What is divestment?Divestment is defined as the selling off or otherwise disposing of a subsidiary company or an existing investment. Around the country, university students and faculty are demanding that their respective institution divest from the racist regime in Israel. Historically, the divestment campaign began as a campus political movement in the 1980's with the rise against the apartheid in South Africa. Students protested their university relationships with the racist South African government by demanding an end to all economic support in any company that invested in South Africa, as well as those companies that had racist hiring policies. It was a means to end all financial backing of the White South African government's oppression, brutality and racism against the Black indigenous population. Divestment became a way to rouse student and faculty support on college campuses across the country. Today, students, faculty and concerned residents of the state on New Jersey demand that Rutgers University immediately divest from any and all corporations that are financing and benefiting from the apartheid regime in Israel. Why should Rutgers University Divest?Quite simply because it's the moral thing to do. Rutgers University must divest from companies who financially benefit from human right violations. Rutgers must maintain a strict policy on any investments financing public education that are contributing to the oppression of the Palestinian population. Rutgers University, as an educational university, must maintain an obligation to its students and faculty. Additionally, as a state funded institution, Rutgers University is obligated to the residents of the state of New Jersey. Isn't Divestment from Israel considered Anti-Semitic?Divestment is a movement that demands an end to all financial support for Israel. In the 1980's, the South Africa anti-apartheid movement helped bring justice to the indigenous black South Africans, it was not considered to be an anti-white movement rather a movement for freedom, justice and equality. The divestment campaign is a way to advocate human rights and self-determination for the Palestinian people. The movement does not in any way endorse any kind of hatred or discrimination towards any person based on their religion, culture or ethnicity. We demand justice, freedom and equality for the Palestinian people therefore it would be wrong equating such a movement as anti-Jewish. Lately, anti-justice movements have effectively stifled criticism of Israeli policy, by equating criticisms of a racist government as anti-Jewish. In this case Anti-Semitism does not hold ground, but only serves to deflect attention away from Israeli governmental actions. Isn't it unfair and one-sided to singling out Israel for divestment?For those who argue that there are many repressive governments elsewhere in the world, the fact that there is another situation, doesn't mean that the Palestinian situation is not horrendous and should be put aside to concentrate on other countries. Secondly, Israel is the largest recipient of foreign aid from the United States, and most of that consists of weapons. In a sense, the United States is enabling Israel to oppress the Palestinians, and therefore people in the United States have a special obligation to put a stop to it. The campaign is not one-sided against Israel. It is merely an attempt to restore the balance that our federal government and arms manufacturing corporations have upset by siding unequivocally with Israel. It is not hypocritical for singling Israel out, any more than other campaigns are hypocritical for singling out South Africa for its apartheid policies, China for its occupation of Tibet, or Russia for its human rights abuses in Chechnya. How can Israel be compared to Apartheid-era South Africa?Many argue that the apartheid policies of South Africa are not comparable to a "democratic" government like Israel; that all Israeli citizens are equal under law. Yet Israel's legal and political structure has always been directed towards keeping the Palestinians separate from the Jewish population. Just as the apartheid South African government discriminated against blacks, so the Israeli government discriminates against Palestinians. South Africa was a country in which a minority of white immigrants exercised control over a majority of indigenous black people. The Blacks were denied access to the best land, and were forbidden from traveling without a "pass", from one area to another. The situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is very similar. A minority of Jewish settlers lives in the territories with a majority of Palestinian people. Israel controls the daily lives of the Palestinians, who, unlike the settlers, cannot vote in Israeli elections. Settlers seize the best land, and Israel builds roads for Jews only and divides Palestinian lands into many pieces. Palestinians cannot travel without passes. The settlements are built on land illegally expropriated from Palestinians. Israeli peace proposals planned on concretizing the little demographic pockets separated by these roads and settlements. This is in effect what South African Apartheid did with the black "Bantustans" and "homelands." Most