What Can We as UCLA Students Do?Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLANovember 5, 2013

University investments in human rights violations

The University of California currently invests funds (including stu-dent tuition) in companies that enable and profit from violations ofPalestinian human rights. Some of these companies include Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, Cement Roadstones Holdings, and Cater-pillar.

Hewlett-Packard

HP has supported restricting the freedom of movement of the Pales-tinian peoples within the West Bank by providing biometric identifi-cation systems used in the Israeli military checkpoints.

General Electric

GE manufactures and supplies engines for A64 Apache Helicopters,systematically used by the Israeli military; in attacks on Palestiniancivilians which constitute severe human rights violations and warcrimes

Cement Roadstones Holdings

Cement Roadstones Holding (CRH) has also contributed to the con-struction of military checkpoints, the wall, and the settlement enter-prise by providing cement and other building material.

Caterpillar

Caterpillar sells Israel armored D-9 bulldozers which are used to de-molish Palestinian homes and olive trees in the West Bank and Gaza,and to plow land for the construction of the wall and settlements. 1

1 You can visit www.whoprofits.orgto find out more about all of thesecompanies. Who Profits is an Israeliresearch project documenting corporatesupport for the occupation.

Do we want our university to invest in companies that profit fromviolations of human rights?

We have the power to change our university’s investment behaviorand stop putting our tuition funds into these companies. This willsend a strong moral message as well as produce a small financialpenalty for corporate behavior that we do not approve of. This, we

what can we as ucla students do? 2

hope, will increase the incentives for companies to stop providingIsrael with the tools it needs to violate Palestinian rights, and mighthasten the pressure to end those violations.

There is a long history of students using university investmentsas a means of pressure for social justice. In the 1980s, UCLA wasamong the first universities to pass a divestment bill, pressuring theuniversity to end its investments in companies that supported theapartheid2 government in South Africa. We can do this again, and 2 The government in South Africa had

set up a two-tiered system of rights forwhite and blacks that is similar in manyways to the system that Palestinians liveunder.

students at other universities have already started. In 2010, studentsat UC Berkeley passed a divestment bill that was vetoed by the stu-dent body president. But in 2012, students at UC Irvine passed adivestment bill by a margin of 16-0 in their student government.3 3 See www.irvinedivest.org for the bill

and more information.It is time for our university to join the growing consensus aroundPalestinian rights by taking similar actions.

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) is a set of tactics that canbe used to put non-violent pressure on the Israeli government, cor-porations, and institutions to change their behavior.4 In 2005, Pales- 4 BDS is not targetted at individuals.

tinian civil society issued a call for its international supporters toengage in these efforts. The movement is centered around gainingrights rather than determining a political solution (1 state or 2, etc).Those rights are:

1. The right not to live under occupation in the West Bank and GazaStrip

2. The right to full equality for Palestinian Citizens of Israel

3. The right of Palestinian refugees (under International law) toreturn to the communities that they were ethnically cleansed fromin 1948

5

5 You can find the full text of the Pales-tinian call at www.bdsmovement.netand www.pacbi.org.

How does one participate in the BDS Movement?

Boycott campaigns focus on companies like Ahava and SodaStream,which locate their factories on stolen land in the West Bank and stealPalestinian resources to make their products. Divestment campaignsinclude university resolutions and pressure on other investmentinstitutions to cease putting funds into occupation-related venues.Sanctions are applied by governments as punishment for the ongoingfailure to abide by international law.

Gaza StripStudents for Justice in Palestine at UCLANovember 5, 2013

Siege and Blockade

The Gaza Strip is located on the southern coast of Israel, and is hometo 1.5 million Palestinians. Since the early 1990s, Israel has restrictedpassage to and from Gaza, but in 2006, following Hamas’ victoryin Palestinian elections, Israel tightened its restrictions severely andimposed a total naval blockade on the tiny coastal enclave. Israelcontinues to maintain control over Gaza’s borders and airspace.

Israel’s siege and naval blockade of Gaza are acts of collective pun-ishment, which is illegal under international law, and is consideredas such by the United Nations and human rights organizations suchas Amnesty International. A 2009 Amnesty International report fol-lowing Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s devastating military assault onGaza in the winter of 2008-9, stated:

‘The prolonged blockade of Gaza, which had already been in placefor some 18 months before the current fighting began, amounts tocollective punishment of its entire population. The Fourth GenevaConvention specifically prohibits collective punishment. Its Article 33provides: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he orshe has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise allmeasures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”’1 1 See the Amnesty report entitled,

“The Conflict in Gaza: A Briefing onApplicable Law, Investigations andAccountability.”

Israeli officials have admitted that the siege is not motivated pri-marily by security concerns, but is part of a strategy of "economicwarfare" against the people of Gaza. In 2006, senior advisor to then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Dov Weisglass, said the goal of theGaza siege was to put the 1.6 million people of Gaza “on a diet, butnot to make them die of hunger.”2 2 See Weisglass’s comments in The

Guardian’s article, “Gaza on brink ofimplosion as aid cut-off starts to bite.”

Economic Strangulation

Export of Palestinian goods, the import of raw materials and accessto Gaza’s natural resources have been severely restricted, devastatingGazan businesses and the ability of the region to be self-sufficient,thereby rendering it dependent on international aid. Economic out-put has fallen sharply, imports and exports are restricted, and as aresult unemployment has skyrocketed as Gazans are unable to sellgoods on a world market or import needed supplies.

gaza strip 2

Humanitarian Crisis

As a result of the blockade and economic strangulation of Gaza:

• 38 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and 54percent of households face food insecurity

• Gaza’s hospitals are at "zero stock levels" for 178 of 480 essentialmedications, with another 69 at low stock. Of 700 essential medicalsupplies, 190 are at "zero stock levels" and another 70 at low stock.

