Action Palestine

On Thursday 5th March, The University College London Students’ Union (UCLU) voted overwhelmingly to twin UCL Union with the Unions of Al-Quds and Al-Azhar Secular Universities in the West Bank and Gaza respectively with immediate effect. Furthermore, the Union voted to establish an educational exchange programme between UCL students and students from the Palestinian universities, and finally “To reiterate the UCLU Friends of Palestine society’s right to raise issues that concern the student body, criticise the GOI [Government of Israel] and its policies, as well as highlight atrocities that contravene International Humanitarian law and not be treated unlike other societies for doing such.”

In a maximum capacity lecture theatre of 325, people packed in, spilling over into the stairs, to hear the debate of various topical and constructive motions at the best attended UCLU Annual General Meeting since 2003.

Before the meeting the chances of passing the motion seemed very slim. Not only does UCL have one of the largest and most active pro-Zionist Jewish societies in the country, but also just before the meeting, a hostile amendment was received asking the Union’s students to twin with the Israeli Hebrew University in Jerusalem (and remove twinning with Al-Azhar Secular University in Gaza) also. The speaker for the hostile amendment appealed to the objectivity of sources such as ‘The Harvard Israel Review’ and ‘The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ over ‘United Nations’ organs including ‘The International Court of Justice’ in the original motion submitted and suggested the former reflected “the reality as it is today” better.

This is not to mention recent attacks on the UCLU Friends of Palestine society (FPS). The Union Media and Communications Officer as well as members of The UCLU Jewish Society had slandered the FPS for “inciting racial hatred” following a recent exhibition entitled “Jerusalem Dispossessed”. The exhibition documented “the dispossession of indigenous Palestinians from their native city, Jerusalem, amid rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, the separation wall and home demolitions”. It was provided by ICAHD: The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions’ (ICAHD) Action Advocacy Project and funded by Irish Aid, The Austrian Development Agency and The Netherlands Representative Office; of course a typical basis for breeding of “terrorism” if there ever was one.

The attack was constructed in the form of a sudden article in the Jerusalem Post entitled ‘London students slam anti-Israel exhibition’. In the article Johnny Paul, who incidentally manages to balance his position as objective “London correspondent” with being President of SOAS Israel Society, made false accusations against the UCLU FPS. Neither the UCLU JSoc, UCLU Media and Communications Officer nor J.Paul bothered to consult the society for their side of the story before publishing the piece. If they had they would have discovered that contrary to claims otherwise, the UCLU FPS had got permission for the exhibition (even though it was not required since the exhibition was not on UCL Union property), as confirmed by the Services and Events Officer of UCL Union. This has led to the Jerusalem Post being forced to accept publication of a response from ICAHD’s Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, herself a Jewish Israeli, who comments that “Any negotiation taking place while borders are aggressively being determined according to one side’s interests is an illusion. Without real freedom and respect of the other’s right to live in dignity, there is no basis for political negotiation.”

Although the meeting opened late, once it was the motion was passed swiftly. Thanks to a superb turnout from various sympathetic societies, those that have so often successfully disrupted such meetings on technicalities such as quorum counts were forced to retort to the farcical in order to desperately claw back votes. This was manifested clearly in the absurd claim that the motion aimed to present conscripted members of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) as “evil” for some anti-semitic end- the claim presumably a desperate attempt to vote-grab from potential soldiers-to-be there to oppose another motion to ban recruitment of the Officer Training Corp (part of ‘The Territorial Army’).

The President of the UCLU Friends of Palestine said that the passing of the motion “was an important and constructive step which allows UCL students to get first hand experience and knowledge of the reality on the ground in Palestine in a climate marred by fictitious propaganda” and encouraged “other universities to follow suit”. He also commented that it is important to note that this motion is not out to demonise Israelis or Jews but rather to place emphasis on the impact of Israeli occupation upon ordinary Palestinians and bring that to the attention of UCL students, and the motion should not be taken as part of a package, related to the other motions such as on banning OTC from campus- which is completely unrelated.

- To contact the UCLU Friends of Palestine email uczxfpc@ucl.ac.uk

- The motions and amendments can be viewed at:

http://www.uclunion.org/student-union/noticeboard/index.php
see ‘second ammendment to motion on palestine’, ‘Amendment to the “Emergency Motion on Occupied Palestinian Territories”’ and ‘Emergency motion to AGM On Occupied Palestine’

Defend LSE SU call for Boycott of Israel

*15th February 2008*

*LSE Union Demands Divestment from Israel*

The London School of Economics Students’ Union (LSESU) yesterday voted overwhelmingly to call on its university and the National Union of Students (NUS) to divest from companies that provide military and commercial support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, condemning the decades of human rights abuses and systematic oppression that has occurred as a result.

