17 mar 2015
A Palestinian products exhibition was opened in Ramallah on Monday under the name of "Creative Palestinian Women" aiming at shedding light on the women's role in boycotting the Israeli products as well as supporting the creative women.
The three-day exhibition was opened by governor of Ramallah, Laila Ghannam, in the presence of a number of political and economic figures and was organized by the Ministry of women's affairs in cooperation with the Palestinian non-Governmental Organizations NGOs.
41 institutions from different West Bank governorates are participating in the exhibition which includes embroidery, dresses, ceramic pieces, beads paintings in addition to homemade foodstuffs like “taboon” bread, olive oil, jams, thyme, medical herbs and others.
On the sidelines of the opening ceremony, Laila Ghannam told the Anadolu news agency: "We are in dire need for supporting women's exhibitions, as we suffer stringent economic conditions due to the siege and as a result of stealing the Palestinian money by the Israeli occupation." She was pointing to Israel's withholding of Palestinian tax money, which constitutes two-thirds of the Palestinian revenues, for the third month in a row.
Ghannam added: "We seek to consolidate women's role in boycotting the Israeli products, and today we see creative Palestinian women creating masterpieces to confront the Israeli attempts to steal our heritage."
While standing next to her foodstuff products, Ribheyya Bani Odeh, member of Feminist Center of Tamon, told Anadolu news agency: "25 women benefit from this project to support their poor families."
Bayan Bayatneh, 57, said: "I have been working in embroidery for thirty years and this project is an important part of my life as this is my hobby, a source of livelihood, and a way to preserve the Palestinian heritage."
The three-day exhibition was opened by governor of Ramallah, Laila Ghannam, in the presence of a number of political and economic figures and was organized by the Ministry of women's affairs in cooperation with the Palestinian non-Governmental Organizations NGOs.
41 institutions from different West Bank governorates are participating in the exhibition which includes embroidery, dresses, ceramic pieces, beads paintings in addition to homemade foodstuffs like “taboon” bread, olive oil, jams, thyme, medical herbs and others.
On the sidelines of the opening ceremony, Laila Ghannam told the Anadolu news agency: "We are in dire need for supporting women's exhibitions, as we suffer stringent economic conditions due to the siege and as a result of stealing the Palestinian money by the Israeli occupation." She was pointing to Israel's withholding of Palestinian tax money, which constitutes two-thirds of the Palestinian revenues, for the third month in a row.
Ghannam added: "We seek to consolidate women's role in boycotting the Israeli products, and today we see creative Palestinian women creating masterpieces to confront the Israeli attempts to steal our heritage."
While standing next to her foodstuff products, Ribheyya Bani Odeh, member of Feminist Center of Tamon, told Anadolu news agency: "25 women benefit from this project to support their poor families."
Bayan Bayatneh, 57, said: "I have been working in embroidery for thirty years and this project is an important part of my life as this is my hobby, a source of livelihood, and a way to preserve the Palestinian heritage."
The Tunisian judiciary has made a historic precedent that criminalizes normalization with Israel for the first time in Tunisia.
Sousse court of first instance has banned Monday two planned tourist flights to occupied Jerusalem via Jordan’s King Hussein crossing on March.
Tunisian Association of Arab Resistance to Imperialism and Zionism known as "Resist" filed in February a lawsuit to stop the trips, saying that they were a form of normalization with Israel.
The lawsuit was based on the fourth article in the 2014 constitution that reiterates Tunisia's support for the Palestinian cause, and opposition to Israeli occupation.
Resist said that a local travel agency in Sousse, a coastal city in eastern Tunisia, tried to "normalize relations" with Israel, by arranging trips to occupied Jerusalem.
"Normalizing relations with the Zionist entity in an official fashion can take on various forms including tourism, in particular religious and cultural tourism, or normalization through direct and indirect commercial exchange," the lawsuit stated.
Resist said that the two trips were clearly exploiting religious sentiments to attract travelers by arranging visits to Islamic and Christian religious sites in Jerusalem.
Such actions are "defeatist and negligent to the historical rights of the Arab nation in Palestine and other occupied lands".
Nadia al-Warghi, the association's lawyer, said that this is the first time in Tunisia’s history that courts have made a legal ruling on the Tunisian constitution related to normalization of relations with Israel.
