stipends and partial exemptions from its degree requirements to members of the Israeli military, and tenders for Israeli Defence Force research contracts.

The partnership was defended in the senate meeting by Professor Ilan Troen, the Ben Gurion's founding dean of humanities and social sciences, and South African advocate David Unterhalter.

Troen flew to South Africa from Israel for the meeting; Unterhalter appeared pro bono. Their participation was organised by the South African Associates of Ben Gurion University, the president of which, Bertram Lubner, is vice-chairperson of Ben Gurion's board of governors. Lubner is an honorary life member of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.

'Surprised'

Troen told the M&G he was "surprised" that a "water purification project that is of manifest benefit to South Africans and an academic cooperation of 20 years' standing between two institutions" should be questioned. He said the proposed boycott was reprehensible. "It is understandable that South Africans should interpret other societies in terms of their own experiences, but the apartheid metaphor is a fallacy."

Petition signatory Salim Vally, a senior researcher in UJ's Centre for Education Rights and Transformation, said: "RAU played a particular role in cooperating with apartheid. It was on the wrong side of history then and we don't want UJ to be on the wrong side now."

The university's SRC president, Emmanuel Mapheto, echoed this: "We cannot allow our institution to partner BGU. What Israel is doing in Palestine amounts to apartheid," he said.

The senate unanimously resolved that a nine-member committee, led by UJ deputy vice-chancellor Adam Habib, should make recommendations on the matter to the senate within three months.

__________________________________________

Boycott-Israel Resolution Wins at Dublin City Council -- Unanimously.

2010-05-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Major victory for pro-Palestine boycott campaign:

Dublin City Council passes anti-Veolia motion

May 10, 2010

At: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/96594

The international Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement today scored a major victory as Dublin City Council passed a resolution calling on the City Manager not to sign or renew any contracts with French multinational Veolia – the operators of the LUAS who have also tendered for the Metro North project. Veolia operate Israeli rail, bus and waste services in the illegally occupied West Bank, making them complicit in Israel’s contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The resolution, tabled by Cllr. Joan Collins (People Before Profit), was passed by unanimously at the sitting of Dublin City Council this evening (May 10th 2010) and is an important statement of solidarity with Palestine by the elected representatives of a European capital city.

This solidarity mirrors the deep empathy that exists throughout Irish society for the Palestinian people and the widespread revulsion at the behaviour of the apartheid Israeli state.

Commenting on the motion’s passage, Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) chairperson Dr David Landy said: “This is a monumental victory for the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The passing of this motion represents the elected representatives of a European capital city clearly standing up and saying ‘No’ to companies that collaborate with Israeli human rights abuses against the Palestinian people. It is doubly welcome coming as it does on the same day that Israel was scandalously accepted into the OECD.”

Dr Landy continued: “Furthermore, this is just the latest in a string of such defeats that Veolia has suffered as a result of their active participation in Israel’s apartheid policies – victories for the BDS movement have been seen in Sweden, Holland, Australia, Iran, France and elsewhere in Ireland. The IPSC once again urges Veolia to heed the Palestinian call for BDS and divest now from its Israeli operations in the occupied Palestinian territories. However, until it does so, the IPSC will continue to campaign for Veolia not to be granted contracts in Ireland.”

“The IPSC will now be working with other local councils to ensure the passage of similar motions nationwide. The IPSC will also now step up the pressure on the Rail Procurement Agency, which is responsible for awarding the highly lucrative Dublin Metro North contract. The city of Dublin has spoken loudly and clearly, and it says no to collusion with Israeli apartheid. The RPA should listen carefully - the Palestine solidarity movement is not going to quietly stand by while such companies are given Irish taxpayers’ money. It’s not on.”

Dr Landy concluded: “Finally, on behalf of the IPSC, I would like to thank all of the councillors who supported this motion, not least People Before Profit’s Cllr Joan Collins whose motion it was. I would also like to thank everyone who contacted their councillors in support of the motion, and those who came out on the many demonstrations and actions over the past three months that the IPSC held in the run up to this momentous vote.”

Details of Veolia’s illegal operations in occupied Palestine can be viewed on the IPSC website: http://www.ipsc.ie/veolia

[1] The full text of the motion reads as follows:

Dublin City Council recognizing

1. That Veolia is a leading partner in the consortium contracted to build a light railway system linking Israel to illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem
2. That the Irish government and the U.N does not recognise Israel’s annexation and occupation of East Jerusalem and have repeatedly stated their views that the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank contravene international law
3. That Veolia’s involvement in the project is in contravention of the UN’s stated demand that Israeli settlement activities and occupation should not be supported;
This Council calls on the City Manager not to sign any new or renew any existing contracts with Veolia as it would be in contravention of the wishes of this council. Galway and Sligo city/county councils have supported similar motions.

Cllr Joan Collins

Notes:

* Veolia is set to merge with Transdev, who are one of the two final tenderers for the Dublin Metro North contract. http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100505-703713.html

* Dublin City Council is the third Irish council to pass such a motion, following on from Sligo and Galway.

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Advertisement in the Guardian (U.K.)--"Boycott Israeli Goods"

2010-05-13T04:40:00.000-07:00

Click on the ad the enlarge it.

It was published March 27, 2010 in the Guardian.

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In Jordan: The professional associations push for boycott against all Israeli products.

2010-05-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

Israeli flag is burned at protest in Amman.

This boycott-Israel sign says the following:

"The price of each piece of fruit from Sharon's farm = the price of a bullet lodged in the chest of each Palestinian.

"--Jordanian Professional Unions, Anti-Normalization Committee."