• Due to lack of fuel, the Gaza Power Plant runs at 45 percent capac-ity, leading to daily blackouts of eight to twelve hours.

• 95 percent of water sources are unfit for drinking. Water-bornediseases cause 26 percent of illnesses in Gaza. 3 3 See the IMEU’s factsheet on Gaza for

detailed citations on the economic andhumanitarian impacts of the blockade:http://imeu.net/news/article0019136.shtmlOperations Cast Lead and Pillar of Cloud

Cast Lead

On December 27, 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, a mas-sive, 22-day military assault on the Gaza Strip. The ferocity of theattack was unprecedented in the more than six-decade-old conflictbetween Israelis and Palestinians, killing some 1,400 Palestinians,most of them civilians.

In the aftermath of the offensive, a UN-appointed fact findingmission found strong evidence of war crimes and crimes againsthumanity committed by both the Israeli military and Palestinianmilitias.4 Investigations by human rights groups such as Amnesty In- 4 See the Goldstone Report at the UN

Office of the High Commissioner forHuman Rights website.

ternational5 and Human Rights Watch6 came to the same conclusion.5 Find Amnesty’s report entitled “Oper-ation "Cast Lead": 22 Days of Death andDestruction.”6 See HRW’s findings in its 2010 Coun-try report for Israel/Occupied Pales-tinian Territory.

Some examples of possible war crimes include destruction of civilianinfrastructure, use of banned weapons on civilian populaitons, failureto distinguish between military and civilian targets, killing civilianswho were waving white flags, and knowingly targetting civilians.

Pillar of Cloud

In November of 2012, Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas, returningthe area to its largest conflict since Operation Cast Lead. By the endof the operation, 160 Palestinians had died, 105 of whom were civil-ians, and 30 of whom were children. 971 Palestinians were wounded.6 Israelis (4 civilian) were killed during the fighting.7 Israel has re- 7 See the Palestinian Center for Human

Rights - Gaza for more information.peatedly violated the November 21 ceasefire that ended ths conflict,killing and injuring several Gazans. Human Rights Watch again ac-cused Israel of committing possible war crimes through the knowingtargetting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.8 8 See the HRW article: “Israel/Gaza:

Israeli Airstrike on Home Unlawful”

US Aid to Israel

Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA

November 5, 2013

Military and Political Aid

Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. aid since World WarII. Since 1985, it has received an average of $3 billion in grants annu-ally, about two-thirds of it for military aid. In recent years, a planto reduce Israel’s economic dependence on foreign aid has led togradual reductions in the proportion of economic to military aid.In 2005, for example, military grants amounted to $2.63 billion, andeconomic aid to $360 million.1 1 The Congressional Research

Service publishes reports on as-sistance to Israel. See one here:http://www.adc.org/IB85066.pdf

Unlike any other U.S. aid recipient, Israel receives all of its aidin the first thirty days of the fiscal year, instead of quarterly install-ments. And unlike any other recipient of U.S. aid, Israel is not re-quired to account for its expenditures. Israel, thus, is free to spendU.S. aid as it sees fit, including in ways that contradict U.S. policies -as in the building of settlements in the Occupied Territories.

The U.S. Department of State regularly reports serious humanrights abuses committed by Israeli troops in the Occupied Territo-ries, implicating such U.S. domestic legislation as the Arms ExportControl Act, which bars arms transfers to human rights abusers. Yetneither Congress nor the President have ever taken serious steps toensure that U.S. arms are employed by Israel in a manner consistentwith U.S. law.

Beyond this military and economic aid, Israel has also receivedsupport for special military research and development projects (suchas $625 million to develop the Arrow missile), and for other specialneeds. Israeli officials have announced that they will seek $2.2 billionfrom the U.S. to support the redeployment of its army outside of theGaza Strip, part of its "Gaza Disengagement Plan".

In addition to the above aid, the U.S. government has provided Is-rael with over $9 billion in loan guarantees since 1992. These guaran-tees are worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel as they allowthe Israeli government to borrow money from commercial lendersat more favorable rates and terms. In addition to this financial andmilitary aid, Israel has also bene- fitted from political protection atbodies such as the United Nations. Since 1972, the United States hasissued 40 vetoes that protected Israel’s violations of Palestinian rightsfrom scrutiny and accountability.2 2 See Jadaliyya’s report, “A Quick

Listing of The United States’ Record ofVeto Use at the United Nations (UN):1972–2011”

A Timeline of Censorship at the UC

Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA

November 5, 2013Find the full timeline and graphics online at Mondoweiss.net

January 2009 – A panel hosted by UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies titled “Human Rights &Gaza” features four professors speaking on Operation Cast Lead, the massive Israeli invasion of Gaza. Al-though not deemed newsworthy at the time, the event is later labeled as disruptive, anti-Semitic & threat-ening to the Jewish population in several media outlets.

February 2009 - UC Santa Barbara’s Academic Senate launches an investigation into Sociology ProfessorWilliam Robinson and his use of course material referencing the Israeli assault on Gaza in the winter of2008-9 in his class on global conflicts and struggles.