Speaking to al-Araby al-Jadeed, al-Warghi noted that the court stated that the advertisement for the trip did not include information about whether the accommodation, transport, tour guides, and agency that would be responsible for organizing visas and permits would be Israeli or Palestinian.
Al-Warghi said that this fact spurred her to complain to Tunisian security services.
She believes that this ruling will be a starting point for other cases related to Israel, and will help to give more power to groups working for Palestinian rights.
"It is important we overcome the sense of inability and the sense of satisfaction with just crying for children while they are killed in Palestine. There must be a move towards concrete actions. I think Israel and the Mossad followed the case but the court was decisive in its ruling," al-Warghi said.
Sousse court of first instance has banned Monday two planned tourist flights to occupied Jerusalem via Jordan’s King Hussein crossing on March.
Tunisian Association of Arab Resistance to Imperialism and Zionism known as "Resist" filed in February a lawsuit to stop the trips, saying that they were a form of normalization with Israel.
The lawsuit was based on the fourth article in the 2014 constitution that reiterates Tunisia's support for the Palestinian cause, and opposition to Israeli occupation.
Resist said that a local travel agency in Sousse, a coastal city in eastern Tunisia, tried to "normalize relations" with Israel, by arranging trips to occupied Jerusalem.
"Normalizing relations with the Zionist entity in an official fashion can take on various forms including tourism, in particular religious and cultural tourism, or normalization through direct and indirect commercial exchange," the lawsuit stated.
Resist said that the two trips were clearly exploiting religious sentiments to attract travelers by arranging visits to Islamic and Christian religious sites in Jerusalem.
Such actions are "defeatist and negligent to the historical rights of the Arab nation in Palestine and other occupied lands".
Nadia al-Warghi, the association's lawyer, said that this is the first time in Tunisia’s history that courts have made a legal ruling on the Tunisian constitution related to normalization of relations with Israel.
Speaking to al-Araby al-Jadeed, al-Warghi noted that the court stated that the advertisement for the trip did not include information about whether the accommodation, transport, tour guides, and agency that would be responsible for organizing visas and permits would be Israeli or Palestinian.
Al-Warghi said that this fact spurred her to complain to Tunisian security services.
She believes that this ruling will be a starting point for other cases related to Israel, and will help to give more power to groups working for Palestinian rights.
"It is important we overcome the sense of inability and the sense of satisfaction with just crying for children while they are killed in Palestine. There must be a move towards concrete actions. I think Israel and the Mossad followed the case but the court was decisive in its ruling," al-Warghi said.
Chairman of the Jordanian anti-normalization union, Manaf Magali, announced the addition of 8 Jordanian trade companies and 40 international companies to the black list, as a part of the anti- normalization campaign.
Al-Arabi al-Jadeed newspaper, according to Al Ray, quoted Magali as saying that the eight companies are in the business of exporting and importing agricultural products from Jordan to Israel and vice versa.
The committee added them to the black list as a means of forcing them to stop their normalization activities with Israel. It frequently launches campaigns to raise Jordanian awareness and support of boycotting these companies, pressuring them to stop their normalizing activities with Israel.
The 40 international companies listed are considered an important economic contribution for Israel, and Magali called for their boycott.
He revealed that some importers resort to fraud to import the Israeli products, by claiming that they are Palestinian or European products. The Jordanian agricultural ministry has denied the importstion of any Israeli fruits or products to the Jordanian local markets. However, the committee stressed that Israeli fruits are smuggled to Jordan via European ports.
The trade exchange between Jordan and Israel is estimated at some $140 million per a year, which is a significant declination from the recent years due to the boycott campaign and the last Israel aggression against Gaza.
Al-Arabi al-Jadeed newspaper, according to Al Ray, quoted Magali as saying that the eight companies are in the business of exporting and importing agricultural products from Jordan to Israel and vice versa.
The committee added them to the black list as a means of forcing them to stop their normalization activities with Israel. It frequently launches campaigns to raise Jordanian awareness and support of boycotting these companies, pressuring them to stop their normalizing activities with Israel.
The 40 international companies listed are considered an important economic contribution for Israel, and Magali called for their boycott.
