<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Divestment: a strategy to end the Israeli occupation in&nbsp;Palestine]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="published">by Gilad Isaacs and Glen Pine| Published April 13, 2011 | NYU News</p>
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<p>WSN&#8217;s recent <a href="http://admin.nyunews.com/news/2011/04/06/06protest/">coverage</a> of NYU Students for Justice in Palestine&#8217;s rally and mock wall  (&#8220;Students for Justice in Palestine rally for divestment from Israel,&#8221;  on April 6, 2011) raises some interesting questions.</p>
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<p>The NYU SJP divestment campaign has received an overwhelmingly  positive response. In last week&#8217;s two afternoons of tabling, SJP  collected over 200 signatures for a general public petition. Before the  campaign even went public, over 70 faculty members had signed an open  letter to Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association — College  Retirement Equities Fund CEO and president, Roger W. Ferguson, arguably  among the most political acts by NYU faculty in recent years.</p>
<p>Throughout  the week students appeared from nowhere who wanted to join NYU SJP and  become active, and additional faculty and staff contacted SJP daily  asking to join the campaign. All this has taken place on a campus not  known for its activism and with an allegedly strong anti-Palestinian  presence.</p>
<p>How, then, is this campaign generating such a positive response?</p>
<p>We think the answer to this question is threefold.</p>
<p>First,  the issues could not be more unambiguous. Pension giant TIAA-CREF, the  United States&#8217; 86th largest corporation, has hundreds of millions of  dollars invested in predominately U.S. corporations that actively  facilitate, profit from and perpetuate the illegal and morally  unjustifiable occupation of the Palestinian territories.</p>
<p>Caterpillar&#8217;s  bulldozers illegally demolish homes and uproot olive trees; Elbit  System&#8217;s drones bomb and kill innocent civilians; Motorola&#8217;s equipment  is used on the illegal Separation Wall and at illegal checkpoints and  illegal settlements in East Jerusalem and deep within the West Bank;  Veolia invests in Jewish-only transportation; and Northrop Grumman&#8217;s  weapons systems kill Palestinian civilians.</p>
<p>The occupation,  settlements, checkpoints and Separation Wall are all illegal under  international law. The products of these companies are therefore being  used to perpetuate crimes. The companies mentioned above both provide  the tools that make the occupation possible and profit from it. It is  precisely to these companies that TIAA-CREF, one of two pension funds  available to NYU faculty and staff, is funneling NYU employees&#8217;  earnings.</p>
<p>NYU SJP, together with many other national  organizations, is calling on TIAA-CREF to divest funds from these  corporations and others like them.</p>
<p>One of the reasons, therefore,  that the campaign is gaining such widespread support is because few  would argue that the money of NYU faculty and staff should be invested  in criminal behavior. Few people, for example, want their retirement  savings to help produce bombs that kill children or support surveillance  that denies the right of freedom of movement.</p>
<p>The second reason is that supporters of Palestinians&#8217; rights — that is, supporters of equal rights for all — are fed up.</p>
<p>The  so-called &#8220;peace process&#8221; has, by design, gone nowhere for many years,  and the Obama administration has been unwilling to apply meaningful  pressure on Israel.</p>
<p>The release of the Palestine Papers confirmed  that Israel has consistently rejected Palestinian peace offers, likely  because it is able to occupy Palestinian land and exploit Palestinian  resources at minimal political cost to itself — thanks largely to  unwavering U.S. support.</p>
<p>What are supporters of Palestinian  rights to do? Wait patiently for the Israeli state to end its  occupation, now in its 44th year? Of course not.</p>
<p>This brings us  to the third reason for the initial success of SJP&#8217;s campaign: the  strategy of divestment. Divestment is a non-violent, peaceful tactic  aimed at bringing about the end of the occupation and the full  realization of civil, political and socioeconomic rights for all who  live in the region.</p>
<p>It aims to raise the cost of doing business with the occupation.</p>
<p>It  is targeted, in this case, at predominately U.S. corporations whose  products make the occupation possible. Withdrawing this material support  challenges Israel&#8217;s ability to violate international law and thereby  oppress millions of Palestinians.</p>
<p>The power of the NYU SJP  campaign is in part due to its broad appeal; not every signatory needs  to share the same politics. All it requires is a commitment to basic  human rights and dignity — in this case, a commitment to withdrawing  material support, as best we can, from an ongoing illegal and unjust  occupation. For most of us at NYU, it is simple choice.</p>
<p class="articlefooter">A version of this article appeared in the  Wednesday, April 13 print edition. Gilad Isaacs is a graduate student in  the politics department of the GSAS.  Glen Pine is a PhD student in the  sociology department of the GSAS. Email them at opinion@nyunews.com.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.nyunews.com/opinion/2011/04/13/13letter/">Source</a></p>
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