June 2009 - The widely criticized investigation of Professor Robinson is dropped after 6 months. Inves-tigators find that he acted “in accord with the principles of academic freedom, especially when teaching aclass whose content is the sociology of globalization.”

February 2010 – A speaking engagement by Israeli ambassador Michael Oren at UC Irvine is inter-rupted by 11 students protesting Israeli human rights violations who briefly disrupt his speech while walk-ing out. The students, known as the Irvine 11, were arrested and threatened with academic punishments.They also received numerous death threats.

March 2010 - UC Berkeley’s SJP proposes a motion to the student government seeking to divest fromcompanies financially involved in the Israeli occupation. Although the motion passes by a large majority(16-4), it is vetoed by the student body president. The UC Regents issue a statement supporting the veto.

May 2010 – In response to the Irvine 11 protest, UC Irvine suspends the Muslim Student Union (MSU),a religious group that facilitates prayer and communal services for all Muslim students on campus. MSUwas suspended even though the organization did not endorse the protest, though students who were mem-bers of the organization had been involved in the protest.

June 2010 – UC President Mark Yudof appoints an Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture andInclusion, following a number of incidents at UC. September 2010 - The Third World Mural at UC Davis,which includes a Palestinian flag in the shape of a dove, is defaced and painted over with a Star of David.

October 2010 – The Anti-Defamation League labels Students for Justice in Palestine one of its Top 10

Anti-Israel Groups in America. Other groups on the list include Jewish Voice for Peace and Friends ofSabeel, a Palestinian Christian ecumenical organization that promotes peace and justice for Palestinians.

February 2011 - Just under a year after the protest, the Orange County District Attorney charges theIrvine 11 with two misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to disrupt a meeting and disruption of a meeting.

March 2011 – Tammi Rossman-Benjamin , UC Santa Cruz lecturer and head of AMCHA Initiative, anorganization that “combats anti-Jewish bigotry on California campuses,” petitions the US Department ofEducation to investigate “anti-Israel” discourse at UCSC and whether it constitutes a hostile environmentfor Jewish students.

March 2011 – Jessica Felber, UC Berkeley student, sues the University of California alleging that the UCabets a hostile climate against Jewish students by allowing SJP to protest Israeli policies on campus.

July 2011 – Through the Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion, UC PresidentMark Yudof creates the Campus Climate Investigation.

September 2011 - A court finds the Irvine 11 guilty and the students are ordered to do communityservice. The defendants appeal the verdict.

a timeline of censorship at the uc 2

November 2011 – Felber’s lawsuit against the UC is dismissed, but plaintiffs are allowed to re-file.November 2011 – In a speech to the Anti-Defamation League, UC President Mark Yudof praises the

efforts of UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake to impose additional time, place, and manner restrictions onactivists protesting human rights violations in Palestine. Drake had directed that his students move theirprotest to outside his office so that he could personally monitor them.

January 2012 - California State Northridge Professor David Klein is targeted by supporters of Israel forpetitioning against study abroad programs in Israel maintained by the California State University system.

February 2012 - A silent walkout organized by SJP in protest of an event at UC Davis titled “IDF Sol-diers Speak Out” is interrupted by a student not affiliated with SJP. Days later, UC President Yudof writesan open letter to the UC system in which he portrays the SJP as responsible for the disruption and withoutproviding evidence, associates the group with other incidents, including the defacing of an Israeli flag andthe hanging of a noose at UC San Diego.

February 2012 – Pro-Israel groups led by Tammi Rossman-Benjamin’s AMCHA Initiative attempt butfail to shut down a lecture series by Professor Ilan Pappe at California State and UC campuses.

March 2012 - The AMCHA Initiative asks the UCLA Academic Senate to investigate Professor DavidShorter for referencing the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in a class aboutindigenous struggles. Academic Senate Chair Andrew Leuchter violates university policy and publicallyreprimands Shorter.

June 2012 - The California Attorney General declines a petition by the AMCHA Initiative to sue NorthridgeProfessor David Klein for alleged misuse of public resources for hosting online materials about the boycottof Israel using university resources. In declining the petition, the California’s Deputy Attorney Generalwrote that after carefully considering the complaint his office found “no basis for any action on our part.”

July 2012 - The UCLA Academic Senate officially clears Professor Shorter of any wrong doing, findingthat the investigation was unmerited and that Academic Senate Chair Leuchter acted inappropriately whenaccepting the complaint of an outside group.

July 2012 - The re-filed Felber v Yudof case is settled, with the plaintiffs agreeing that the UC was not atany fault, and the UC agreeing to minor changes to campus policies surrounding protests.

July 2012 - Lawyers for Jessica Felber in the Felber v Yudof case, Joel Siegal and Neal Sher, initiate a Ti-tle VI complaint with the US Dept of Education. The complaint asks the federal government to investigatean alleged climate of hostility against Jewish students on campus stemming from criticism of Israel.

July 2012 – The UC Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion releases its CampusClimate reports on Jewish and Arab/Muslim experiences on campus. The Jewish Students report recom-mends broad censorship to reduce criticism of Israel on campus. The Jewish Students report puts forthhighly criticized recommendations for banning certain forms of speech on UC campuses that are deemedcritical of Israel.