He revealed that some importers resort to fraud to import the Israeli products, by claiming that they are Palestinian or European products. The Jordanian agricultural ministry has denied the importstion of any Israeli fruits or products to the Jordanian local markets. However, the committee stressed that Israeli fruits are smuggled to Jordan via European ports.
The trade exchange between Jordan and Israel is estimated at some $140 million per a year, which is a significant declination from the recent years due to the boycott campaign and the last Israel aggression against Gaza.
16 mar 2015
The Britain-based Palestinian Return Center (PRC) has slammed Switzerland’s excuses for a projected arms deal with Israel aimed at purchasing Israeli drones.
PRC’s executive manager, Tareq Hamoud, lashed out, in press statements, at the response delivered by the Swiss foreign ministry to justify the grounds for the deal as one that does not breach human rights and is only allotted for Swiss military drilling.
The underway drone deal to be struck by Switzerland is another blow dealt to the human rights situation in Palestine and the region. It is quite paradoxical that it comes from Switzerland, the country that has always stood in the vanguard-seats of human rights’ backers, Hamoud said.
The purchase will only serve to boost up Israel’s war industry which, as time has passed by, resulted in flagrant violations of Palestinians’ rights, he added.
“The deal comes at a time when the boycott-of-Israel-campaigns have been proliferating across all possible fields, be them academic, cultural, or economic.
“It is just unthinkable to have more arms deals struck with the Israeli occupation at a time when its ill-famed war machine has been committing the most flagrant infringements of human rights in Gaza,” the anti-Israeli activist maintained.
Hamoud said neither Palestinians nor the world’s pro-Palestine parties will tolerate the Swiss biased position vis-à-vis the affair.
A large-scale campaign has recently been launched against Switzerland’s intention to buy Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles.
The arms deal in favor of the Swiss army has been worth more than a third of a billion dollars. Funds from the 2015 budget have been allocated to that very end.
The deal aims at procuring the Hermes 900 drone manufactured by Elbit Systems and Heron 1 drone made by Israel Aircraft Industries.
Thousands of Palestinian civilians have been murdered and/or wounded during Israeli drone raids along the past few years.
The anti-Israel campaign includes staging popular and media activities, signing e-petitions, and mobilizing the pro-Palestine masses to step up pressure on Swiss stakeholders to rescind the arms transaction.
PRC’s executive manager, Tareq Hamoud, lashed out, in press statements, at the response delivered by the Swiss foreign ministry to justify the grounds for the deal as one that does not breach human rights and is only allotted for Swiss military drilling.
The underway drone deal to be struck by Switzerland is another blow dealt to the human rights situation in Palestine and the region. It is quite paradoxical that it comes from Switzerland, the country that has always stood in the vanguard-seats of human rights’ backers, Hamoud said.
The purchase will only serve to boost up Israel’s war industry which, as time has passed by, resulted in flagrant violations of Palestinians’ rights, he added.
“The deal comes at a time when the boycott-of-Israel-campaigns have been proliferating across all possible fields, be them academic, cultural, or economic.
“It is just unthinkable to have more arms deals struck with the Israeli occupation at a time when its ill-famed war machine has been committing the most flagrant infringements of human rights in Gaza,” the anti-Israeli activist maintained.
Hamoud said neither Palestinians nor the world’s pro-Palestine parties will tolerate the Swiss biased position vis-à-vis the affair.
A large-scale campaign has recently been launched against Switzerland’s intention to buy Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles.
The arms deal in favor of the Swiss army has been worth more than a third of a billion dollars. Funds from the 2015 budget have been allocated to that very end.
The deal aims at procuring the Hermes 900 drone manufactured by Elbit Systems and Heron 1 drone made by Israel Aircraft Industries.
Thousands of Palestinian civilians have been murdered and/or wounded during Israeli drone raids along the past few years.
The anti-Israel campaign includes staging popular and media activities, signing e-petitions, and mobilizing the pro-Palestine masses to step up pressure on Swiss stakeholders to rescind the arms transaction.
