Spring 10 | Fall 09 | Spring 09 | Fall 08 | Spring 08 | Fall 07 | Spring 07 | Fall 06 | Spring 06 | Fall 05 | Spring 05 | Fall 04 Title A Bill In Support of ASUC DIVESTMENT FROM WAR CRIMES Number 118 Week Bill Entered Committee March 10, 2010 Author Emiliano Huet-Vaughn and Tom Pessah Sponsor Senators Huda Adem, Jonathan Gaurano and Emily Carlton Semester Spring 10 Committee University and External Affairs Status in Committee In Committee Status in Senate Failed Original Text 21.WHEREAS, the ASUC notes the complexity of international relations in all cases, including the Middle East, and recognizes the inability of a body such as the ASUC to adjudicate matters of international law and human rights law, or to take sides on final status issues in the Israel/Palestinian conflict, this bill notes the following findings from the United Nations and leading human rights organizations; and 22.WHEREAS, the United Nations reports that the 2008-2009 Israeli bombing of the occupied Gaza Strip (Operation Cast Lead) targeted civilian infrastructure including schools, mosques, the education and justice ministries, the main university, hundreds of factories, livestock, prisons, courts, and police stations resulting in the deaths of 1,440 people and the injury of another 5,380 in three weeks - with nearly half of the casualties women and children - prompting leading human rights groups like Amnesty International, as well as the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Situations of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories, to accuse Israel of war crimes in the conflict ; and 23.WHEREAS, a subsequent, comprehensive United Nations investigation of Operation Cast Lead, led by esteemed South African judge Richard Goldstone, concluded “Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possible crimes against humanity,” and, furthermore, that “the Gaza military operations were directed by Israel at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population. The destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories and residential houses was the result of a deliberate and systematic policy to make the daily process of living, and dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population. Israeli forces also humiliated, dehumanized and carried out an assault on the dignity of the people in Gaza, through the use of human shields, unlawful detentions, unacceptable conditions of detention, the vandalizing of houses, the treatment of people when their houses were entered, graffiti on the walls, obscenities and racist slogans. The Israeli operations were carefully planned in all their phases as a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability;” and, 24.WHEREAS, prior and subsequent to the bombing Israel has engaged in willful collective punishment of the whole of the Palestinian population, in the view of the human rights community, as exemplified by the ongoing 32 month blockade on Gaza, of which Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has written, “the prolonged siege imposed by the Israeli government 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,” 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; and 25.WHEREAS, 2010 marks the 43d year since passage of United Nations Security Council resolution 242 which calls for the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories occupied” in the 1967 war; and 26.WHEREAS, the United Nations recognizes a population of more than 4 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants, made homeless by the 1967 war and previous conflicts, who to this day live without normal citizenship status , their rights as refugees under United Nations General Assembly resolution 194 unrecognized ; and 27.WHEREAS, within the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Israel continues a policy of settlement expansion that, in the judgement of the United Nations Security Council, Human Rights Watch, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and numerous other institutions concerned with enforcement of international law, constitutes a direct violation of Article 49, paragraph 6 of the 4th Geneva Convention which declares “an occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into territories it occupies.” ; and 28.WHEREAS, Israel continues to build an eight meter high wall on occupied Palestinian land inside the West Bank, contravening the July 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice (the highest legal body in the world, whose statutes all UN members are party to) and causing the forcible separation of Palestinian communities from one another, from their lands and from sources of work, health and education, and the further annexation of Palestinian land. ; and 29.WHEREAS, since 1967 Israel has demolished over 18,000 Palestinian family homes, leaving some 70,000 Palestinian civilians traumatized and without shelter or compensation, and flouting Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.” ; and 30.WHEREAS, hundreds of kilometers of Jewish-settler-only roads, on which Palestinians under occupation are largely not permitted to drive, carve up the West Bank. ; and 31.WHEREAS, hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints and roadblocks designed to corral the Palestinian Arab population pockmark the occupied West Bank, causing significant damage to Palestinian commerce and access to medical care and education and violating the letter and spirit of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states “everyone has the right to freedom of movement.” ; and 32.WHEREAS, in July 2007 the Israeli Knesset in a 64-16 vote, put forward the Jewish