________________________________

Professional associations to publish list of ‘normalisers’

By Mohammad Ben Hussein

JORDAN TIMES
May 12, 2010

At: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=26496

AMMAN - The professional associations are planning to publish a list of individuals and companies who allegedly deal with Israel, an anti-normalisation activist said on Tuesday.

The announcement comes as part of a new anti-normalisation campaign launched in light of an unsure peace process and Israel’s ongoing unilateral measures in the Palestinian territories, according to Badi Rafaya, head of the anti-normalisation campaign at the professional associations.

“We are preparing a comprehensive list containing the names of individuals and companies who insist on maintaining ties with the Zionist enemy,” Rafaya told The Jordan Times in a phone interview yesterday.

“This is not a defamation campaign; we want to pressure those who have turned a deaf ear to our calls over the years. It is time for the public to know who deals with Israel so they can boycott their products,” he added.

________________________________

Muslim Student Union: A Call to Boycott Apartheid Israel.

2010-05-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

MSU: A Call to Boycott, Divest and Sanction

By Aminah Galal on May. 10, 2010

Published in NEW UNIVERSITY,

University of California, Irvine

At:

http://www.newuniversity.org/2010/05/opinion/msu-a-call-to-boycott-divest-and-sanction/

Every May, the Muslim Student Union (MSU), with the support of many progressive and diverse student organizations, presents a week-long series of events dedicated to sharing the story of a people subjected to 62 years of statelessness and oppression.

Because the mainstream media rarely portrays the plight of the average Palestinian living under occupation and the violence of the occupying state of Israel, bringing awareness to the conflict is achieved through extensive activism for all those denied their human rights. Yet every May, support of the Palestinians has drawn criticism, ranging from mild reprimands to baseless accusations, which deem the week “highly controversial.”

However, it seems that the only reason it is “controversial” is because it criticizes Israel. This week has been called everything from “Hate Week” to Anti-Semitic, and the conflict has been portrayed as an argument between two sides, which are equal in nature; that is not the case.

This week’s events, entitled, “Israeli Apartheid Week: A Call to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction,” call attention to the inhumane and illegal occupation by Israel and emphasize that it should be internationally resisted with the same strategies that helped end the apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid is the denial of legal rights to one group of people, usually indigenous, for the purpose of ensuring the dominance of another group. South African apartheid was defeated by the efforts of people of conscience through boycott, divestment from and sanctions (BDS) against the apartheid state. Similarly, the grass roots BDS movement today can pressure Israel to end its apartheid policies.

Israel has violated more than 101 UN Resolutions since its inception on May 14, 1948. It has been condemned by, and refuses to comply with, the UN Goldstone Report, which accuses Israel of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during its recent siege on Gaza, which left 1400 people dead, most of whom were women and children. Israel implements its apartheid with the continuous establishment of Jewish-only settlements in occupied territories, a move criticized by President Obama, and with the construction of a wall that cuts through the West Bank, dividing the area in a manner similar to the Bantustans of South Africa.

Furthermore, Israel has placed the Gaza Strip under a continuous land, air, and sea blockade, hindering the passage of food, medical aid and other basic necessities of life. It is clear that Israel aims to separate and isolate the Palestinians from each other and the rest of humanity.

But you do not have to take my word for it, and in fact you probably should not. That is why you should expose yourself to the perspective on the issue that is rarely publicized. Speakers this week include Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor and peace activist; Dr. Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer from UC Berkeley; Dr. Norman Finkelstein, son of two Holocaust survivors and renowned scholar who was denied tenure because of his criticisms of Israel; Allison Weir, an activist and the founder of IfAmericansKnew.org; Dr. William Robinson, a professor of Sociology at UC Santa Barbara who was almost denied tenure after comparing photos of the Gaza massacre with the Holocaust; Amir Abdel Malik Ali, a community activist based out of Oakland; and Omar Shakir, a BDS activist.

Come with an open mind, do your own research and, more importantly, resolve to take action to help end this humanitarian crisis. To enclose the issue into political rhetoric and campus politics undermines the tragedies that the Palestinians endure. There are hundreds of people who are suffering and dying, and getting lost in the politics will not help them achieve the peace and justice that they, and every human being, deserve. Come learn for yourself, and then you can be the judge of whether or not this issue is as controversial as some would like us to believe.

--Aminah Galal is fourth-year history major and a member of the Muslim Student Union. She can be reached at agalal@uci.edu. ♫

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Divestment movement roars ahead at University of New Mexico --

2010-05-10T04:55:00.000-07:00

"Activist groups:

"No funds for Israel"

By Andrew Beale | DAILY LOBO

University of New Mexico (UNM)

May 10, 2010

At: http://www.dailylobo.com/index.php/article/2010/05/activist_groups_no_funds_for_israel

A group of students at UNM is following the University of California Berkeley’s trend by starting a “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” campaign against Israel.

This means the removal of school funds from groups that make a profit in Israel, said Nada Noor, a spokeswoman for UNM’s Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East.

“Our aim is not to target Israel for the sake of targeting Israel but rather target companies engaging in and profiting from illegal, destructive and inhumane behavior,” she said.

“Unfortunately, this will take a lot more than a Google search to locate.”

UC Berkeley and UC San Diego students recently brought motions to their student senates, but both were ultimately shot down, Noor said.

“A senate vote in favor of a divestment resolution would be nice, but a silent vote in favor is less significant than a prolonged debate. If you think about it, that’s why UC Berkeley’s campaign was still a great success,” she said.

The group is working to investigate which companies that have contracts with UNM are profiting from illegal activities in Israel, Noor said. She said the wave of student movements from the campaign is similar to student movements against the South African apartheid.

