By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — UCSD has become a campus battlegrounds in the movement by pro-Palestinians to have Associated Student oganizations divest their funds from companies doing business with Israel.
A resolution that will go before the student Senate on Wednesday, April 28, specifically targets United Technologies, which it says makes Apache helicopters, and General Electric , which makes parts for those helicopters and also provides engineering support and testing service contracts.
The resolution essentially is the same as one that was vetoed by the student president at UC Berkeley, a veto that the student Senate on that campus thus far has been unable to override.
As justification for divestment, the resolution cites documents from such organizations as the United Nations and International Red Cross critical of Israel in the recent Gaza War, for the construction of the fence near the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinian civilians.
The resolution does not criticize nor mention any actions by Palestinian terrorists, yet describes itself as a resolution for peace and neutrality.
Opposition on campus is being led by Titans for Israel, which is circulating a petition online, and by various off-campus pro-Israel groups such as StandWithUS and T.E.A.M.
StandWithUs provided a model email message that members can send to the President of the Associated Students, the Chancellor of the campus, and the President of the University of California system. It read:
“I urge you to veto the anti-Israel Divestment Bill. The bill violates the rights of thousands of UCSD students, who have no choice but to pay their student fees and are legally entitled to be assured that these mandatory fees are not used to empower the political aims of an extremist and hostile group that seeks to promote one-sided propaganda against Israel.
“Student fees must be invested in a non-discriminatory way without regard to the political whims of a block of students. This could become a legal battle over the rights of ALL students.”
Following is the text of the 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.
*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World