August 2012 - In an unprecedented move, the California State Assembly passes HR 35, a non-bindingresolution that commends the UC Campus Climate report, conflates criticism of Israeli policy as anti-semitic, and encourages broad censorship of criticism of Israel on UC campuses. The Center for Consti-tutional Rights, CAIR, and JVP condemns the report as biased, erroneous, and unconstitutional. Whilethe UC administration opposes the bill when passed, later reporting shows that it had been involved withdrafting its early language.

August 2012 - The UC Student Association passes a landmark resolution denouncing HR 35 as an at-tempt to censor SJPs and calling for the University of California to end investments in corporations in-volved with Israel’s human rights violations.

Palestinian Refugees

Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA

November 5, 2013

The Nakba

While Israelis look back at May 15th, 1948 as a day of independenceand take their celebrations to the streets, Palestinians look back atthat very same day and see an entirely different story. 65 years ago,approximately 750,000 Palestinians lost their homes and most of theirpossessions, their land and their businesses, and watched as theirtowns and villages were erased off the map by Israeli forces. Jewishmilitias seeking to create a state with a Jewish majority in Palestine,and later, the Israeli army, drove out nearly a million Palestinians andmoved Jews into the newly-emptied Palestinian homes. Al-Nakba, orThe Catastrophe, will be remembered by Palestinians as the day theirsociety was destroyed and their homeland was taken over, creatingthe refugee crisis that persists today.1 1 Read about the Nakba at

the Institute for Middle EastUnderstanding’s Nakba FAQ:http://imeu.net/news/article001237.shtml#4and the Badil Center for PalestinianResidency and Refugee Rights,www.badil.org.

The Right of Return

• All refugees have a right to return to areas from which they havefled or were forced, to receive compensation for damages, and toeither regain their properties or receive compensation and supportfor voluntary resettlement. This right derives from a number oflegal sources, including customary international law, internationalhumanitarian law governing rights of civilians during war, andhuman rights law. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights states in Article 13(2) that "[e]veryone has the rightto leave any country, including his own, and return to his owncountry." This is an individual right and cannot be unilaterallyabrogated by third parties.

• In December 1948, following Israel’s establishment and the at-tendant displacement of approximately 750,000 Palestinians fromareas that fell within its control, the UN General Assembly passedResolution 194, which states, "refugees wishing to return to theirhomes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permit-ted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensationshould be paid for the property of those choosing not to returnand for loss of or damage to property which, under principles ofinternational law or in equity, should be made good by the Gov-ernments or authorities responsible."2 2 Read the resolution here:

http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/c758572b78d1cd0085256bcf0077e51a?OpenDocument

palestinian refugees 2

• The Palestinian right of return has been confirmed repeatedly bythe UN General Assembly, including through Resolution 3236,which "Reaffirms also the inalienable right of the Palestinians toreturn to their homes and property from which they have beendisplaced and uprooted, and calls for their return."

Facts & Figures

• Palestinian refugees are the largest and longest-standing popula-tion of displaced persons in the world. Reliable figures on theirnumbers are hard to find, as there is no centralized agency or in-stitution charged with maintaining this information. However, asurvey released in 2010 by BADIL, the Resource Center for Pales-tinian Residency and Refugee Rights, found the refugee and dis-placed population to be at least 7.1 million, made up of 6.6 millionrefugees and 427,000 internally displaced persons. It also foundthat refugees comprised 67% of the Palestinian population as awhole.3 3 Find the BADIL Center’s report

entitled “Survey of Palestinian Refugeesand IDPs (2008-2009)”• Most Palestinian refugees are Palestinians and their descendants

who were expelled from their homes in the parts of historic Pales-tine that were incorporated into the newly created state of Israelin 1948. Other Palestinian refugee categories include Palestinianswho fled their homes but remained internally displaced in areasthat became Israel in 1948; Palestinians who were displaced forthe first time after Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalemand Gaza Strip in the 1967 War; Palestinians who left the occu-pied territories since 1967 and have been prevented by Israel fromreturning due to revocation of residency rights, denial of familyreunification, or deportation; and Palestinians internally displacedin the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip since 1967.

• Most Palestinian refugees live in camps in the occupied territoriesand neighboring Arab countries, with 1.9 million in Jordan, 1.1million in Gaza, some 779,000 in the West Bank, 427,000 in Syria,and 425,000 in Lebanon. Throughout the region, many Palestiniansrely on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for PalestineRefugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to survive.

Palestinian Citizens of Israel

Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA

November 5, 2013

Background

Palestinian citizens of Israel are those Palestinians who remainedbehind in what became the state of Israel following the Nakba, or"catastrophe," when approximately 750,000 Palestinians were ex-pelled from their homes and land by Zionist forces in order to makeway for a Jewish-majority state. Between 1948 and 1966, Palestiniansliving in Israel were granted no political rights and were subject toIsraeli military rule. After 1966, they were granted the right to voteand other civil rights, but to this day they continue to suffer fromwidespread, systematic and institutionalized discrimination affectingeverything from land ownership and employment opportunities tofamily reunification rights. Today, there are approximately 1.2 millionPalestinian citizens of Israel, about 20% of the population.

Institutionalized discrimination

• There are more than 30 laws that discriminate against Palestiniancitizens of Israel. directly or indirectly, based solely on their eth-nicity, rendering them second or third class citizens in their ownhomeland.1 1 See the research center Adalah.org for

details.• 93% of the land in Israel is owned either by the state or by quasi-

governmental agencies, such as the Jewish National Fund, thatdiscriminate against non-Jews.2 Palestinian citizens of Israel face 2 Read more here

http://forward.com/articles/2854/in-watershed-israel-deems-land-use-rules-of-zioni/

significant legal obstacles in gaining access to this land for agricul-ture, residence, or commercial development.