“As we know, the BDS campaigns against South Africa’s apartheid system began with students at universities around the country,” she said...

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Rethink This Veto!

Ibrahim Shikaki at Berkeley Divestment Vote

Monday, 10 May 2010
PALESTINE TELEGRAPH
At: http://www.paltelegraph.com/world/us/5912-rethink-this-veto-ibrahim-shikaki-at-berkeley-divestment-vote

...you can study about colonization for 4 years but you cannot see it in Palestine. I can, because while you study it, I am living it... There can be segregated streets, people stopped from going to religious sites, illegal settlements being built, an apartheid wall cornering human being like animals, and you would call that Israel defending itself.

...We won because 6 universities in the US are proposing divestment bills, because all the Palestinian universities’ student senates have signed a statement following BDS and calling on us to do the same. Tens of thousands of emails were sent to us from around the world,

Dear Intelligent senators, the same narrative capturing you was the narrative that called Mandela and Malcolm X terrorist. If nelson Mandela and Malcolm X are terrorists then listen to me carefully, I am A PROUD INDIGNOUS PALESTINIAN FREEDOM FGHTER, because that’s what we are.

Rethink your terminology, rethink your narrative, rethink injustice and rethink this veto.

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"Demand Full Divestment" --

2010-05-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

1985 divestment poster.

Click to enlarge it.

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1986 divestment poster.

Click to enlarge it.

Ad Hoc University of California Divestment Coalition.

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Divestment Resolutions spreading:"I’m just going to keep bringing it up again and again and it might take 10 years, but divestment will pass."

2010-05-01T04:47:00.000-07:00

At the University of California's San Diego and Berkeley campuses:

"BDS Movement grows despite UC-Berkeley divestment veto"

ARAB AMERICAN NEWS, page 18,

May 1-7, 2010

At:

http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=USA&article=3087

After a 16-4 original vote by student senators for divestment from two companies (General Electric and United Technologies) that are allegedly providing military technologies to Israel that were used in alleged war crimes, the University of California-Berkeley’s student senate seemed on its way to passing a historic bill.

But a March 24 veto by Associated Students of the University of California-Berkeley (ASUC) President Will Smelko put the passage in jeopardy.

The UC-Berkeley divestment bill saga ended at about 4 a.m. on Thursday April 29 when subsequent efforts to override the veto by two-thirds majority fell one vote short for a second time by a 13-5-1 vote with student action senator Anish Gala not participating. The meeting originally began Wednesday night and was reportedly attended by about 500 people.

Despite the inability to override the veto due to changed votes from ASUC members, ASUC Student Senator Emily Carlton said that the pro-divestment crowd on campus and in California remains upbeat and satisfied with the attention the proposed bill brought to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

"The bill was an encouragement for the region to divest and to start a movement so n that sense the veto was a really good thing," she said.

The divestment saga drew international attention as well as coverage from many local California outlets including the popular Democracy Now! radio show. Carlton said that the show refused to cover the divestment issue until Smelko issued the veto.

"When the veto happened, people started getting interested, we got 25,000 e-mails and the support of more than 40 student groups on campus."

Student Action Senator Parth Bhatt, who opposed of the bill, took issue its specificity according to The Daily Californian, Cal-Berkeley’s student newspaper.

"I personally disagree that this is just an issue regarding divestment from war crimes," he said.

The bill received support from the Jewish Voice for Peace organization, notable authors Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky, and 85-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, whose hunger strike at the Gaza Freedom March in Egypt in January attracted the attention of the New York Times.

Carlton anticipates that the bill will be re-written and re-submitted at a future date.

In other campus BDS news, UC-San Diego’s student council voted 13-10-4 in favor of a similar bill on Wednesday night in favor of divestment, but a decision was delayed until next week after a meeting attended by "hundreds of students" according to The Guardian, UC-San Diego’s student newspaper.

Similar measures recommending divestment from companies that allegedly provide military support for Israel have also been passed during the 2009-2010 school year by the University of Michigan-Dearborn, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.

Wayne State University's student council has also voted for total divestment from Israeli military suppliers in the past and the Irish Confederation of Trade Unions is also currently searching for ways to support the BDS movement.

________________________________

At Georgetown University:

"Divestment Coalition Receives Negative Response from GU"

By Elizabeth Rowe | Apr 30 2010
THE HOYA (Georgetown University; Washington, DC), at:

http://www.thehoya.com/news/divestment-coalition-receives-negative-response-gu845/

The administration dealt a blow to Georgetown, Divest!, a coalition of students on campus that wants the university to divest from companies that may profit from human rights abuses in Israel and Palestine, on Tuesday.

Assistant Vice President for Business Policy and Planning LaMarr Billups wrote a letter to Georgetown, Divest! stating that the administration would not modify its investment practices.

Referencing the coalition’s April 9 meeting with a senior team of administrators, Billups wrote, “At that meeting you asked if Georgetown University would divest from managed funds that own stocks in certain companies that do business with Israel. The answer to that question is no.”

The question of divestment is a difficult one, since the university does not invest directly in companies, but rather in managed funds. The Investment Office does not make its investments public.

“Georgetown’s investment practices do not include the selection of individual securities,” Director of Media Relations Andy Pino said. “As a result, the question of divestment does not apply.”

Still, Georgetown, Divest! member and Vice President of Students for Justice in Palestine Jackson Perry (COL ’12) said he knows Georgetown, Divest!’s struggles are not for nothing.