National Fund Law which endorses the allocation of Jewish National Fund land (compromising 13% of Israel, much of it confiscated from Palestinian Arab inhabitants) exclusively to Jewish residents of Israel, legally excluding Palestinian citizens of Israel, who compose approximately 20% of the population. ; and 33.WHEREAS, the current United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories notes that Israeli law openly discriminates on the basis of religion, race, and nationality, with different laws regarding citizenship, housing, land ownership, and marriage applying depending on whether someone is classified in law as “Jewish” or “non-Jewish,” and the US State Department's 2008 Human Right Report reports 'institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against Arabs' persists inside Israel ; and 34.WHEREAS, then-UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, South African law professor John Dugard, in a 2007 UN report concluded that “there is an apartheid regime” in the occupied Palestinian territories “worse than the one that existed in South Africa” and that “it is difficult to resist the conclusion that many of Israel's laws and practices violate the 1966 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination. House demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are carried out in a manner that discriminates against Palestinians. Throughout the West Bank, and particularly in Hebron, settlers are given preferential treatment over Palestinians in terms of movement (major roads are reserved exclusively for settlers), building rights and army protection; and laws governing family re-unification unashamedly discriminate against Palestinians." ; and 35.WHEREAS, in 2005 more than 171 leading Palestinian civil society institutions, trade unions, organizations and professional associations, representing a broad cross section of Palestinian society, called on internationals to work more actively to support Palestinian rights and specifically that those outside Palestine “implement divestment initiatives against Israel” and disinvestment from Israel by international academic institutions.” ; and 36.WHEREAS, UC Berkeley has a celebrated history of student activism and university engagement with national and international social justice movements, including a leading role in the international divestment campaign targeting apartheid South Africa, ; and 37.WHEREAS, our student body is motivated by concerns for human rights, respect for international law, and the fundamental principle of equality; and 38.WHEREAS, student research has revealed that, according to the most recent UC investment report , within the UC Retirement Program fund and the General Endowment Program fund there exist direct investments in American companies materially and militarily supporting Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, including American companies General Electric and United Technologies; and 39.WHEREAS, General Electric holds engineering support and testing service contracts with the Israeli military and supplies Israel with the propulsion system for its Apache Assault Helicopter fleet, which, as documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, has been used in attacks on Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, including the January 4, 2009 killings of Palestinian medical aide workers ; and 40.WHEREAS, United Technologies supplies Israel with Blackhawk helicopters and with F-15 and F-16 aircraft engines and holds an ongoing fleet management contract for these engines, and, Amnesty International has documented Israel’s use of these aircraft in the bombing of the American School in Gaza, the killing of Palestinians civilians, and the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian homes; therefore, be it RESOLVED, that the ASUC will ensure that its assets do not include holdings in General Electric and United Technologies because of their military support of the occupation of the Palestinian territories; be it further RESOLVED, that just as the ASUC condemns Israel’s war crimes it condemns the rocket attacks on civilians by Hamas – also recognized as war crimes by the Goldstone report - while noting the key distinction that the university already does not and may not under US law hold investments which directly support the Palestinian militant group, while it does hold investments in companies materially and militarily supporting Israel’s war crimes; be it further RESOLVED, that this ASUC resolution not be interpreted as the taking of sides in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, but instead as a principled expression of support for universal human rights and equality, and that it is an expression of opposition to Israeli state policies of occupation, racial discrimination, and war crimes, and not an attack on the Israeli people; be it further *United Nations Humanitarian Monitor - http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_humanitarian_monitor_2009_01_15_english.pdf *PBS Interview with United Nations Investigator Justice Richard Goldstone - http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10232009/watch.html *“Amnesty International Accuses Israel of War Crimes in Gaza” - http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/20/2469609.htm?section=justin http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/israeloccupied-palestinian-territories-israel039s-use-white-phosphorus-a *Haaretz – “UN Human Rights Official: Gaza Evokes Memories of the Warsaw Ghetto” - http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058196.html *United Nations “Press Release on Presentation to the Human