11 mar 2015
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Palestinian activists on Wednesday afternoon unloaded a truck filled with Israeli products and set fire to them in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Activists supporting the Palestinian movement to boycott Israeli products reportedly stopped a truck distributing ice cream in the Rafidia neighborhood and removed all the Israeli products from inside. They then smashed the products before setting them on fire. The truck was distributing products from the Strauss label, a major Israeli food manufacturer. The boycott of Israeli products has been a major part of Palestinian political movements opposing the Israeli occupation for decades. It has acquired renewed popularity in the West Bank since Israel's summer assault on Gaza, which left more than 2,200 Palestinians dead and sparked a wave of anger and protest. |
Due to the Israeli occupation's control over the Palestinian economy, consumers in the West Bank have limited options and are a captive market for Israeli companies.
8 mar 2015
The student government at the American University of Toledo in Ohio approved a resolution to divest from companies which profit from Israeli violations of Palestinians’ rights.
The resolution passed with 21 student senators in favor and only four against.
The vote, reportedly carried out in a democratic and transparent atmosphere, gave the students the opportunity to exchange arguments in favor of the bid. The delivered arguments swept the opposition away with an overwhelming majority backing the bid up.
The Department of Expatriates Affairs at the Palestine Liberation Organization said in a statement Saturday the move comes just two weeks after a divestment resolution hearing was muzzled and ruled “in-camera” by the student government’s judicial council at the university, forcing the admin to call another voting session.
Coordinator of the boycott-of-Israel coalition in the United States, Sinan Shakdeih, said around 20,000 students are enrolled at the public and multi-ethnic University of Toledo, the first to declare an official boycott of Israel.
He said the embargo aims at rescinding all deals and transactions struck with such companies as CEMEX, the Rolls Royce, General Electric, and Hewlett-Packard, which deal both with the university and Israel.
Similar moves are set to kick off at a number of universities in the same state of Ohio, he underlined.
The resolution passed with 21 student senators in favor and only four against.
The vote, reportedly carried out in a democratic and transparent atmosphere, gave the students the opportunity to exchange arguments in favor of the bid. The delivered arguments swept the opposition away with an overwhelming majority backing the bid up.
The Department of Expatriates Affairs at the Palestine Liberation Organization said in a statement Saturday the move comes just two weeks after a divestment resolution hearing was muzzled and ruled “in-camera” by the student government’s judicial council at the university, forcing the admin to call another voting session.
Coordinator of the boycott-of-Israel coalition in the United States, Sinan Shakdeih, said around 20,000 students are enrolled at the public and multi-ethnic University of Toledo, the first to declare an official boycott of Israel.
He said the embargo aims at rescinding all deals and transactions struck with such companies as CEMEX, the Rolls Royce, General Electric, and Hewlett-Packard, which deal both with the university and Israel.
Similar moves are set to kick off at a number of universities in the same state of Ohio, he underlined.
1 mar 2015
On campuses across America, pro-Palestinian activists have found success in promoting the isolation of Israel.
The lecture hall had filled quickly. Several students wore keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian headscarves, while another sat draped in the Israeli flag.
It was time for a ritual that has become increasingly commonplace on many American college campuses: A student government body, in this case at the University of California, Davis, would take up Israeli policy toward the Palestinians, and decide whether to demand their school divest from companies that work with the Jewish state.
In the United States, Israel's closest ally, the decade-old boycott-divestment-sanctions movement, or BDS, is making its strongest inroads by far on college campuses. No US school has sold off stock and none is expected to do so anytime soon. Still, the current academic year is seeing an increasing number of divestment drives on campus. Since January alone, student governments at four universities have taken divestment votes.
While the campaigns unfold around resolutions largely proposed by chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, outside groups have become
increasingly involved - from American Muslims for Palestine and the Quakers' American Friends Service Committee, on one side, to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, on the other.
At some campuses, candidates for student government are being asked their views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The heated rhetoric has led to claims of anti-Semitism and of infringement on free speech. "I don't think anyone is surprised when they hear a BDS movement is coming," said Ira Stup, a 2009 Columbia University graduate and former director of J Street U, the college arm of the liberal pro-Israel lobby J Street, which opposes BDS.