• More than seventy Palestinian villages and communities in Israel,some of which pre-date the establishment of the state, are unrec-ognized by the government, receive no services, and are not evenlisted on official maps. Many other towns with a majority Pales-tinian population lack basic services and receive significantly lessgovernment funding than do majority-Jewish towns.

• Since Israel’s founding in 1948, more than 600 Jewish municipal-ities have been established, while not a single new Arab town orcommunity has been recognized by the state.

• Israeli government resources are disproportionately directed toJews and not to Arabs, one factor in causing the Palestinians of

palestinian citizens of israel 2

Israel to suffer the lowest living standards in Israeli society by all

socio-economic indicators.

• Government funding for Arab schools is far below that of Jewish

schools. According to data published in 2004, the government

provides three times as much funding to Jewish students than it

does to Arab students.

3

3

See Adalah.org’s “The Inequality

Report,” March 2011

• According to the 2009 US State Department International Religious

Freedom Report, “Many of the national and municipal policies

in Jerusalem were designed to limit or diminish the non-Jewish

population of Jerusalem.”

4

4

Read the State Department report

at: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/

rls/irf/2009/127349.htm

• In the Spring of 2011, Jerusalem city councilman Yakir Segev

stated: “We will not allow residents of the eastern [occupied Pales-

tinian] part of the city to build as much as they need... At the end

of the day, however politically incorrect it may be to say, we will

also look at the demographic situation in Jerusalem to make sure

that in another 20 years we don’t wake up in an Arab city.”

• The Nationality and Entry into Israel Law prevents Palestinians

from the occupied territories who are married to Palestinian cit-

izens of Israel from gaining residency or citizenship status. The

law forces thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel to either leave

Israel or live apart from their families.

• In October 2010, the Knesset approved a bill allowing smaller

Israeli towns to reject residents who do not suit "the community’s

fundamental outlook", based on sex, religion, and socioeconomic

status. Critics slammed the move as an attempt to allow Jewish

towns to keep Arabs and other non-Jews out.

5

5

See reporting by Ha’aretz:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/

knesset-panel-approves-controversial-

bill -allowing-towns-to-reject-residents-

1.321433

• The so-called "Nakba Bill" bans state funding for groups that com-

memorate the tragedy that befell Palestinians during Israel’s cre-

ation in 1948, when approx. 750,000 Palestinian Arabs were ethni-

cally cleansed to make way for a Jewish majority state.

6

6

See +972 Magazine’s report:

http://972mag.com/nakba-law-inside-

pandoras-box/

• The British Mandate-era Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes)

Ordinance law allows the Finance Minster to confiscate land for

"public purposes.” The state has used this law extensively, in con-

junction with other laws such as the Land Acquisition Law and

the Absentees’ Property Law, to confiscate Palestinian land in Is-

rael. A new amendment, which was adopted in February 2010,

confirms state ownership of land confiscated under this law, even

where it has not been used to serve the original confiscation pur-

pose. The amendment was designed to prevent Arab citizens from

submitting lawsuits to reclaim confiscated land.

The West Bank, Part 1Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA

November 5, 2013

Settlements

As of 2012, there are more than half a million Israeli settlers livingin the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Of those, upwards of300,000 live in the expanded boundaries of East Jerusalem. In addi-tion, approximately 20,000 settlers live in settlements in the occupiedSyrian Golan Heights. Settlements are illegal under internationallaw.1 1 See UN Security Council Res-

olution 242 and Article 49 ofthe 4th Geneva Convention.Also see the IMEU factsheeton the occupation for more details:http://imeu.net/news/article0022576.shtml

• As of 2012 there were some 130 official settlements and more than110 “outposts” (nascent settlements built without official govern-ment approval) in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.2

2 See B’Tselem’s report:http://www.btselem.org/settlements• According to Human Rights Watch: "Palestinians face systematic

discrimination merely because of their race, ethnicity, and nationalorigin, depriving them of electricity, water, schools, and access toroads, while nearby Jewish settlers enjoy all of these state-providedbenefits. . . While Israeli settlements flourish, Palestinians underIsraeli control live in a time warp - not just separate, not just un-equal, but sometimes even pushed off their lands and out of theirhomes."3 3 See HRW at:

http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequal• From 1993 to 2000, during the period of the peace process known

as the Oslo Accords, the number of Jewish settlers in the occu-pied West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), nearly doubled, from110,900 to 190,206 according to Israeli human rights organizationB’Tselem. According to B’Tselem, the number of illegal settlers inEast Jerusalem stood at 167,000 as of 2000, though accurate num-bers are difficult to locate.

• Settlements and related infrastructure (including Israeli-onlyroads, army bases, the separation wall, closed military zones, andcheckpoints) cover approximately 42% of the West Bank.