Rights Council” by the Fact Finding Mission to Gaza” - http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm *United Nations “Media Summary of Report” of Fact Finding Mission to Gaza - http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm *Amnesty International: Israeli Military Action is Collective Punishment – http://www.amnesty.org/en/report/info/MDE15/045/2002 *United Nations press release - http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/0/183ED1610B2BCB80C125751A002B06B2?opendocument *Physicians for Human Rights; http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=506&catid=55&pcat=45〈=ENG *Red Cross report “Dignity Denied in the occupied Palestinian territories” - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/13_12_07palestineicrc.pdf and The Palestinian International *BBC - “British MPs Granted Gaza Access” - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7890977.stm *UN resolution 242 - http://www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1967/scres67.htm *United Nations Relief and Works Agency - http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/whois.html *UN resolution 194 - http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/3/ares3.htm Human Rights Watch “Israel's Settlements Are on Shaky Ground” - http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/06/28/israels-settlements-are-shaky-ground *International Committee of the Red Cross - http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/c525816bde96b7fd41256739003e636a/77068f12b8857c4dc12563cd0051bdb0 *International Court of Justice - http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?pr=71&code=mwp&p1=3&p2=4&p3=6&case=131&k=5a *Israeli Committee Against House Demolition - http://www.icahd.org/eng/articles.asp?menu=6&submenu=2&article=402 and http://www.icahd.org/eng/campaigns.asp?menu=4&submenu=2 *Peace Now Report on land theft - http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=61&fld=191&docid=2024 *Universal Declaration of Human Rights - http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html *BT’Selem - http://www.btselem.org/English/Freedom%5Fof%5FMovement/ *Peace Now -http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=3&id=695 *McClatchy newspapers “Just going to work, Palestinians and Israelis travel different roads” - http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/24236.html *BT’Selem - http://www.btselem.org/english/Freedom_of_Movement/Checkpoints_and_Forbidden_Roads.asp *McClatchy newspapers “Just going to work, Palestinians and Israelis travel different roads” - http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/24236.html *Universal Declaration of Human Rights - http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html *ADALAH – The Legal Centre for Minority Rights in Israel - http://www.adalah.org/eng/jnf.php In addition to the Jewish National Fund Law, these include, among others, Absentees' Property Law and the Law of Return (1950); Citizenship Law (1952), World Zionist Organization – Jewish Agency for the Land of Israel (Status) Law (1952),Jewish National Fund Law (1953); Covenant Between the Government of Israel and the Zionist Executive also known as the Executive of the Jewish Agency for the Land of Israel (1954); Basic Law: Israel Lands, Israel Lands Law and the Israel Lands Administration Law (1960), Covenant Between the Government of Israel and the Jewish National Fund (1961), and the 2002 temporary law banning marriage between Israelis and Palestinians of the occupied territories *United Nations Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967 – http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/48e5e2be2.html *ADALAH - “Legal Violations of Arab Minorities in Israel” -http://www.adalah.org/eng/publications/violations.htm *US State Department 2008 Human Rights Report - http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/nea/119117.htm *Haaretz “UN agent: Apartheid regime in territories worse than S. Africa” - http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=468456 *UN Duggard's 29/01/2007 report - http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=91 *BBC “UN envoy hits Israel ‘apartheid”’ - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6390755.stm *Guardian “Occupied Gaza like Apartheid South Africa says UN report - http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2019547,00.html *Democracy Now - http://www.democracynow.org/2006/11/30/palestine_peace_not_apartheid_jimmy_carter *Global BDS Movement- http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52 * http://berkeley.edu/about/hist/activism.shtml * *The research has been conducted over the past year by a group of Berkeley students. A report of the findings is available from skamil@gmail.com * http://www.ucop.edu/treasurer/report/UCTreasurer_AnnualReport_2009.pdf * Amnesty International – ‘Fueling Conflict: Foreign Arms Supplies to Israel/Gaza’ http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/012/2009/en/5be86fc2-994e-4eeb-a6e8-3ddf68c28b31/mde150122009en.html#4.0.4.Aircraft%20and%20Helicopters|outline * Human Rights Watch – ‘Fatal Strikes: Attacks on Civilian Homes’ http://www.hrw.org/en/node/11265/section/5 * New England Conference of the United Methodist Church Divestment Task Force Report and Recommendations - http://www.neumc.org/pages/detail/178 * Amnesty International – ‘Fueling Conflict: Foreign Arms Supplies to Israel/Gaza’ http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/012/2009/en/5be86fc2-994e-4eeb-a6e8-3ddf68c28b31/mde150122009en.html#4.0.4.Aircraft%20and%20Helicopters|outline *New England Conference of the United Methodist Church Divestment Task