Land Day: A Call for Divestment from Israel

Final Call ^ | 3-30-06 | Fayyad Sbaihat

[SJackson]

Land Day: A Call for Divestment from Israel By Fayyad Sbaihat -Guest Columnist- Updated Mar 28, 2006, 05:46 pm

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March 30, 2006 is the Palestinian Solidarity Movement's national day of divestment action

• Israeli Apartheid - Time for the South African Treatment (Info Clearing House 02-02-2006)

Fayyad Sbaihat

On March 30^th, 1976, Palestinians in the occupied Galilee rose up against the Israeli military in defense of their lands that were being expropriated and cleansed from their native Palestinian population. The army was confiscating land as part of a plan set forth by one of its generals known as the "Allon Plan." It called for the evacuation of Palestinians from their lands and towns, replacing them with Israeli, Jewish-only colonies, and driving the Palestinian populating into three, densely populated areas, besieged by the Israeli army, similar to Bantustans or Indian Reservations. On that day, the Israeli army murdered six Palestinians as they protested the theft of their land. Ever since 1976, March 30^th became Land Day, or "Youm Al-Ard" in Arabic.

This year, thirty years on, with the situation of the Palestinians only worsened due to the brutality of the Israeli occupiers, and the ignorance of the international community, the Palestine Solidarity Movement declared March 30^th as the national day of Divestment action in solidarity with Palestine.

The campaign to divest from Israel is modeled after the successful divestment campaign against apartheid South Africa, and calls for institutions such as universities, churches, and unions to withdraw their investments from companies that do business with or in Israel, in effect supporting its apartheid policies and practices.

Decades of state-led diplomacy to end the conflict have proven to be futile; in reality, the peace process has been little more than window-dressing. The successive resolution proposals led by the United Nations, United States and the European Union failed to recognize the root cause of the conflict, the racism on which Zionism is based. The political elite monopoly over the supposed peace process preempted the grassroots participation in it, neither by Palestinians and Israelis, nor concerned parties around the world. It also allowed special interest groups and powerful Washington, pro-Israel lobbies and think tanks to dictate the course of such initiatives and proposals.

Divestment is potentially the most effective non-violent tactic that would prepare the atmosphere for peaceful resolution, where the outcome is not dictated by military might. It calls for institutions, starting with universities, to sell off their stocks in companies that provide the Israeli army with weaponry that are used to kill innocent civilians and violate the basic livelihood of the others.

Caterpillar is one example of companies targeted in the divestment campaign for its Israeli military contracts. Caterpillar, primarily an agricultural and mining equipment manufacturer, provides the Israeli army with a bulldozer known as D-9. This massive, two-story high machine is designed for military specifications to operate in densely civilian-populated areas. It has been used to demolish thousands of Palestinian homes, including much of the Jenin refugee camp in 2002, making thousands homeless, and burying many under the ruins of their homes. Other Caterpillar equipment is used to build Israel’s apartheid wall on Palestinian land, seizing much of the land, and uprooting thousands of olive trees. Other companies include Lockheed Martine, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Motorola, United Technologies and many others.

Today, Palestinians suffer under harsh and brutal conditions, many are besieged by Israel’s apartheid wall in the west bank, or electrified fence in Gaza, their food supplies are long gone, and living on occasional shipments allowed in by the Israeli army, they suffer under cruel racism, unemployment, catastrophic public health conditions, devastated infrastructure, and destroyed educational system. Yet, they find the courage and persistence to resist, preserve their identity and culture, and fight for their rights.

But we have a role to play, too.

In the late ’70s and early ’80s, students were the backbone of the anti-apartheid divestment movement across the United States that helped bring an end to the apartheid regime of South Africa. Similarly, students across the U.S. are rising to lift the injustices off of yet another oppressed nation. Heeding calls from the likes of anti-apartheid icon, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who connected the South African and Palestinian experiences: "If I were to change the names, a description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank could describe events in South Africa."

Students on all campuses across the country are urged to start a divestment from Israel campaign on their campus or join one of the many existing campaigns to raise awareness about the plight of the Palestinian populating and the level to which the violation of their human rights are subsidized by US tax-payers money and aided by American corporations.

And the work is not limited to universities.

An increasing number of diverse, civil society organizations and institutions are recognizing the need for divestment as the only promising strategy to end the misery of both peoples. In 2004, the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) resolved to begin a process of phased divestment in companies doing business with Israel. The 115-nation Non-Alignment Movement, the largest political body outside the United Nations, decided to call on its member nations to impose sanctions on companies contributing to Israel’s construction of the apartheid wall. Most recently, the Anglican Church of England resolved to divest from Israel. Many other institutions, NGOs, unions, and academic bodies have taken similar measures.

Now is the time that you take charge and stand for what is right. Divestment is your peaceful way to put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people. The need for public, grassroots action has never been so stringent.

Fayyad Sbaihat is a member of the Divestment Support Committee (http://divestmentsupport.org), and author of "Fighting the New Apartheid: A Guide to Campus Divestment from Israel." He can be reached at frsbaihat@yahoo.com

For More information on March 30^th, see www.palestinesolidaritymovement.org

[SJackson]

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Sad to see the Nation of Islam disinvesting in Israel.

[GSlob]

Why "sad"? Why would one want their investment to begin with, unless in absolutely desperate straits? The proper reaction ought to be "good riddance!"

[SJackson]

Sarcasm, the NOI has nothing to disinvest. Which doesn't prevent them from complaining.

[Alouette]

occupied Galilee

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