"It's becoming a regular occurrence." "It's creating a debate. It's creating a significant amount of conversation in the entire community and it's set on the terms the activists want it to be set on," said Rahim Kurwa, a doctoral candidate and member of Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The boycott-divestment-sanctions movement grew from a 2005 international call from Palestinian groups as an alternative to armed struggle over control of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and Palestinians seek for an independent state. BDS advocates say the movement, based on the campaign against South African apartheid decades ago, is aimed at Israeli policy, not Jews, in response to two decades of failed peace talks and expanded Israeli settlement of the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
But supporters of Israel say that boycotting the country is no way to make peace, especially since many BDS supporters do not differentiate between protesting Jewish settlements on occupied lands or Israel as a whole.
In the US, activists have pressed for boycotts of Israeli products and cultural events, and divestment by churches and others. None of these efforts has gained as much momentum as the campus divestment movement. College activists organize lectures and workshops on Israeli policy and Palestinian history, while staging protests that include mock Israeli military checkpoints, or a mock West Bank separation barrier that activists call an "Israel apartheid wall."
Pro-Israel groups counter with their own demonstrations and events. When student governments prepare to vote, the hearings can last for days, drawing campus-wide attention.
Only a few dozen student governments have cast ballots on divestment proposals since 2012. Of those votes, about a dozen have won passage. University administrators and boards - not student governments - oversee investments, and trustees have widely rejected divestment. The University of California Board of Regents said they would only divest from companies working in a country that the US government said was committing genocide. Still, the campaigns have succeeded in challenging students to re-consider their views of Palestinians. Nowhere is the impact more evident than the University of California system. Student governments at five of the 10 UC campuses have voted for divestment. Two more, Santa Cruz and Davis, did the same, but the votes were thrown out over procedural issues.
Since December, divestment also won the backing of the labor union representing thousands of teaching assistants and other workers for the entire UC system, UAW2865, and the University of California Students Association, which represents student government bodies statewide.
"The movement is getting more and more organized," said Roz Rothstein, chief executive and co-founder of the California-based group Stand With Us, which helps train students to defend the Jewish state. "The strategy is being shared across campuses." National groups on both sides have been building up networks to support student activists. Along with training and advocacy groups, divestment advocates now have a new source of legal support.
In 2013, the Palestine Solidarity Legal Support Fund launched with the help of the Center for Constitutional Rights and others. Fund director Dima Khalidi said her group received 230 requests for help in 2014, and about 70 percent came from college students and faculty who said they were being harassed or unfairly punished by school administrators.
Meanwhile, every major American Jewish group has in some way put resources into countering divestment and the uptick in anti-Israel activity. In 2010, after pleas from Jewish leaders, Education Secretary Arne Duncan extended protection to Jewish students under the Title VI civil rights law. So far, no school has been found in violation.
Kurwa of Students for Justice in Palestine contends divestment drives will continue spreading to new campuses "the longer the status quo drags on without any realistic hope for some kind of solution." Rothstein, of the pro-Israel Stand With Us, said her group is expanding "as fast as we can."
The lecture hall had filled quickly. Several students wore keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian headscarves, while another sat draped in the Israeli flag.
It was time for a ritual that has become increasingly commonplace on many American college campuses: A student government body, in this case at the University of California, Davis, would take up Israeli policy toward the Palestinians, and decide whether to demand their school divest from companies that work with the Jewish state.
In the United States, Israel's closest ally, the decade-old boycott-divestment-sanctions movement, or BDS, is making its strongest inroads by far on college campuses. No US school has sold off stock and none is expected to do so anytime soon. Still, the current academic year is seeing an increasing number of divestment drives on campus. Since January alone, student governments at four universities have taken divestment votes.
While the campaigns unfold around resolutions largely proposed by chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, outside groups have become
increasingly involved - from American Muslims for Palestine and the Quakers' American Friends Service Committee, on one side, to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, on the other.
At some campuses, candidates for student government are being asked their views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The heated rhetoric has led to claims of anti-Semitism and of infringement on free speech. "I don't think anyone is surprised when they hear a BDS movement is coming," said Ira Stup, a 2009 Columbia University graduate and former director of J Street U, the college arm of the liberal pro-Israel lobby J Street, which opposes BDS.