Apartheid Wall

In June 2002, under the pretext of security, the Israeli governmentbegan unilaterally constructing a wall, much of it on Palestinianland inside the occupied West Bank. In July 2004, the InternationalCourt of Justice (ICJ)4 issued an advisory opinion deeming the West 4 Read the opinion at: http://www.icj-

cij.org/docket/files/131/1677.pdfBank separation wall illegal. The court said the wall must be dis-mantled, and ordered Israel to compensate Palestinians harmed by

the west bank, part 1 2

its construction. It also called on third-party states to ensure Israel’scompliance with the judgment. While the ICJ’s decision was an ad-visory opinion, and therefore not binding on the parties, it is anauthoritative statement of the status of the wall in international law.Critics have accused Israeli authorities of designing the wall’s routeto envelop as much Palestinian land and as many Israeli settlementsas possible on the western, or Israeli side, while placing as manyPalestinians as possible on the eastern side. In total, about 98% of theIsraeli settler population is expected to end up on the Israeli side ofthe wall. The wall also surrounds much of occupied East Jerusalem,cutting its more than 200,000 Palestinian residents off from the rest ofthe occupied West Bank.

Checkpoints

At any given time, there are upwards of 500 checkpoints, roadblocks,and other barriers to Palestinian movement inside the West Bank,hindering Palestinians from moving between their own towns andcities and the outside world. Palestinians are prohibited from drivingon the vast network of settler roads built inside the West Bank, whichare restricted to Israeli citizens.In addition to limiting movementof individual Palestinians, Israeli restrictions also impede the flowof commercial goods and commerce, with adverse effects on thePalestinian economy and development. According to a September2011 report by the UN Office for the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs:5 5 Read the report at

http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_MovementandAccess_ Fact-Sheet_September_2011.pdf

• 522 roadblocks and checkpoints obstruct Palestinian movement inthe West Bank, compared to 503 in July 2010.

• 200,000 people from 70 villages are forced to use detours betweentwo to five times longer than the direct route to their closest citydue to movement restrictions.

• One or more of the main entrances are blocked to Palestiniantraffic in ten out of eleven major West Bank cities.

• Four of the five roads into the Jordan Valley are not accessible tomost Palestinian vehicles.

• Almost 80 percent of land in the Jordan Valley is off-limits toPalestinians, with the land designated for Israeli settlements’ ‘fir-ing zones’ and ‘nature reserves.’ (See here for 2012 UN map)

• Palestinian access to their private land around approximately 55Israeli settlements is highly restricted.

The West Bank, Part 2Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLANovember 5, 2013

Destruction and Discrimination

Home Demolitions

Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “Any destructionby the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging indi-vidually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to otherpublic authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohib-ited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessaryby military operations.”1 1 Read it here:

http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/full/380Israel has demolished approximately 24,800 Palestinian homes inthe occupied territories since 1967.2 2 See the Israeli Committee Against

House Demolitions (ICAHD), here:http://www.icahd.org/?page_id=5508

Demolitions are carried out for three stated reasons: military pur-poses; “administrative” reasons (i.e. a home or structure is built with-out difficult to obtain permission from Israel); and to deter or punishmilitants and their families, a violation of provisions of internationallaw that prohibit collective punishment.

According to Human Rights Watch’s 2012 World Report:‘Israel usually carries out demolitions on the grounds that the

structures were built without permits, but in practice such permitsare almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain in Israeli-controlledareas, whereas a separate planning process available only to settlersgrants new construction permits much more readily.’3 3 Read the report:

http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/ world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territories

Since 1967, some 2,000 Palestinian homes have been demolishedin occupied East Jerusalem. According to official Israeli statistics,from 2000 to 2008 Israel demolished more than 670 Palestinian homesin East Jerusalem. The number of outstanding demolition orders isestimated at up to 20,000.4 4 See ICAHD:

http://www.icahd.org/?page_id=5374Palestinians in East Jerusalem are often forced to choose betweendemolishing their own homes and paying for Israeli authorities to doit.

Theft of resources and discrimination

After taking control of the occupied territories in 1967, Israel began toexploit their natural resources. Most critically in the semi-arid region,Israel began to exploit aquifers and other water sources. Accordingto international law, including Article 55 of the Hague Regulations,an occupying power is prohibited from using an occupied territory’snatural resources for its own benefit. An occupying power may only

the west bank, part 2 2

use resources in an occupied territory for military necessity or forthe benefit of the occupied population. Thus, Israel’s exploitation ofPalestinian resources such as water for use in Jewish settlements andinside Israel proper is a clear breach of international law, a positionsupported by human rights organizations such as Amnesty Interna-tional. Despite this clear prohibition, in December 2011, in responseto a petition filed by Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, theIsraeli Supreme Court ruled that Israeli companies could continueexploiting Palestinian resources in the occupied territories.5 5 See the coverage here:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/ high-court-says-israel-can-take-advantage-of-west-bank-resources-1.403978

Water

While Israeli settlers water their lawns and fill swimming pools,Palestinians living nearby often cannot access an adequate amount ofwater for drinking, cooking, or proper hygiene.

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers consume on average 4.3 times theamount of water as Palestinians. In the Jordan Valley alone, some9000 settlers in Israeli agricultural settlements use one-quarter thetotal amount of water consumed by the entire Palestinian populationof the West Bank, some 2.5 million people.6 6 See Human Rights Watch:

http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdf

According to a 2010 Human Rights Watch report, 60,000 Pales-tinians living in Area C of the West Bank (which is under full Israelicontrol) lack access to running water, and must pay high prices – upto one-sixth of their income – to bring in water tankers, which in turnrequire special permits from Israel.