Force Report and Recommendations - http://www.neumc.org/pages/detail/178 *Israeli Air Force: http://www.iaf.org.il/Templates/Aircraft/Aircraft.IN.aspx?lang=EN&lobbyID=69&folderID=82&docfolderID=211&docID=18321¤tPageNumber=5 http://palestineinformation.org/divestment.htm Committee Text RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF UC DIVESTMENT FROM WAR CRIMES WHEREAS, the ASUC notes the complexity of international relations in all cases, including the Middle East, and recognizes the inability of a body such as the ASUC to adjudicate matters of international law and human rights law, or to take sides on final status issues in the Israel/Palestinian conflict, this bill notes the following findings from the United Nations and leading human rights organizations; and WHEREAS, the United Nations reports that the 2008-2009 Israeli bombing of the occupied Gaza Strip (Operation Cast Lead) targeted civilian infrastructure including schools, mosques, the education and justice ministries, the main university, hundreds of factories, livestock, prisons, courts, and police stations, resulting in the deaths of 1,440 people and the injury of another 5,380 in three weeks -- with nearly half of the casualties women and children -- prompting leading human rights groups like Amnesty International, as well as the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Situations of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories, to accuse Israel of war crimes in the conflict ; and WHEREAS, a subsequent, comprehensive United Nations investigation of Operation Cast Lead, led by esteemed South African judge Richard Goldstone, concluded “Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possible crimes against humanity,” and, furthermore, that “the Gaza military operations were directed by Israel at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population. The destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories and residential houses was the result of a deliberate and systematic policy to make the daily process of living, and dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population. Israeli forces also humiliated, dehumanized and carried out an assault on the dignity of the people in Gaza, through the use of human shields, unlawful detentions, unacceptable conditions of detention, the vandalizing of houses, the treatment of people when their houses were entered, graffiti on the walls, obscenities and racist slogans. The Israeli operations were carefully planned in all their phases as a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability;” and SB 118, In Support of UC Divestment from War Crimes (cont'd) - 48 - RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF UC DIVESTMENT FROM WAR CRIMES (cont'd) WHEREAS, prior and subsequent to the bombing Israel has engaged in willful collective punishment of the whole of the Palestinian population, in the view of the human rights community, as exemplified by the ongoing 32-month blockade on Gaza, of which Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has written, “the prolonged siege imposed by the Israeli government 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,” 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; and WHEREAS, 2010 marks the 43rd year since passage of United Nations Security Council resolution 242 which calls for the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories occupied” in the 1967 war; and WHEREAS, the United Nations recognizes a population of more than 4 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants, made homeless by the 1967 war and previous conflicts, who to this day live without normal citizenship status , their rights as refugees under United Nations General Assembly resolution 194 unrecognized ; and WHEREAS, within the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Israel continues a policy of settlement expansion that, in the judgment of the United Nations Security Council, Human Rights Watch, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and numerous other institutions concerned with enforcement of international law, constitutes a direct violation of Article 49, paragraph 6 of the 4th Geneva Convention which declares “an occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into territories it occupies.” ; and WHEREAS, Israel continues to build an eight-meter high wall on occupied Palestinian land inside the West Bank, contravening the July 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice (the highest legal body in the world, whose statutes all UN members are party to) and causing the forcible separation of Palestinian communities from one another, from their lands and from sources of work, health and education, and the further annexation of Palestinian land. ; and SB 118, In Support of UC Divestment from War Crimes (cont'd) - 49 - RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF UC DIVESTMENT FROM WAR CRIMES (cont'd) WHEREAS, since 1967 Israel has demolished over 18,000 Palestinian family homes, leaving some 70,000 Palestinian civilians traumatized and without shelter or compensation, and flouting Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.” ; and WHEREAS, hundreds of kilometers of Jewish-settler-only roads, on which Palestinians under occupation are largely not permitted to drive, carve up the West Bank. ; and WHEREAS, hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints and roadblocks designed to corral the Palestinian Arab population pockmark the occupied West Bank, causing significant damage to Palestinian commerce and access to medical care and education and violating the letter and spirit