"It's becoming a regular occurrence." "It's creating a debate. It's creating a significant amount of conversation in the entire community and it's set on the terms the activists want it to be set on," said Rahim Kurwa, a doctoral candidate and member of Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The boycott-divestment-sanctions movement grew from a 2005 international call from Palestinian groups as an alternative to armed struggle over control of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and Palestinians seek for an independent state. BDS advocates say the movement, based on the campaign against South African apartheid decades ago, is aimed at Israeli policy, not Jews, in response to two decades of failed peace talks and expanded Israeli settlement of the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
But supporters of Israel say that boycotting the country is no way to make peace, especially since many BDS supporters do not differentiate between protesting Jewish settlements on occupied lands or Israel as a whole.
In the US, activists have pressed for boycotts of Israeli products and cultural events, and divestment by churches and others. None of these efforts has gained as much momentum as the campus divestment movement. College activists organize lectures and workshops on Israeli policy and Palestinian history, while staging protests that include mock Israeli military checkpoints, or a mock West Bank separation barrier that activists call an "Israel apartheid wall."
Pro-Israel groups counter with their own demonstrations and events. When student governments prepare to vote, the hearings can last for days, drawing campus-wide attention.
Only a few dozen student governments have cast ballots on divestment proposals since 2012. Of those votes, about a dozen have won passage. University administrators and boards - not student governments - oversee investments, and trustees have widely rejected divestment. The University of California Board of Regents said they would only divest from companies working in a country that the US government said was committing genocide. Still, the campaigns have succeeded in challenging students to re-consider their views of Palestinians. Nowhere is the impact more evident than the University of California system. Student governments at five of the 10 UC campuses have voted for divestment. Two more, Santa Cruz and Davis, did the same, but the votes were thrown out over procedural issues.
Since December, divestment also won the backing of the labor union representing thousands of teaching assistants and other workers for the entire UC system, UAW2865, and the University of California Students Association, which represents student government bodies statewide.
"The movement is getting more and more organized," said Roz Rothstein, chief executive and co-founder of the California-based group Stand With Us, which helps train students to defend the Jewish state. "The strategy is being shared across campuses." National groups on both sides have been building up networks to support student activists. Along with training and advocacy groups, divestment advocates now have a new source of legal support.
In 2013, the Palestine Solidarity Legal Support Fund launched with the help of the Center for Constitutional Rights and others. Fund director Dima Khalidi said her group received 230 requests for help in 2014, and about 70 percent came from college students and faculty who said they were being harassed or unfairly punished by school administrators.
Meanwhile, every major American Jewish group has in some way put resources into countering divestment and the uptick in anti-Israel activity. In 2010, after pleas from Jewish leaders, Education Secretary Arne Duncan extended protection to Jewish students under the Title VI civil rights law. So far, no school has been found in violation.
Kurwa of Students for Justice in Palestine contends divestment drives will continue spreading to new campuses "the longer the status quo drags on without any realistic hope for some kind of solution." Rothstein, of the pro-Israel Stand With Us, said her group is expanding "as fast as we can."
28 feb 2015
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The SOAS, University of London, Friday voted in favor of the academic boycott of Israel, with an overwhelming majority of 73%.
The vote, open to students, academics, and management staff at the university, finished with 73% for the “yes” campaign and 27% for “No” campaign. Among some 1,708 students who partook in the vote, 1,283 voted in favor while 425 students voted against. 60% of the involved lecturers along with 91% of the university employees voted yes. |
Observers said the move is a heavy bow dealt to Israel by one of the world’s most prominent academic institutions.
Founded in 1916, and inaugurated by King George V, SOAS immediately became integral in training British administrators, in multi-disciplinary overseas postings. World University Rankings placed SOAS sixth in the UK.
Founded in 1916, and inaugurated by King George V, SOAS immediately became integral in training British administrators, in multi-disciplinary overseas postings. World University Rankings placed SOAS sixth in the UK.
18 feb 2015
On February 17, the Undergraduate Senate of Stanford University voted 10-1-4 to pass a resolution to divest from the Israeli occupation of the Palestine.
The resolution, entitled "A Resolution to Divest from Companies Violating Human Rights in Occupied Palestine", calls on Stanford to stop investing in multinational corporations facilitating human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt).
The Senate Chair and Senate Deputy Chair, according to the Palestinian News Network (PNN), motioned to reconsider the resolution after it was narrowly defeated by one vote, last week (9 for, 1 abstention, 5 against).