According to the 2011 US State Department Country Report onHuman Rights Practices for Israel and the occupied territories:

‘According to Amnesty International, Palestinians received on av-erage of 18.5 gallons of water per person per day, falling short of theWorld Health Organization’s standard of 26.5 gallons per person perday, the minimum daily amount required to maintain basic hygienestandards and food security.’7 7 Read the report here:

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/190656.pdf

Agriculture

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, in 2011 alone some10,000 Palestinian-owned trees, mostly olive trees, were damaged ordestroyed by Israeli settlers, significantly undermining the livelihoodsof hundreds of West Bank families. Between 2000 and 2007, morethan half a million Palestinian olive trees were destroyed by Israel forthe construction of the separation wall or by settlers.8 8 See the Alternative Information

Center for an example of coverage:http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/news/news/3797-israel-continues-to-uproot-hundreds-of-olive-trees-for-construction-of-separation-wall-.html

The Prison System

Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA

November 5, 2013

Facts and Figures

According to prisoners’ rights organization Addameer, there were4653 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel as of May 1, 2012.1 1 See Addameer:

http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=475Since 1967, Israel has imprisoned upwards of 700,000 Palestiniansfrom the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, or about 20% of thetotal population of the occupied territories.2 2 See Addameer:

http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=290Those who are charged are subjected to Israeli military courts thathuman rights organizations have criticized for failing to meet theminimum standards required for a fair trial.3 3 See B’Tselem:

http://www.btselem.org/administrative_detention/criticism_on_the_administrative_detention_order

According to Amnesty International’s 2011 Annual Report on Is-rael and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: “Palestinians in the[occupied territories] subject to Israel’s military justice system contin-ued to face a wide range of abuses of their right to a fair trial. Theyare routinely interrogated without a lawyer and, although they arecivilians, are tried before military not ordinary courts.”4

4 See the report at:http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/ world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territories

Administrative Detention

Israel uses a procedure known as administrative detention to im-prison Palestinians without charge or trial for months or even years.Administrative detention orders are normally issued for six-monthperiods, which can be extended indefinitely.

• Administrative detention was first instituted by the British duringthe Mandate era in 1945, prior to the creation of Israel.

• There are currently as of September 1, 2012, approximately 212

Palestinians being held in administrative detention.5 5 See Addameer:http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=293

• Since 1967, some 100,000 administrative detention orders havebeen issued by Israel.

• Although there are none currently being held in administrativedetention, Israeli authorities have in the past used the procedureagainst Palestinian children as well as adults.

• Israel’s frequent use of administrative detention has been con-demned by human rights organizations such as Amnesty Interna-tional and Human Rights Watch, as well as Israeli human rightsgroups like B’Tselem. 6

6 See Amnesty:http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/002/2012/en/899510fd-b45a-4713-8fa2-77aa8a774b0a/mde150022012en.html; HRW:http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/11/israel-hunger-striker-s-life-risk and B’Tselem:http://www.btselem.org/administrative_detention/criticism_on_the_ adminis-trative_detention_order

the prison system 2

• An end to the use of administrative detention was one of the main

demands of a recent wave of hunger strikes by Palestinians in

Israeli prisons.

Children

As of April 2012, there were 220 Palestinian minors in Israeli prisons.

Since September 2000, Israel has arrested and imprisoned more than

7000 Palestinian children.

7

7

See Defence for Children In-

ternational: http://www.dci-

palestine.org/content/child-detainees

Like all Palestinians from the occupied territories, Palestinian

children are subject to Israeli military tribunals. Palestinian minors

are frequently arrested in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers,

taken away without their parents and harshly interrogated without a

guardian or lawyer present.

8

8

See:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/

world/middle-east/how-israel-takes

-its-revenge-on-boys-who-throw-stones-

2344037.html

According to a recent report by the Israeli NGO No Legal Fron-

tiers, which followed the cases of 71 Palestinian children as they

made their way through the Israeli military court system:

• The most common offense was throwing stones and Molotov

cocktails. In most cases the object was not actually thrown, did

not hit a target, or cause any damage. In no case was serious harm

caused.

• In 94% of cases the children were held in pre-trial detention and

not released on bail.

• In 100% of cases, the children were convicted of an offense.

• 87% of them were subjected to some form of physical violence

while in custody.

9

9

Read the report:

http://nolegalfrontiers.org/en/reports/77-

report-juvenile-court

Under pressure from human rights organizations and children’s

rights advocates, the Israeli army announced in 2011 that it would

raise the age that Palestinians are treated as adults from 16 to 18

years of age, however, critics complain that they are still subject to the

same unjust and abusive treatment accorded Palestinian adults.

International LawStudents for Justice in Palestine at UCLANovember 5, 2013

Illegality of the Occupation

• Israel’s occupation regime has been ruled illegal by the UnitedNations Security Council in Resolutions 242 and 446. 1

1 See http://imeu.net/news/ arti-cle0022576.shtml

• A recent United Nations Human Rights Council investigationconcluded the same, calling on Israel to withdraw settlers from theWest Bank, saying that the settlements violated international law.It added,

"Israel must, in compliance with article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Con-vention, cease all settlement activities without preconditions. Itmust immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlersfrom the OPT [occupied Palestinian territories]." 2

2 Read the report:http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/ Ses-sion19/FFM/ FFMSettlements.pdf

• The settlements contravene the 1949 Geneva Conventions forbid-ding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territory,which could amount to war crimes that fall under the jurisdictionof the International Criminal Court [ICC].