“First of all, [Chief Investment Officer Larry Kochard] told us that he believed we were invested in Caterpillar,” Perry said. Caterpillar is one of the companies that Georgetown, Divest! has asked the university to divest from.

Perry added, “Condoms and cohabitation are not permitted on campus because they are not in keeping with the Jesuit values of the institution, yet the administration thinks our Jesuit values shouldn’t play a role in investment decisions at all? This is hypocrisy.”

Other schools around the country are also pushing university administrations to divest.

According to a press release from the chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine at University of California, Berkeley, students have been working to pass a bill through the UC Berkeley Student Senate on divestment since March.

On Wednesday, the Georgetown University Student Association Senate met to vote on a bill that would urge the university to divest from two companies that profit from the manufacture of weapons for the Israeli Army. The student senate failed to override the veto on the bill, falling short by just one vote.

Other American universities that have called for divestment include the University of Michigan Dearborn, Hampshire College and the University of Wisconsin.

“Changing the status quo is one of the hardest things for anyone to do,” Perry said. “However, we are optimistic that the right amount of pressure from various directions, including especially the constant reminder of the moral values of our university itself, will break through the bureaucratic inertia and amoral mindset that is currently dominating the way the university has responded.”

________________________________

At the University of California - San Diego,

“I’m just going to keep bringing it up again and again":

"Council Delays Decision On Human Rights Violations:

"After emotional public input and a complete rewrite of the divestment resolution, proponents plan to reintroduce original language next week."

By Angela Chen

April 29, 2010

THE GUARDIAN (University of California at San Diego)

At: http://www.ucsdguardian.org/news/council-delays-decision-on-human-rights-violations/

Hundreds of students gathered at the A.S. Forum last night to watch the council debate a controversial resolution calling for the University of California to stop investing in companies providing military technology to Israel. The resolution identified the Palestinian territories as being occupied by a military force guilty of committing human rights violations against the Palestinian people. The council ultimately voted 13-10-4 to create a committee to further discuss the resolution.

The resolution, which was modeled after a similar effort at UC Berkeley, called for the UC Board of Regents to divest endowment funds from corporations such as General Electric and United Technologies. According to the resolution, these companies manufacture technology used in military weapons and vehicles, such as helicopters, used in war crimes in the Middle East.

According to Associate Vice President of Enterprise Operations Rishi Ghosh — who helped draft the document — the resolution is not the first of its kind. However, Ghosh said, if it had passed, it would have been the first recognition of Israel’s war crimes to be approved at a public university. Hampshire College, a private college in Massachusetts, has already divested entirely from the state of Israel. (The resolution considered by the council last night only advocated a break from corporations said to profit from Israel’s alleged war crimes....)

...Ghosh said that he would bring up the resolution again at the 2009-10 council’s final meeting of the year, which will be held next week.

“Next time I won’t bring up the compromised document but instead the original document,” he said. “I’m just going to keep bringing it up again and again and it might take 10 years, but divestment will pass."

________________________________

San Diego & Berkeley resolutions to divest from Israeli military occupation at University of California

2010-04-27T18:35:00.001-07:00

April 27, 2010

On the Web at: http://hq-salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1177346

Photo: UC Berkeley students testify in favor of divestment

Dear Supporter,

It's not often that one gets to bear witness to the start of a movement. It's even rarer when you get the chance to help make it happen.

But here we are, faced with the beginning of a campus-led movement to divest from companies that profit from the occupation of Palestinian people and land. A movement made up of people of every race, ethnicity and religion all compelled by an overwhelming sense that divestment is the right, the moral, and the just thing to do. A movement that started with a call from Palestinians, moved to places of higher learning in the US like Hampshire College and the University of Michigan, and is now catching on in places like Georgetown, Brown, and the campuses of the University of California.

On Wednesday April 28, in just one day, not one but two separate college campuses - the University of California at Berkeley and at San Diego- will be voting on the question of divestment and occupation.

Students at UC Berkeley will again try to overturn a veto of their original 16 to 4 pro-divestment vote. And the students at UC San Diego will put their resolution- nearly identical to that of UC Berkeley--before the student senate for the first time.

Already nearly 6,000 of you have shown your support of UC Berkeley students by signing this statement and making sure we represent your name on a bright green statement at the hearing. Let's do the same for the students at UC San Diego.

We have just 1 day to demonstrate our support and solidarity with these amazing people who are standing for justice for all people in Palestine and Israel. I urge you to stand with them and let them know that they are not alone.

The UC San Diego students need your support. They need to know that Jews and our allies support divestment from companies that profit from the occupation.

They need to hear that we all stand proudly together:

With Palestinian student Ibrahim Shikaki and Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein;
With student organizations representing every race and ethnicity;
With dozens of professors, Nobel prize winners, and rabbis;
With Archbishop Desmond Tutu, George Bisharat, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, 9 Israeli peace groups
With thousands of grandmothers and grandsons, Muslims and Jews, Christians and atheists, fathers and daughters.

What happens tomorrow in Berkeley and San Diego is critical. Students are watching, studying, planning their own campaigns. These campaigns are politicizing an entire generation of college students who see each other and those in Israel and Palestine as equals. Let UC San Diego senators know that we support a courageous vote that says "The Occupation ends with me."

All our best,
Cecilie

Jewish Voice for Peace

Vote set for April 28, 2010:UC-San Diego divestment from all military support to the occupation of Palestinian territories:

2010-04-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

UC San Diego DIVESTMENT VOTE HAPPENING IN 2 DAYS!

HERES WHAT YOU CAN DO! (URGENT ACTION NEEDED!)