The senators stated that the hostile environment of opponents to divestment, created at last week's hearing, impeded their ability to vote with clarity, and requested the opportunity to align their votes with their true opinions. In the original vote, the two senators had respectively abstained and voted no. After their motion to reconsider passed in Tuesday's hearing, they changed their votes to a 'yes' and 'abstain'. The re-vote followed a two-hour long hearing and ended in a historic vote in favor of divestment, with 10 senators voting in support, 1 abstention, and 4 against.
Organizers of the campaign were surprised that the Senate decided to vote on the resolution again, and expressed excitement about the Senate vote.
"After months of hard work, it is gratifying to witness the Senate answer our call and affirm our efforts towards divestment." said sophomore Ramah Awad. "Our next step is to pressure the Board of Trustees to follow through. We ask the Board and President Hennessy directly: 'Are you going to listen to the student voice?'"
Another student expressed support for the senators who decided to reconsider their vote.
"Students from the campaign against divestment have written us acknowledging their 'hateful and spiteful' behavior during last week's hearing," said senior Manny Thompson. "We appreciate that the Chair and Deputy Chair spoke up about how they felt intimidated to vote their conscience and that the Senate ultimately reaffirmed its majority support for divestment."
The resolution focuses on multinational corporations and identifies multiple parties as being complicit in the violations against Palestinians living under occupation, including the governments of Israel, Egypt, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. The resolution states that the Undergraduate Senate is not connected to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and affirms both the Israeli and Palestinian right to life, safety and self-determination.
The resolution was brought forth by the Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP) coalition. The diverse coalition consists of 19 student groups, including the Black Student Union, MEChA and Stanford Students for Queer Liberation. The resolution called on the University to evaluate its investments and divest from companies fitting the following criteria:
· Maintaining the illegal infrastructure of the Israeli occupation, and, in particular, settlements and apartheid wall.
· Facilitating Israel and Egypt's collective punishment of Palestinian civilians.
· Facilitating state repression against Palestinians by Israeli, Egyptian or Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces.
(The PA continues to maintain a state of close "security coordination" with Israel, in spite of threats to disengage by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.)
SOOP came together in pursuit of selective divestment as a response to the call from Palestinian civil society to exert economic pressure to end to the violations of their basic human rights. Over the course of seven weeks, the campaign gathered immense student support; over 1,600 Stanford students signed SOOP's petition.
With Tuesday's vote, Stanford joins a growing number of student governments -- most notably the University of California Student Association -- in response to a call from Palestinian society for divestment. After this vote, SOOP will work with senators to pressure the Board of Trustees to divest from the violation of Palestinian human rights.
"As a student in the movement, I look forward to continuously engaging the campus in this conversation," said junior Natasha Patel, "We are not done uplifting the call of Palestinian peoples nor are we finished pushing our University to conduct an ethical review of its investments."
The resolution, entitled "A Resolution to Divest from Companies Violating Human Rights in Occupied Palestine", calls on Stanford to stop investing in multinational corporations facilitating human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt).
The Senate Chair and Senate Deputy Chair, according to the Palestinian News Network (PNN), motioned to reconsider the resolution after it was narrowly defeated by one vote, last week (9 for, 1 abstention, 5 against).
The senators stated that the hostile environment of opponents to divestment, created at last week's hearing, impeded their ability to vote with clarity, and requested the opportunity to align their votes with their true opinions. In the original vote, the two senators had respectively abstained and voted no. After their motion to reconsider passed in Tuesday's hearing, they changed their votes to a 'yes' and 'abstain'. The re-vote followed a two-hour long hearing and ended in a historic vote in favor of divestment, with 10 senators voting in support, 1 abstention, and 4 against.
Organizers of the campaign were surprised that the Senate decided to vote on the resolution again, and expressed excitement about the Senate vote.
"After months of hard work, it is gratifying to witness the Senate answer our call and affirm our efforts towards divestment." said sophomore Ramah Awad. "Our next step is to pressure the Board of Trustees to follow through. We ask the Board and President Hennessy directly: 'Are you going to listen to the student voice?'"
Another student expressed support for the senators who decided to reconsider their vote.
