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Follow Us on TwitterPlease endorse UCSB divestment vote! 11Apr13 April 11, 2013
Anna Baltzer/US Campign to end the Israeli Occupation – 9 April 2013
I’m seeking your quick support for U.S. campus BDS.
Tomorrow, the UC Santa Barbara Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Senators from the Associated Students of the University of California will be voting on a resolution recommending that student funds and UC itself divest from U.S. companies profiting from Israeli occupation and apartheid. The SJP has encountered IMMENSE opposition, including threats and intimidation tactics (so much that the SJP has had to organize a 24-hour rides hotline for divestment supporters who feel afraid, and the Jewish students who support divestment are unwilling to speak out from fear. Senators are being threatened that they will be voted out of office if they vote for divestment.
SJP needs your support to show the Senators that organizations and people across the world support divestment. Please take these actions now:
1. Send an organizational letter of support to katlenabuata@gmail.com. If you don’t have time to send your own letter, you can quickly endorse the letter the US Campaign sent here: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/form.php?modin=250. The SJP needs all letters and endorsers by Wednesday morning. The Jewish community opposing divestment is claiming to represent all Jews and charging divestment supporters with being anti-Semitic, so UCSB especially needs Jewish voices to illustrate that that is not true.
2. Sign and share the online petition for individual supporters HERE
Thanks in advance!
Anna
–
Anna Baltzer
National Organizer
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
www.endtheoccupation.org
US Campaign on Facebook
US Campaign on Twitter
Petitioning AS UCSB Senators
AS UCSB Senators: Divest from Corporations Profiting off the Israeli Occupation
Certain companies have promoted and been complicit in these ongoing human rights violations systematically committed by the Israeli government, which have been documented by human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’tselem, Al-Haq, Defense for Children International, Addameer, Adalah, Badil, and the Israeli Coalition Against Home Demolitions.
According to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), “the construction by Israel of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and its associated régime are contrary to international law.” According to the same ICJ decision, the establishment and expansion of settlements in the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem is also illegal by international law.
According to the UN General Assembly’s application of the Fourth Geneva Convention to occupied Palestinian territory, the establishment and expansion of settlements “…in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, especially settlement activities…remain contrary to international law and cannot be recognized, irrespective of the passage of time.” A US Department of State official said that the US policy “on Israeli settlements has not changed and will not change. Like every American administration for decades, we do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity.” According to the UN General Assembly’s application of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the exploitation of natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory is also illegal by international law.”
These violations of human rights and international law have been recognized and have resulted in the condemnation of the state of Israel by the international community in the UN Security Council, Human Rights Council Fact-Finding mission in Gaza, and the above mentioned governmental bodies and organizations, which consequently resulted in dozens of resolutions concerning the state of Israel (i.e. 106, 111, 127, 162, 171, 228, 237, 248, 250-252, 256, 259, 262, 265, 267, 270, 271, 279, 280, 285, 298, 313, 316, 317, 332, 337, 347, 425, 427, 444, 446, etc.) Our university invests in, and thereby profits from companies, which have an active role in the human rights abuse and institutionalized structural violence against the Palestinian people, thereby making it a complicit third-party.
We ask that you divest from any corporations 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 Separation Wall or the demolition of Palestinian homes, or c) facilitate in the building, maintenance, or economic development of Israeli settlements on annexed Palestinian territories. These companies profit from human rights abuses and therefore perpetuate the occupation, siege, and blockade of the Palestinian territories.
AS UCSB Senators
Sincerely,
[Your name]
SIGN HERE
Thank You.