of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states “everyone has the right to freedom of movement.” ; and WHEREAS, in July 2007 the Israeli Knesset in a 64-16 vote, put forward the Jewish National Fund Law which endorses the allocation of Jewish National Fund land (compromising 13% of Israel, much of it confiscated from Palestinian Arab inhabitants) exclusively to Jewish residents of Israel, legally excluding Palestinian citizens of Israel, who compose approximately 20% of the population. ; and WHEREAS, the current United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories notes that Israeli law openly discriminates on the basis of religion, race, and nationality, with different laws regarding citizenship, housing, land ownership, and marriage applying depending on whether someone is classified in law as “Jewish” or “non-Jewish,” and the US State Department's 2008 Human Right Report reports “institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against Arabs” persists inside Israel ; and WHEREAS, then-UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, South African law professor John Dugard, in a 2007 UN report concluded that “there is an apartheid regime” in the occupied Palestinian territories “worse than the one that existed in South Africa” and that “it is difficult to resist the conclusion that many of Israel's laws and SB 118, In Support of UC Divestment from War Crimes (cont'd) - 50 - RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF UC DIVESTMENT FROM WAR CRIMES (cont'd) practices violate the 1966 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. House demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are carried out in a manner that discriminates against Palestinians. Throughout the West Bank, and particularly in Hebron, settlers are given preferential treatment over Palestinians in terms of movement (major roads are reserved exclusively for settlers), building rights and army protection; and laws governing family re-unification unashamedly discriminate against Palestinians." ; and WHEREAS, in 2005 more than 171 leading Palestinian civil society institutions, trade unions, organizations and professional associations, representing a broad cross-section of Palestinian society, called on internationals to work more actively to support Palestinian rights and specifically that those outside Palestine “implement divestment initiatives against Israel” and disinvestment from Israel by international academic institutions.” ; and WHEREAS, UC Berkeley has a celebrated history of student activism and university engagement with national and international social justice movements, including a leading role in the international divestment campaign targeting apartheid South Africa ; and WHEREAS, our student body is motivated by concerns for human rights, respect for international law, and the fundamental principle of equality; and WHEREAS, student research has revealed that, according to the most recent UC investment report , within the UC Retirement Program fund and the General Endowment Program fund there exist direct investments in American companies materially and militarily supporting Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, including American companies General Electric and United Technologies; and WHEREAS, General Electric holds engineering support and testing service contracts with the Israeli military and supplies Israel with the propulsion system for its Apache Assault Helicopter fleet, which, as documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, has been used in attacks on Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, including the January 4, 2009 killings of Palestinian medical aid workers ; and WHEREAS, United Technologies supplies Israel with Blackhawk helicopters and with F-15 and F-16 aircraft engines and holds an ongoing fleet management contract for these engines, and, Amnesty International has documented Israel’s use of these aircraft in the bombing of the SB 118, In Support of UC Divestment from War Crimes (cont'd) - 51 - RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF UC DIVESTMENT FROM WAR CRIMES (cont'd) American School in Gaza, the killing of Palestinians civilians, and the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian homes; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the ASUC will ensure that its assets do not include holdings in General Electric and United Technologies because of their military support of the occupation of the Palestinian territories. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that just as the ASUC condemns Israel’s war crimes, it condemns the rocket attacks on civilians by Hamas -- also recognized as war crimes by the Goldstone report -- while noting the key distinction that the University already does not and may not under US law hold investments which directly support the Palestinian militant group, while it does hold investments in companies materially and militarily supporting Israel’s war crimes. BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this ASUC Resolution not be interpreted as the taking of sides in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, but instead as a principled expression of support for universal human rights and equality, and that it is an expression of opposition to Israeli state policies of occupation, racial discrimination, people. Final Text ASUC Presidential Veto II, dated March 24th, 2010 Preamble to Presidential Veto of Senate Bill 118a, entitled “A Bill to In Support of UC DIVESTMENT FROM WAR CRIMES,” a bill enacted in a meeting of the ASUC Senate on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010. Whereas, It is