"Students from the campaign against divestment have written us acknowledging their 'hateful and spiteful' behavior during last week's hearing," said senior Manny Thompson. "We appreciate that the Chair and Deputy Chair spoke up about how they felt intimidated to vote their conscience and that the Senate ultimately reaffirmed its majority support for divestment."
The resolution focuses on multinational corporations and identifies multiple parties as being complicit in the violations against Palestinians living under occupation, including the governments of Israel, Egypt, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. The resolution states that the Undergraduate Senate is not connected to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and affirms both the Israeli and Palestinian right to life, safety and self-determination.
The resolution was brought forth by the Stanford Out of Occupied Palestine (SOOP) coalition. The diverse coalition consists of 19 student groups, including the Black Student Union, MEChA and Stanford Students for Queer Liberation. The resolution called on the University to evaluate its investments and divest from companies fitting the following criteria:
· Maintaining the illegal infrastructure of the Israeli occupation, and, in particular, settlements and apartheid wall.
· Facilitating Israel and Egypt's collective punishment of Palestinian civilians.
· Facilitating state repression against Palestinians by Israeli, Egyptian or Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces.
(The PA continues to maintain a state of close "security coordination" with Israel, in spite of threats to disengage by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.)
SOOP came together in pursuit of selective divestment as a response to the call from Palestinian civil society to exert economic pressure to end to the violations of their basic human rights. Over the course of seven weeks, the campaign gathered immense student support; over 1,600 Stanford students signed SOOP's petition.
With Tuesday's vote, Stanford joins a growing number of student governments -- most notably the University of California Student Association -- in response to a call from Palestinian society for divestment. After this vote, SOOP will work with senators to pressure the Board of Trustees to divest from the violation of Palestinian human rights.
"As a student in the movement, I look forward to continuously engaging the campus in this conversation," said junior Natasha Patel, "We are not done uplifting the call of Palestinian peoples nor are we finished pushing our University to conduct an ethical review of its investments."
A number of official and popular institutions and activists declared Tuesday rejection to the purchase of Israeli gas.
The Palestinian government and some private sector institutions have earlier signed an agreement to import natural gas from the occupation state on 01/05/2014, worth 1.2 billion dollars, for 20 years.
In a press conference organized by the BDS Movement, the participants called for an end to the Palestinian dependence on Israel and to locally exploit Gaza's offshore gas fields.
Abbas Zaki, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, considered the purchase of Israeli gas as a big national and strategic mistake.
The agreement, signed early last year to import natural gas supplies from Israel for 20 years, would provide more legitimacy to Israeli control over Palestinian economy.
For his part, the BDS coordinator pointed out that boycott campaigns have been launched in Palestine and Jordan to pressure the countries’ governments to revoke their gas agreements with Israel.
Along the same line, head of the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) Dr. Azmi Shuaibi confirmed that the PA government refused to hand him a copy of the preliminary agreement.
He revealed that the Palestinian government is a key partner in this agreement through the Palestinian Investment Fund, which is a quasi-governmental financial institution.
He called for looking for other fuel and gas alternative supplies in Qatar, Turkey, or Venezuela.
The Palestinian government and some private sector institutions have earlier signed an agreement to import natural gas from the occupation state on 01/05/2014, worth 1.2 billion dollars, for 20 years.
In a press conference organized by the BDS Movement, the participants called for an end to the Palestinian dependence on Israel and to locally exploit Gaza's offshore gas fields.
Abbas Zaki, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, considered the purchase of Israeli gas as a big national and strategic mistake.
The agreement, signed early last year to import natural gas supplies from Israel for 20 years, would provide more legitimacy to Israeli control over Palestinian economy.
For his part, the BDS coordinator pointed out that boycott campaigns have been launched in Palestine and Jordan to pressure the countries’ governments to revoke their gas agreements with Israel.
Along the same line, head of the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) Dr. Azmi Shuaibi confirmed that the PA government refused to hand him a copy of the preliminary agreement.
He revealed that the Palestinian government is a key partner in this agreement through the Palestinian Investment Fund, which is a quasi-governmental financial institution.
He called for looking for other fuel and gas alternative supplies in Qatar, Turkey, or Venezuela.