Posted by marcy/مارسي newman/نيومان

Re: University of California- San Diego divestment vote

April 27, 2010

At: http://usacbi.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/uc-san-diego-divestment-vote-happening-in-2-days-heres-what-you-can-do-urgent-action-needed/

As you may or may not have heard, we here at UC San Diego have launched a divestment campaign and resolution to be voted on THIS Wednesday 4/28 on our campus. The opposition have already started in mass mobilizing emails, letter of opposition, petitions, and propaganda campaigns against what we are doing. In order to counter this and move forward in our progress, we’re requesting your help in:

1. Signing this Petition- SPREAD WIDELY! http://www.PetitionOnline.com/sddivest/petition.html

2. WRITING SUPPORT LETTERS TO ALL OF OUR ASUCSD Council Members: http://as.ucsd.edu/council/roster.php?class=council

3. Reading our Resolution: http://oeoj.ucsd.edu/Divestment_Resolution.pdf

4. Attending our big event at this location: UCSD Price Center East, Fourth Floor in the Forum.
Address: 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093

5. Changing your Profile Picture to the attached file: just until Wednesday after the vote :)

6. Spread the word and this email widely!!

7. VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION, NEWS ARTICLES, AND SAMPLE LETTER TEMPLATES AT: www.ucsddivestforpeace.org

THANK YOU!

_____________________

U.C. San Diego resolution to divest from companies that militarily support the occupation of Palestinian territories:

2010-04-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

UC San Diego Divestment Resolution

Posted by marcy/مارسي newman/نيومان under Boycott Campaigns, Divestment, Student

April 27, 2010

At: http://usacbi.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/uc-san-diego-divestment-resolution/

Resolution in Support of PEACE AND NEUTRALITY THROUGH UC DIVESTMENT FROM U.S. CORPORATIONS PROFITING FROM OCCUPATION

1. WHEREAS, the Associated Students of the University of California, San Diego (ASUCSD) is an institution dedicated to promoting peace in all aspects of student experiences; and

2. WHEREAS, the Principles of Community of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) state that UCSD “is dedicated to learning, teaching, and serving society through education, research, and public service;” and

3. WHEREAS, the University of California (UC) has already made significant efforts towards ethical and peaceful investments by divesting from tobacco companies, companies contributing to the Darfur conflict in Sudan, and companies contributing to the apartheid system in South Africa; and

4. WHEREAS, on 13 January 2010 the ASUCSD passed a “Resolution in Support of the Victims of the 12 January 2010 Earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti” stating that the ASUCSD “as global citizens are obliged to play a role in concurrent world events”; and

5. WHEREAS, on 6 May 2009 the ASUCSD passed a “Resolution in Support of UC-Wide Corporate Social Responsibility Practices” urging the UC to “significantly limit asset allocations to non-socially responsible corporations”; and

6. WHEREAS, UCSD student fees contribute financially to United States corporations (see clause 11, 12, 13) that support military occupation; and

7. WHEREAS, the ASUCSD notes the complexity of international relations in all cases, including the Middle East, and recognizes the inability of a body such as the ASUCSD Council to adjudicate matters of international law and human rights law, or to take sides on final status issues on wars and occupations throughout the world; the ASUCSD does, however, note its own ability to abstain from investing in corporations that are furthering international conflicts and violations of human rights; and

8. WHEREAS, the following findings from the United Nations and other leading human rights organizations regarding the conflict in the Palestinian Territories (West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip) provide the context for an ASUCSD divestment effort; and

9. WHEREAS, prior and subsequent to the 2008-2009 Gaza bombing, the occupying force has engaged in collective punishment of the Palestinian population, in the view of the human rights community,1 exemplified by the ongoing 32 month blockade on Gaza, of which the regional branch of Physicians for Human Rights has written, “the prolonged siege imposed… on Gaza, the closing of its borders, the tightening of policies regarding permission to exit Gaza for medical purposes, and the severe shortage of medications and other medical supplies, all severely damage the Palestinian health system and endanger the lives and health of thousands of Palestinian patients,”2 and of which the Red Cross has said, “the whole strip is being strangled, economically speaking”, making life in Gaza “a nightmare” for the civilian population, with essential supplies, including electricity, water, and fuel, being denied to the 1.5 million inhabitants, 90% of whom depend on aid to survive;3 and

10. WHEREAS, within the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the occupying force continues a policy of settlement expansion that, according to the United Nations Security Council, Human Rights Watch, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, constitutes a direct violation of Article 49, paragraph six of the Fourth Geneva Convention which declares that “an occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into territories it occupies.”4 and according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 446 “determines that the policy and practices of [the occupying power] in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East”5; and

11. WHEREAS, according to the most recent UC investment report6, within the UC Retirement Program fund and the General Endowment Program fund, there exist direct investments in United States companies that materially support the occupation of the Palestinian territories, specifically the U.S. corporations General Electric and United Technologies; and

12. WHEREAS, General Electric holds engineering support and testing service contracts with the occupying military and supplies the propulsion system for the Apache Assault Helicopter fleets which, as documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have been used in attacks on Palestinian civilians, including the four January 2009 killings of Palestinian medical aid workers7; and

13. WHEREAS, according to Amnesty International, United Technologies supplies the occupying force with Blackhawk helicopters, F-15, and F-16 aircraft engines, which have been used in the bombing of the American School in Gaza, the killing of Palestinian civilians, and the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian homes;8

1. THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the ASUCSD will ensure that its assets, and will advocate that the UC assets, do not include holdings in General Electric and United Technologies because of their non-neutral financial stance in the occupation of Palestinian territories, nor does this delegitmize any country and their right of any peoples to be living in the region; be it further