significantly, the settlers are given full rights under the law, while the Palestinian population divided by their roads and settlements have none. Even Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are treated as second-class citizens. Israeli politicians call for a "separation" between settlers and Palestinians to reduce violence. The Palestinians are kept "separate" by walls, fences, barbed wire, and checkpoints. They are kept in cages to enforce the separation, which is exactly what apartheid is, a policy of segregation. Isn't Israel's human rights record among the best, especially among its other Middle Eastern counterparts?There is no denying of the fact that the Middle East is mostly ruled by autocratic, oppressive, and undemocratic regimes and Israel is quite progressive with respect to movements such as women's rights and gay rights, but it is absurd for a nation to claim to be a champion of human rights unless it defends the rights of all people. Israel discriminates quite openly on the basis of religion and ethnicity, which makes it difficult to advance the claim that Israel as a champion of human rights. Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories has failed to protect the human rights of residents there and has not complied with its obligations under international law. Incidentally, until September 1999, Israel was the only country in the world to effectively allow the use of torture, and continues to use practices, such as collective punishment, house demolition, curfews, deportation, restrictions on movement of ambulances, human shields and fails to ensure the safety of the civilian population, all illegal under international humanitarian law. It is also worth noting the absence of democratic regimes in the rest of the Middle East, greatly serves the Israeli and US interests in the area. By supporting these unpopular regimes against the wishes of the people (i.e. Jordanian government, the Saudi monarchy, Mubarak of Egypt), they have undermined democracy in the Middle East. Why should I, an American, care about the violence thousands of miles away in the Middle East?Americans should care for three primary reasons:
How much U.S. aid is sent to Israel?U.S. aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign-aid budget, despite the fact that Israel is ranked the 16th wealthiest nation. Americans are not aware that in a time where our national deficit is causing us to sacrifice our children's education by having 4 day school weeks, putting our lives in danger by releasing criminals early from prisons because we simply cant afford to keep them there and closing public government funded clinics and facilities for the underprivileged, our government is still giving over $10 billion dollars a year to Israel. Why is the Middle East so important to the United States?Peace and stability in the Middle East will ensure a continuous flow of oil to the U.S. and its allies at affordable prices. Secondly, for justice and liberty to the people of the region, which will be reflected into progressive changes towards democracy and freedom of the people in the Middle East. Finally, it is important for the U.S. to meet its obligations as a 'super power' with the ultimate responsibility of maintaining peace and justice internationally. Isn't Israel fighting terrorism the same way the U.S. is against Afghanistan?Israel is an occupying force, an aggressor and the source of instability in the Middle East over the past 75 years of the regions history. The Palestinians, whose land remains under Israeli occupation, have worked with all U.N. resolutions aiming at getting Israel out of occupied land. It is Israel's genocide tactics, aimed at evicting the Arabs from their land and turning their lives into struggle and suffering, that should be labeled terrorism. All international laws, including those of the U.N., recognize the right of people under occupation to use all means possible to REMOVE such an occupation. However, with the number of U.N. resolution violations that Israel has, breaching yet another is just another day in the life of the Israeli Government. What are the Occupied territories?After the fragmentation of the Middle East after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WWI, Palestine was in 1922 put under the British mandate. From 1922-1948 thousands of Jewish immigrants moved to Palestine mainly from European countries creating 25 years of armed conflict with the Palestinians. In 1948, Israel declared independence on 78% of Palestine. The remaining 22% (Gaza strip, west bank and East Jerusalem) was put under Jordanian and Egyptian control. In 1967, Israel invaded the remaining 22%, which are now known as 'occupied territories'. How will divestment support peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis?The divestment is based on the need for a just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. It is a peaceful non-violent approach to finding a just, solution to the conflict, a much more peaceful method than an illegal military occupation. As long as Israel maintains no pressure from the international community and maintains a belief that it is a state above the law, it will never feel the pressure to commit to a just negotiated solution. |