A motion, brought to the weekly Union General Meeting of more than 400 LSE students by the LSESU Palestine Society, resolved to lobby the LSE and NUS to divest from companies that provide military support for the Israeli occupation, facilitate the maintenance of the illegal “annexation” wall or operate on illegally occupied land or within Jewish only settlements. With a six to one margin, the Union voted to support the aim of targeted divestment until companies cease such practices or until Israel ends its discriminatory oppression and colonisation of Palestinian communities.

The Union also resolved to affiliate to the international campaign to end the siege on Gaza and engage in education campaigns to publicise more widely the injustices of Israel’s discriminatory polices. This includes working with Palestine solidarity organisations such as Jews for Justice for Palestinians, the British Committee for Universities in Palestine (BRICUP), the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Zochrot and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), in a bid to end the legalised racial and religious discrimination in Israel.

This has been the result of much debate on LSE’s campus over recent weeks, following an earlier motion which acknowledged growing public comparisons made between Apartheid South Africa and the legalised ethnic segregation that has been imposed for decades by the
Israeli state. As such, the original proposed motion was amended to provide consensus across the Union in unequivocally condemning Israel’s policy of ethnic segregation, with 339 students voting in favour of divestment compared to just 46 against.

Irene Calis of the LSESU Palestine Society stated: “This is an historic moment in the struggle for justice and peace for all citizens of the Middle-East. It is time for us to demand our universities divest and stop funding Palestinian oppression. By putting political and economic pressure on the Israeli state, the student movement can not only show continued solidarity with the Palestinian people, but also expedite the end of the Israeli occupation”

Emilano Huet-Vaughn, who spoke in favour of the motion added, “The resounding support for divestment after lengthy debate shows growing awareness of Israel’s systematic discrimination against the Palestinian people and a disgust with the colonial settler regime in the West Bank, and the brutal siege of the Gaza Strip. As a result many LSE students of all backgrounds have voted to take a stand for justice, equality and human rights for all.”

*ENDS*

Linda Ramsden
(link)

Last week, I returned from participating in ICAHD’s summer camp and I am still finding it hard to adjust to life back in England. During my few days there, my emotions went to such extremes, reminding me of a piece of elastic being stretched in every direction, so that even now I feel thin and worn and in danger of snapping and breaking.

Details about what happened during the camp can be seen in the daily reports that are posted on ICAHD’s website, www.icahd.org. They provide snapshots on the progress of the rebuilding of what turned out to be two Palestinian houses and the extra activities ICAHD staff organised from tours to talks, panel discussions and films, all attempting to bring greater understanding to the internationals about the complexities of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. One report, by a young American woman, expressed it well when she wrote about how impossible it is to really translate the feelings that one has about being there and all that we were exposed to. And for me, a regular visitor to the area, there is the added frustration of seeing the situation on the ground continuing to deteriorate while those in power, who could call a stop to this insanity, persistently turning a deaf ear to the implementation of international law.

This time, I actually witnessed a quite new four-story apartment block being demolished. The IDF tried to prevent us from viewing this violation of the 4th Geneva Convention but we found a way to get a glimpse of the three bulldozers a work. And while at the camp, news reached us of a British woman, married to an Israeli Palestinian from the village of Ein Rafa who had her house demolished in what is Israel proper. I learned more about how demolitions impact on family life, especially the women, and the desolation, anger, powerlessness and fear that result. Some families never recover as the demolition of a home becomes the demolition of a family.

And yet there are now some Palestinian women learning to raise up to challenge the displacement which they experience and the systems of domination and militarization that are being imposed over them. They need us to help them tell their story. Let us hope that we will find more of British society willing to listen.

The camp finished with a dedication ceremony at the site of the new Hamdan family home. There was an exciting, energetic performance by the Anata Dabka dance group, who hold their regular practice sessions at Beit Arabiya, thus ICAHD’s peace centre is providing yet another service to the local community. During the speeches, I spoke about how through ICAHD UK’s contact with British politicians, ICAHD’s work and the issue of house demolitions is being spoken of in the Houses of Parliament as we work here to raise awareness, calling for the end of the occupation and a just and sustainable future for both Israelis and Palestinians.

To celebrate the end of the camp, a lamb was roasted in true Palestinian tradition. Campers gathered in the dimly lit tent to share their reflections on what proved for many a life-changing experience. One of them, a Jewish Canadian, ended by singing his rendition of “I am the Very Model of an ICAHD Camp Participant”. Descriptive of our time together, it made us laugh but then brought tears to our eyes as we realized that we are truly part of a growing movement that seeks to change history.