2. RESOLVED, that the ASUCSD will further examine its assets and UC assets for funds being invested in companies that a) provide military support for/or weaponry to support the occupation of the Palestinian territories or b) facilitate the building or maintenance of the illegal wall or the demolition of Palestinian homes, or c) facilitate the building, maintenance, or economic development of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territories; be it further

3. RESOLVED, that the ASUCSD will not invest, and will advocate that the UC divests, all stocks, securities, or other obligations from such sources with the goal of maintaining the divestment, in the case of said companies, until they cease such practices. Moreover, the ASUCSD will not make further investments, and will advocate that the UC not make further investments, in any United States companies materially supporting or profiting from occupation and human rights violations in the above mentioned ways; be it further

4. RESOLVED, that this ASUCSD resolution takes a neutral stance in the conflict, and also stands as a principled expression of ethical and peaceful investment practices supporting universal human rights and equality;

5. BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the ASUCSD will recommend additional divestment policies to keep UC investments out of companies profiting from human rights violations throughout the world in other places as determined by the resolutions of the United Nations and other leading international human rights organizations.

[1] United Nations “Press Release on Presentation to the Human Rights Council” by the Fact Finding Mission to Gaza” – http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm

[2] United Nations “Media Summary of Report” of Fact Finding Mission to Gaza – http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm

[3] Amnesty International: Israeli Military Action is Collective Punishment – http://www.amnesty.org/en/report/info/MDE15/045/2002

*United Nations press release – http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/0/183ED1610B2BCB80C125751A002B06B2?opendocument

[4] Physicians for Human Rights; http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=506&catid=55&pcat=45&lang=ENG

[5] UN Security Council resolution 446 http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/370/60/IMG/NR037060.pdf?OpenElement

[6] UN resolution 194 – http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/3/ares3.htm

[7] Human Rights Watch “Israel’s Settlements Are on Shaky Ground” – http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/06/28/israels-settlements-are-shaky-ground
*International Committee of the Red Cross – http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/c525816bde96b7fd41256739003e636a/77068f12b8857c4dc12563cd0051bdb0

[8] International Court of Justice – http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?pr=71&code=mwp&p1=3&p2=4&p3=6&case=131&k=5a

_________________________________________

"Georgetown Divest! coalition marches to President DeGioia's office‎"

2010-04-27T02:38:00.000-07:00

(Click on photo to enlarge it)

April 26, 2010:

Students march on Georgetown University President's office, demanding divestment.

See the article in the Georgetown Voice:

"Georgetown Divest! coalition marches to President DeGioia's office‎"

April 27, 2010

At: http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2010/04/26/georgetown-divest-students-for-justice-in-palestine-march-to-

___________________________________

The Ugly Truth:"more than $300 billion worth of American aid to Israel."

2010-04-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

Congressman John Dingell wrote, in 2006, that "during my tenure I have proudly helped to move more than $300 billion worth of American aid to Israel."

--Quoted from Dingell's own article in the Arab American News, August 5 2006, at http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1126080701.html

______________________________________________

"Cal-Berkeley rallies around divestment vote;"other colleges continue BDS movement against Israeli companies"

2010-04-24T16:28:00.001-07:00

In the ARAB AMERICAN NEWS,

April 24-30, 2010,

Page 13

On the Web at: http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=USA&article=3049

Click on article to enlarge it.

Divestment spreads to University of Wisconsin, Georgetown, Brown, and Irish trade union confederation:

2010-04-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

"UC-Berkeley’s new divestment approach"

By Steve Horn

Univerisity of Wisconsin Badger Herald

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

At: http://badgerherald.com/oped/2010/04/20/uc-berkeleys_new_div.php

...When divestment is called for, it is often shunned immediately, yet this time around in Berkeley, in the aftermath of the brutal Operation Cast Lead, the political tide has shifted. The debate, at least among liberals, has moved from “If you’re for divestment, you’re anti-Israel or anti-Semitic” to “There may be other, more effective ways as a liberal peace activist to oppose Israel’s human rights violations than divestment.” This is a huge — let me repeat, huge — step in the right direction.

...Divestment isn’t anti-Semitic because it has absolutely nothing to do with Judaism and everything to do with calling on Israel as a state to respect international law and human rights. The occupation does exist because both UN Resolution 242 and the Fourth Geneva Convention, among scores of other legal dictates, say that the occupation is illegal. And it makes sense to single out Israel, if for no other reason than our own government does, in the tune of over $3 billion per year in tax-payer funded military aid, which is more aid than we give any other country in the world — other than Iraq and Afghanistan, including more than we give to the entire continent of Africa.

In reality, divestment is one of the few ways student human rights supporters can make a difference in the Israel-Palestine conflict on a micro-level. The more specific and targeted the call for divestment, the better....

Financial support of repetitive human rights violations will no longer be tolerated. Not in our name.

__________________________________

"ICTU [Irish Confederation of Trade Unions] to seek ways to support sanctions against Israel"

The Irish Times - Saturday, April 17, 2010

At: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0417/1224268541436.html

by MARY FITZGERALD Foreign Affairs Correspondent

THE EXECUTIVE council of Ictu is to consider ways in which it can translate into action its support for Palestinian calls for a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

Attendees at an Ictu conference on the Middle East held in Dublin yesterday discussed possible ways of implementing such a campaign in Ireland.

Since 2007, Ictu has passed several conference motions in support of calls from Palestinian civil society groups urging an international BDS campaign against Israel.

Addressing yesterday’s gathering at Dublin Castle, Ictu president Jack O’Connor said he would be very concerned if Ictu’s stance was interpreted as being motivated by “hostility to the people of Israel”.

