The Student Government of CSU East Bay Endorses a Resolution Calling for Divestment from Corporations Complicit in the Illegal Military Occupation of Palestine
For immediate release
Hawyard, May 23, 2018: Associated Students, Incorporated (ASI) Board of Directors of California State University, East Bay voted unanimously in favor of a resolution in support of divestment from corporations that profit from the occupation of Palestine.
The resolution, which was authored and introduced by a coalition of diverse student organizations and individuals at CSU East Bay, spearheaded by the Muslim Student Association, calls upon the university’s trustees to review their investments and divest from any companies found to be complicit in the violation of international law. Some corporations were specifically mentioned, such as Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, G4S, and Motorola Solutions, for being directly involved in allowing the Israeli government to maintain and enforce the occupation and construct Jewish-only settlements, walls and barriers, and checkpoints.
Under international law, Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories, which include the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, is illegal and inhumane. The occupation restricts the movement and freedom of Palestinians in these territories, and monitors and controls Palestinian lives and livelihoods as well as removing them from the lands they live on through the use of the separation barrier, checkpoints, and Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank which are also considered illegal under international law, as well as a military blockade surrounding the Gaza Strip. The corporations named in the divestment resolution each contribute to and enable the military occupation by providing materials, equipment, and services. The resolution cited the ASI Board of Directors’ mission to effectively and responsibly represent its diverse student population and promote student welfare, as the occupation of Palestinian territory directly affects students of the university, many of whom have family living in the occupied areas and who are affected by its dangerous and inhumane nature.
Calls for divestment from corporations complicit in the illegal occupation have been common across the United States over the past several years, and join other non- violent forms of resistance to the occupation that were called upon by Palestinian civil society in 2005. The vote in favor of the resolution by the ASI Board of Directors today follows other such votes on university campuses across the nation, including other CSU schools San Jose State University and CSU Long Beach, paving the way for a potential future such decision by the trustees of the California State University System.
Contact: csuebdivestment@gmail.com
Full text of resolution is below:
BOD 2017 – 2018 – 12R – Resolution in Support of Divestment from Corporations Complicit in The Occupation of Palestine
WHEREAS, Associated Students, Incorporated (ASI) of California State University, East Bay (CSUEB) is the recognized voice of approximately 16,000 students; and
WHEREAS, it is the mission of the ASI Board of Directors to advocate and provide responsible and effective leadership for a diverse student population and to make improvements to the general welfare of CSUEB students; and
WHEREAS, the students of CSU East Bay, and Associated Students Inc. (ASI) as their representative body, have a rich history of standing up for justice; and
WHEREAS, international humanitarian law recognizes the right of all people, including Palestinians, to life, security[1] and political and economic self-determination[2]; and
WHEREAS, Israel has been recognized by international law since 1967 as an occupying power in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza[3], hereafter referred to as the Occupied Palestinian Territories; and
WHEREAS, in July 2004, the International Court of Justice advisory opinion found that “the construction by Israel of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and its associated regime are contrary to international law[4]”; and
WHEREAS, UN General Assembly Resolution 70/89 (2015) condemned Israel’s occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem as a violation of international law and denounced Israel’s separation wall as “unlawful construction”[14]; and
WHEREAS, UN General Assembly Resolution 71/96 (2013) reaffirmed that Palestinian civilians were entitled to the protection of civilians during armed conflict under the Geneva Convention[15]; and
WHEREAS, UN Security Council Resolution 23/34 (2016) condemned the construction of settlements in the occupied territories including East Jerusalem, emphasized that the Council will “not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 conflict lines”[16], and stressed that the “cessation of all Israeli settlement activities is essential for salvaging the two-State solution[5]”; and
WHEREAS, the Israeli government contracts with private entities to implement these policies and actions that contravene international law; and
WHEREAS, Caterpillar is responsible for supplying Israel with D9 bulldozers, which are used by the governing regime to demolish Palestinian homes and violate human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories[6]; and
WHEREAS, Motorola Solutions services “MotoEagle Surveillance System” is used by the governing regime to control Palestinian movement in vast “special security zones” surrounding illegal Israeli settlements[7]; and
WHEREAS, Hewlett Packard owns EDS Israel, a company that provides the Israeli ministry of defense with the Basel system, “an automated biometric access control system” installed in checkpoints in the Occupied West Bank[8]” and
WHEREAS, G4S provides security services to businesses in the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and scanning equipment in various checkpoints throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories[9] and
WHEREAS, CSU East Bay’s investment in these companies shows implicit support for such violations; and
WHEREAS, these investments harm CSU East Bay’s Palestinian students, many of whom have families who currently live under Israeli occupation, or are descendants of Palestinians who have been killed or forcibly relocated as a result Israel’s occupation of Palestine; and
WHEREAS, this resolution is a non-violent call for targeted divestment from multinational corporations causing substantial social injury by violating international humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, regardless of which countries contract said corporations; and
WHEREAS, our peers in many university student associations, including San Jose State University, CSU Long Beach, De Anza Community College, Wesleyan University, Oberlin College, DePaul University, Evergreen State College, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis and Stanford University have passed resolutions calling for divestment from companies that violate international law and human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; therefore be it
RESOLVED, by the Associated Students, Inc. of CSU East Bay, exercising its representative authority on behalf of all students:
THAT the ASI student government calls upon the CSU East Bay trustees to review their investments and to divest from companies that violate international humanitarian law by:
- Maintaining the illegal infrastructure of the Israeli occupation, in particular settlements, and separation wall. This includes companies like Caterpillar[10]
- Facilitating Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians. This includes companies like Hewlett Packard[11]
- Facilitating state repression against Palestinians by Israeli security forces. This includes companies like G4S[12],
THAT the Associated Student Inc. student government shall review and withdraw investments in securities, endowments, mutual funds, and other monetary instruments with holdings in Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, G4S, and all corporations that are similarly complicit in violating these criteria, at such time and in such manner as to be determined by the ASI student government trustees with the goal of maintaining the divestment until they cease these specific practices deemed as unethical by the CSU East Bay Community. The ASI, Student Government calls upon the trustees to prevent future investments in corporations deemed complicit in the violation of Palestinian human rights. The ASI student government calls upon the CSU East Bay trustees and the CSU trustees to also review and withdraw all monetary instruments with holdings in said companies for said time period; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that copies of the resolution be distributed to the Office of the President, the Board of Trustees, the office of the Chancellor and all relevant parties.
[1] http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
[2] http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3aa0.html
[3]https://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/index-of-countries-on-the-security-council-agenda/israel-palestine-and-the-occupied-territories.html رن
[4] https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/3740E39487A5428A85256ECC005E157A
[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/resolutions-occupied-east-jerusalem-171206081326131.html
[6] Human Rights Watch’s “Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip,” cites Caterpillar’s violations; Amnesty International report “Israel and the Occupied Territories: Under the Rubble: House Demolition and Destruction of Land and Property,” citing how Caterpillar bulldozers are used to violate human rights.
[7] https://whoprofits.org/company/motorola-solutions-israel
[8] https://whoprofits.org/sites/default/files/who_profits_aug_2017_hp_update.pdf
[9] https://bdsmovement.net/news/global-security-company-g4s-deepens-ties-israeli-apartheid-boycott-g4s
[10] In violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
[11] In violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
[12]In violation of the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
14 https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/150775E9447FA91185257F2A00601C67
15 https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/B3A3A23DA22587518525809E005B2BFD
[16] http://undocs.org/S/RES/2334(2016)