Joint Harvard-MIT Petition for Divestment from Israel
harvardmitdivest.org
"We, the undersigned are appalled by the human rights abuses against Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government, the continual military occupation and
colonization of Palestinian territory by Israeli armed forces and settlers, and the forcible eviction from and demolition of Palestinian homes, towns and cities. We
find the recent attacks on Israeli citizens unacceptable and abhorrent. But these should not and do not negate the human rights of the Palestinians.
As members of the MIT and Harvard University communities, we believe that our universities ought to use their influence - political and financial - to encourage the
United States government and the government of Israel to respect the human rights of the Palestinians. We therefore call on the US government to make military aid
and arms sales to Israel conditional on immediate initiation and rapid progress in implementing the conditions listed below. We also call on MIT and Harvard to
divest from Israel, and from US companies that sell arms to Israel, until these conditions are met:
Israel is in compliance with United Nations Resolution 242 which notes the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war, and which calls for
withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from occupied territories.
Israel is in compliance with the United Nations Committee Against Torture 2001 Report which recommends that Israel's use of legal torture be
ended.
In compliance with the Fourth Geneva Convention ("The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into
territories it occupies"; Article 49, paragraph 6), Israel ceases building new settlements, and vacates existing settlements, in the Occupied Territories.
Israel acknowledges in principle the applicability of United Nations Resolution 194 with respect to the rights of refugees, and accepts that refugees
should either be allowed to return to their former lands or else be compensated for their losses, as agreed by the Palestinians and Israelis in bilateral
negotiations."
Shmuel, if I am on the wrong side of things, the company I keep is growing larger and louder. Isra-El is not threatened, it can defend itself by a large measure. What it cannot do it defend itself from charges of unethical and immoral behavior as it applies to the settlements, the occupation, and the treatment of the Palestinians on a number of levels.
Isra_el cannot cry wolf forever. |