Instead, he argued, it was motivated by “a sense of obligation given our history and our experience . . . an obligation to try to do something when the prospects of justice seem so remote given the imbalance of forces” in the conflict.

Mr O’Connor rejected calls from some attendees for Ictu to sever links with Histadrut, the Israeli labour federation, which is opposed to the BDS campaign. Avital Shapira-Shabirow, director of Histadrut’s international department, prompted a lively exchange of views when she explained her organisation’s position during a panel discussion.
She argued that it was easy to outline “simplistic solutions” to complex situations from afar.

Omar Barghouti, a founding member of the global BDS campaign established in 2005, told the gathering that the boycott as a “moral obligation and political imperative”.
He noted that the campaign was gaining momentum internationally and he praised Ictu’s efforts.

“By holding onto its position and spreading the BDS message, and starting now to think how to apply it practically, Ictu is now applying a lot of pressure on the [Irish] Government and we hope that in time this will bring results.”

Mr Barghouti was one of several speakers to call for Ireland to exercise its veto to block Israel from joining the OECD.

...During one panel discussion at the conference, John Douglas, general secretary of the Mandate trade union, recalled the involvement of Irish retail workers in the boycott against apartheid-era South Africa and said his union would support a consumer-led boycott campaign against Israel followed by a worker-led effort.

“The time for silence is gone, action is required,” he told the gathering.

__________________________________

GUSA Roundup:
Down on divestment, shoutouts for Voice

April 19, 2010
GEORGETOWN VOICE (at Georgetown University)

At:

http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2010/04/19/gusa-roundup-down-on-divestment-shoutouts-for-voice/

"The majority of this week’s meeting of the Georgetown University Student Association Senate was spent considering the arguments of Georgetown, Divest!, which is pushing the University to divest from companies that profit from human rights violations in Israel and Palestine..."

_______________________________

The Georgetown, Divest! forum on University investment in Palestine and Israel

April 14, 2010
GEORGETOWN VOICE (at Georgetown University)

At:

http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2010/04/14/the-georgetown-divest-forum-on-university-investment-in-palestine-and-israel/

...Nonetheless, the campaign launch event, attended by roughly 40 people, pressed for the University to pursue selective divestment from several multinational corporations. Perry outlined the four categories from which the select companies could profit: “Operation on illegally occupied land, the construction and maintenance of the separation barrier, the facilitation of collective punishment including home demolition and land confiscation, and institutionalized discrimination.”

Georgetown, Divest! also called for the University to divest from the following corporations whose work they say falls within those four categories—Ahava, which is a cosmetics company, Motorola Israel, Roadstone Holdings and Riwal, both construction companies, Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Veolia Transportation, and Mekorot, a water company.

“Georgetown University has a tradition of social responsibility. Its investment policies must reflect its foundational values … It is not acceptable for a university dedicated to justice and social responsibility to ignore these ideals in its investments,” Perry said.

Dr. Mark Lance, Professor of Justice and Peace, spoke after the presentation and compared the situation to apartheid-era South Africa.

“Every citizen of Israel has the legal nationality of Jewish or Arab. Imagine that the U.S. passed a law that there are white people and black people and that’ll be your nationality. Or Christians and Muslims. I take it that we would call it as it is—racist and evil,” Lance said. “We pay for it, and it’s extremely important to remember. Every person in this room pays for what you saw on this screen. Every person who pays taxes in this country supports this whether you like it or not.”

Father Raymond Kemp also lent his moral support to the campaign, citing the power of non-violent resistance within Catholic social teaching.

“I’m here to applaud you and stand with you. You’re in a great tradition,” Kemp said.

“It is no more anti-Semitic to boycott Israel than it is to say anti-white to boycott South Africa. We all know Israel has a tendency to call anything anti-Semitic,” said Shelley Fudge, a representative from Jewish Voices for Peace.

The group also held an open discussion forum, taking questions from the roughly forty-person audience.

Both Father Kemp and Dr. Lance said that officials from the Investment Office were misrepresenting the University’s long-standing commitment to social justice by claiming that they have no way of ensuring socially responsible investments.

“I’m stunned by it,” said Father Kemp...

_______________________________

Simon Liebling '12:
The right side of history

Published: Friday, April 16, 2010

BROWN DAILY HERALD
Brown University

At:

http://www.browndailyherald.com/simon-liebling-12-the-right-side-of-history-1.2226463

...As we think about ongoing grassroots movements, then, we must remember that the student activists who supported movements like South African divestment were not simply volunteers doing the legwork for a foregone conclusion — they were courageous supporters of an unpopular position. Thus, for all of the controversy that today surrounds calls to divest from companies profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, this divestment movement could, in retrospect, become the moral imperative of our time.

The moral equivalence is well established by those who were heavily involved in the South African anti-apartheid movement. Archbishop Desmond Tutu writes, “Yesterday’s South African township dwellers can tell you about today’s life in the Occupied Territories.” Elsewhere, he has written that the situation in the Occupied Territories “reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa.” Nelson Mandela has made similar comparisons. So did pro-apartheid officials in the old South African government, though they had slightly different intentions.

Divesting from companies profiting from the occupation, then, is as urgent now as it was to divest from companies profiting from South African apartheid in the 1980s. And as Tutu would remind us, we should not for a moment be put off by the controversy surrounding the issue.