the role of the ASUC to maintain the overall health and well being of our entire student body and campus community, and to balance all voices, perspectives, and views in the most fair, honest, ethical, and comprehensive way possible; and Whereas, When issues of grave consequence that have significant ramifications for diverse members of our campus community and the world at large are being considered, there is no substitute for continued dialogue and open, thorough, and intense debate and deliberation; and Whereas, As UC Berkeley students, we have a longstanding tradition of examining critical issues of our time thoroughly and honestly, appreciating the complexity and nuances of world affairs, along with a responsibility to place our discussions in a clear and accurate contextual and historical framework; and Whereas, The goal of achieving responsible investment standards that rightfully insure that ASUC and University of California funds do not go to support weapons, war crimes, violations of human rights, and other similar materials and practices is undeniably noble and good, and the ASUC should continue to strive to achieve those standards in the most positive and effective way possible; and Whereas, The mission of the ASUC and fundamental purpose of this bill should be to strive for peace, discourse, reconciliation, and responsible investment, and to achieve this, the ASUC must subsequently provide further context, understanding, and discussion; and Whereas, The bill, as it currently stands, calls for divestment specifically from two companies materially supporting the Israeli government and the occupation of Palestinian territories; and Whereas, While individuals and organizations have researched and developed various divestment strategies in the past , the ASUC Senate considered this bill for the first time on March 17th, 2010, and it should be noted that truly effective and meaningful divestment strategies of this magnitude are not built, considered, and voted upon in only one week’s time; and Whereas, Significant policy decisions made in haste fail to allow adequate time for thorough analysis of complex issues and an understanding of the ramifications of the actions being considered; and Whereas, The act of singling out Israel, a sovereign nation involved in an incredibly complex, intense, and historic conflict over land and borders, without providing adequate context, creates an array of questions and issues that compel the ASUC Senate to thoroughly examine and reconsider features of the bill: 1) Major divestment strategies deserve substantial scrutiny and deliberation, for example the consideration of testimony or evidence regarding: (a) the likely or probable impact of mandatory divestment on existing or future ASUC or UC Finances; (b) the likely or probable effect on the safety or security of human beings in Palestine and Israel; and (c) the overall effectiveness of a blanket divestment policy in achieving the aims of peace and security for any human being or group of people 2) Given that some ASUC Senators and others have compared the Israel/Palestine conflict with that of South African apartheid in the 1980s, it should be noted that a) the analogy itself is highly contested, and b) the divestment strategies employed against the apartheid government were not introduced and agreed upon after mere hours of discussion, but involved lengthy and serious deliberation and analysis 3) To achieve and maintain campus unity and peace, the perception of the bill as a symbolic attack on a specific community of our fellow students and/or fears of the bill being used as a tool to delegitimize the state of Israel cannot be understated; and Whereas, While the ASUC as a body has stated convincingly that it does not want ASUC and UC dollars going to fund weapons, war crimes, or human rights violations, this veto has to do with the mechanism by which the ASUC achieves its mission of building peace and goodwill in a way that avoids the shortcomings of the bill (a selective, one-sided focus on a specific country that lacks important historical context and understanding); and Whereas, This veto does not condone, approve of, or deny specific actions taken by any party involved in the Israel/Palestine conflict, and its intended purpose is to communicate the idea that a dichotomous framework only fosters misunderstanding instead of providing a pathway to peaceful progress; and Whereas, For the purposes of exploring potential options for responsible investment, the ASUC should reject calls for immediate divestment from specific countries or regions, and instead, should initially establish broad resolutions for ethical investment, and create a task force for responsible investing in line with the ASUC’s values; and Whereas, We must insure that any decisions made by the ASUC are fair to all people concerned and all sides of an issue, and do not discriminate unfairly against anyone; and Whereas, It is the overarching ethical and moral obligation of the ASUC student government to maintain a positive campus climate that seeks to promote peace, harmony, honesty, and academic freedom above all else; Therefore, Pursuant to Article II, Section 2, Paragraph B of the Constitution of the ASUC, It is hereby ordered that: Senate Bill 118a, a bill enacted in a meeting of the ASUC Senate on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010, and entitled “A Bill to In Support of UC DIVESTMENT FROM WAR CRIMES,” is hereby vetoed effective as of this 24th Day of March, 2010. Respectfully Submitted and Ordered: DATED: March 24, 2010 BY: Will Smelko, President, Associated Students of the University of California 2009-2010