Thursday, March 18, 2010

Omar Barghouti: UC Berkeley Student Senate's vote for Israel divestment a "watershed"

"In a landslide, 16-4 vote, the University of California Student Senate passed the attached BDS motion endorsing divestment from companies profiting from Israel's occupation and violation of Palestinian rights. Also attached is the official press release of the sponsors of the bill.

Hampshire College, of course, was the first to divest from companies colluding in Israel's occupation, but this student senate vote at a university of the prominence of Berkeley may well be the watershed, the crossing of the threshold in the spread of BDS across the US that many of us have been waiting to see. This will be a significant step towards a UC-wide actual divestment from Israeli occupation and apartheid. The South Africa spirit is in the air ..."
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This is the University where As'ad Abu Khalil teaches.

10 comments:

  1. Remarkable.

    I figured out how to win arguements on blogs with Likudniks. Ask them if they serve American interests or not.

    If they serve American interests, if they care about America's welfare, they should treat the Palestinians right [which involves many things.]

    It really drives them nuts. Now I am being accused of questioning their patriotism.

    I am getting vague arguements that America won't be secure long run by throwing old friends under the bus.

    TGIA, you might have a post on this. This is how to win an arguement with a likudnic.

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  2. This is an interesting arguement from an Israeli:

    Yeah, we kind of know we messed up and that we should let the Arabs come back home to live amongst us, and pay them compensation.

    But is it safe for us to do this?

    What is the best response to this question?

    My answer is that Barghouti is representative of most Palestinians. He and people like him are safe to bring back to Israel to live alongside you as neighbors.

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  3. <span>My reply is simple..A thief and a criminal is right in feeling unsafe.. but it's not up to the robbed and abused to provide him safety.. Israel has committed an atrocious crime and a cruel injustice by evicting and expelling 850,000 Palestinians from their homes (and to this day is occupying and stealing Palestinian land). This made an overwhelming number of people angry..If you don't want them to be a threat , real or imagined, give back what's due to them....Why should your safety supercedes justice and reparation..</span>
    If after justice has been carried in one form or another and peace is concluded then there's no reason or few reasons to worry about security .If you still do then there's something seriously wrong in his psychological make-up..

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  4. What you are talking about happened in 1948 (inside Israel proper, which is what this discussion is about.)

    Most Israelis were born after 1948 and are not responsible for what happened in 1948. Under international law, they deserve safety too; for this the Israeli and Palestinian authorities are both responsible.

    TGIA, law and morality are different things. Under international law, Israelis are entitled to safety and security.

    If Israelis civilians die, the entire world will condemn it; and if Palestinians are not percieved to have done all in their power to stop it; most of the world will blame the Palestinians; including the large majority of nonmuslims and a majority of muslims.

    The coalition for helping Palestinians is founded on helping Palestinians, not facilitating harm to Israelis.

    In any case, TGIA, do you know any country in the world that would support Palestine if they thought it might kill Israeli civilians?

    I think a better response to the question would be to say that Israelis and Palestinians should live side by side in peace inside Israel proper (right of return for Palestinians to their homes.) This is the answer Barghouti, Fayyed, and most Palestinians leaders would give. Even some Hamas leaders would likely give an answer like this.

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  5. <span>Most Israelis were born after 1948 and are not responsible for what happened in 1948.</span>
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    Never mind anan..Forget about it..Go back to sleep..

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  6. Israel's Binyamin Netanyahu in climbdown over US demands for peace

    • Prime minister agrees to postpone building plans
    • Some concessions made in private, say diplomats


    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/19/israel-us-binyamin-netanyahu-palestine

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  7. As'ad "<span>is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus and visiting professor at UC, Berkeley."</span>

    I wonder how often he teaches at Berkeley. Hopefully he's not "teaching" about Iraq anywhere except his blog. 

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  8. Mojo, what As'ad has read so much about Iraq and has almost nothing to show for it.

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  9. <span>anan thanks for trying to "advocate" for the Palestinian cause on Totten's but could you please refrain from doing it?  You're more like a liability than an asset in my opinion. Please stop.
    </span>

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  10. <span><span>I figured out how to win arguements on blogs</span> 
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    Winning arguments on blogs??!! Is this a game you think you're playing? 
    </span>

    ReplyDelete