Divestment is so imperative because it is a rare way of compelling governments to reform their ways when they otherwise operate with impunity, accountable to no one — as was the case with apartheid South Africa. The simple force of law has proved inadequate in the case of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Israel’s government has disregarded binding legal decisions from both the International Court of Justice and its own Supreme Court that declare the Separation Wall and other aspects of the occupation illegal — the Israeli Supreme Court has no recourse but to hold its own government in contempt time after time.

The Israeli government exhibits such wanton disregard for the rule of domestic and international law because there is no mechanism to force it to obey; it can count on the support of the United States government and the private companies that facilitate the occupation. Divestment, though, grants the international community the enforcement power it sorely needs; it is a way to compel Israel to respect both the law and basic human rights in the Occupied Territories...

_______________________________

Hundreds of Berkeley students fight for divestment against Israeli War Crimes:

2010-04-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

Click on page 15 of the Arab American News, April 17-23, 2010, to read the full article.

____________________________________________

Stop Raping Palestine.

In the U.K.:Victory for Divestment against "Israel" at the National Union of Students:

More bus ads calling for an end to military aid to Israel:

University of Michigan student government bans any comparison of the Israeli army to the Ku Klux Klan:

Lawsuit for refusing "Boycott Israel" ad on buses

ACLU files motion regarding "Boycott Israel" bus advertisement

Demonstrations at the University of Michigan and at Wayne State University, against spokesmen for "Israel"--

"University of Michigan students walk out in protest of Israeli diplomat"-- Ann Arbor, Michigan campus

Boycott Israel Panic Attack # 1

Israeli Apartheid = South African Apartheid

Campaign to boycott all Israeli products at a New York City Food Co-op:

Boycotting 'Israel' at another Food Co-op --

South African students endorse boycott against Apartheid "Israel"--

South African student bodies slam "Israeli Apartheid Agents" and endorse nationwide Israel boycott

Students demand divestment against Israeli occupation, at Evergreen State College:"...we will push you until you divest."

Divestment against the Racist State of Israel, at NYU:

Boycotting Apartheid Israel on university campuses--in (1) Edinburgh, (2) Colorado, (3) Ottawa, and (4) Johannesburg.

"Edinburgh University Students Vote Overwhelmingly for Boycott of Israeli Goods"

Boycott "Israel",Boycott Apartheid

"Wayne State Student Council...demanded that Wayne State dump any Israeli investments."

"Campuses work to further the BDS movement"

"End U.S. Aid to Israel" --

Berkeley:

"Palestine, American Wars, and Islamophobia in America"

UC Berkeley • Pauley Ballroom

Irish Trade Union Votes Unanimously for Boycott against Israel

Demonstrations against Israeli military on U.S. campuses --

"Anti-Israel boycott by Muslim shops goes Scotland-wide"

Harvard dumps all holdings in Israeli companies:

South African campaign to boycott Apartheid Israel:

Boycott the Nazi State of Israel

"Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion."

"Olympia Food Co-op boycotts Israel, pulls products"

MEETING

HOW TO COMMENT

"Palestinian Holocaust is ongoing"

Strong Union Support for Palestine

Israeli Government Officials Rebuffed At ILWU Local 10 In San Francisco

Warsaw Ghetto and Gaza Ghetto are the same:

Bristol City Council votes for imposition of sanctions against Israel:

Major British labor union votes to endorse Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

Emergency Composite Motion 1 -Israel’s Attack on the Flotilla

At the Oakland, California port:Hundreds of demonstrators blockade Israeli goods.

South African Municipal Workers Union demands that all cities break their ties to Apartheid Israel:

"SAMWU Declares, Every Municipality an Apartheid Israel Free Zone!"

"Rachel Corrie’s Alma Mater Calls for College Divestment"

Huge divestment victory at Evergreen State College.

Divestment demanded against Israel-- at Duluth, Minnesota, and at City University of New York (CUNY)

Multimedia--

Dearborn protesters demand divestment against Israel, and a cutoff of all aid to Israel.

"Dearborn protesters decry Israeli raid"

by Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News

Divestment demanded against Israel-- at Duluth, Minnesota, and at City University of New York (CUNY)

Multimedia--

Demonstrations for action against Apartheid Israel----In Baghdad, Cairo, Madrid, Ankara, Washington, and Ann Arbor:

Israel massacres humanitarian aid convoy 80 miles from Gaza.

University of Johannesburg may break all ties with Israeli university--

Boycott-Israel Resolution Wins at Dublin City Council -- Unanimously.

Advertisement in the Guardian (U.K.)--"Boycott Israeli Goods"

In Jordan: The professional associations push for boycott against all Israeli products.

Muslim Student Union: A Call to Boycott Apartheid Israel.

MSU: A Call to Boycott, Divest and Sanction

Divestment movement roars ahead at University of New Mexico --

By Andrew Beale | DAILY LOBO

"Demand Full Divestment" --

Divestment Resolutions spreading:"I’m just going to keep bringing it up again and again and it might take 10 years, but divestment will pass."

San Diego & Berkeley resolutions to divest from Israeli military occupation at University of California

Vote set for April 28, 2010:UC-San Diego divestment from all military support to the occupation of Palestinian territories:

U.C. San Diego resolution to divest from companies that militarily support the occupation of Palestinian territories:

"Georgetown Divest! coalition marches to President DeGioia's office‎"

The Ugly Truth:"more than $300 billion worth of American aid to Israel."

"Cal-Berkeley rallies around divestment vote;"other colleges continue BDS movement against Israeli companies"

Divestment spreads to University of Wisconsin, Georgetown, Brown, and Irish trade union confederation:

Hundreds of Berkeley students fight for divestment against Israeli War Crimes:

Emergency Composite Motion 1 -
Israel’s Attack on the Flotilla