• The International Committee of the Red Cross, Human RightsWatch, and Amnesty International have all agreed. In 2004, theInternational Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s wall through theWest Bank was illegal and must be removed. It also affirmed thatIsrael’s settlement policy was a violation of international law andillegally displaced Palestinians. 3

3 See the HRW report:http://www.hrw.org/node/95061

• Although Israel removed settlers from the Gaza Strip, it maintainseffective control over Palestinians everyday lives, blockading itsland and sea borders and freedom of movement. Amnesty Inter-national referred to this as the collective punishment of the GazaStrip’s population. 4

4 See Amnesty’s report:http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/007/2009/en/4c407b40-e64c-11dd-9917-ed717

fa5078d/mde150072009en.html#2.2.4.1.2.4%20

Collective%20punishment%7Coutline

• In 2009, Amnesty International issued a report calling for an inter-national arms embargo against Israel in response to Israel’s use ofweapons against civilians in the Gaza Strip. (source)

Violation of Rights

• In 2010, Human Rights Watch issued a report on the separate andunequal system of occupation in the West Bank and called on theUS, EU and private business to avoid supporting discriminatoryIsraeli settlement policies.5 5 See the report referenced above.

international law 2

• The UN Human Rights Council recently echoed these findings,saying that settlements violate the Geneva Convention, Palestinianright to self-determination, and their right to equality and non-discrimination.6 6 See the UNCHR report referenced

above.• The same UN report also called on business to cease activity in the

settlements so as to not continue violations of Palestinian rights.

Military Violence

• In 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead, Human Rights Watch, AmnestyInternational, and the United Nations all launched fact findingmissions and concluded that Israel used collective punishmentagainst Palestinians, and found substantial evidence of possiblewar crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from Israel’sattacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza. Israel re-peated similar behavior in its 2012 Operation Pillar of Cloud.7 7 See the section on Gaza for fuller

information and citations.

Common Struggles

Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA

November 5, 2013

The United States, Past and Present

• The segregated bus systems in the south have a strong compar-ison in the segregated roads, busses, and services in the WestBank, where Palestinians are not allowed to access “Jewish-only”resources.

• The violence visited upon Palestinian civilians without protectionfrom the state is similar to Southern white violence against Blacks,who were not protected by the state.

• The unequal prison system enforced on Palestinians is similar toour own country’s racially discriminatory incarcertaion system.

• Systems of racial profiling in the United States are also analgous tothe racial profiling enforced on Palestinians in the territories andalso inside Israel.

US-Mexico Border

• Elbit systems is a company helping to build the wall through theWest Bank. It laso helps to construct the wall and fences beingbuilt on the US Mexico border.1 1 Learn more at

http://www.globalexchange.org/economicactivism/elbit/why• Hewlett Packard’s involvement in monitoring Palestinians in the

West Bank is paralleled by its cooperation with the Immigrationand Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s efforts to track and deport un-documented people in the American Southwest.2 2 Learn more at

http://www.globalexchange.org/economicactivism/hp/why

Apartheid in South Africa

The South African apartheid system was established by white resi-dents of the country as a system of domination and exploitation overthe native population. Enforced by violence, it granted special rightsto whites and made Blacks second class citizens, forced to live in“bantustans” or islands of territory within the stateand stripped ofequal citzenship. State resources were given out separately and ue-qually between Blacks and whites, and Blacks were monitored usinga similar system of passes that is now used today in the West Bank(though with improved technology).

The United Nations International Convention on the Suppressionand Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1973) defines apartheid

common struggles 2

as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing andmaintaining domination by one racial group of persons over anyother racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.”3

3 See http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/cspca/cspca.htmlOver the entirety of its 64-year existence, there has been a period

of only about one year (1966-67) that Israel has not ruled over largenumbers of Palestinians to whom it granted no political rights simplybecause they are not Jewish. Prior to the start of the occupation in1967, Palestinians who remained inside what became Israel in 1948

were ruled by martial law for all but one year, not unlike Palestiniansin the occupied territories have been for the past 45 years.

According to a 2010 Human Rights Watch report entitled “Sepa-rate and Unequal: Israel’s Discriminatory Treatment of Palestiniansin the Occupied Palestinian Territories":

"Palestinians face systematic discrimination merely because of theirrace, ethnicity, and national origin, depriving them of electricity, water,schools, and access to roads, while nearby Jewish settlers enjoy allof these state-provided benefits. . . While Israeli settlements flourish,Palestinians under Israeli control live in a time warp - not just separate,not just unequal, but sometimes even pushed off their lands and out oftheir homes."4

4 See http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequalMany veterans of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa con-

sider Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to be a form of apartheid. Oneof the most outspoken voices has been that of Archbishop Emeri-tus Desmond Tutu, one of the heroes of the struggle against SouthAfrican apartheid, who has repeatedly made the comparison. In2012, Archbishop Tutu wrote that Israel’s version of apartheid is ac-tually worse than South Africa’s, stating: “Not only is this group ofpeople [Palestinians] being oppressed more than the apartheid ide-ologues could ever dream about in South Africa, their very identityand history are being denied and obfuscated.”5

5 See a recent articlehttp://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/justice-requires-action-to-stop- subjugation-of-palestinians/1227722 and his statementat: https://www.kairosresponse.org/Endorsement_Statements.html

Settler Colonialism

Settler-colonialism, the process by which a native population is dis-placed to make way for a new outside group, is not unique to Pales-tine. It is a phenomenon that has been experienced here in the UnitedStates, where indigenous people were largely exterminated to makeway for British and European settlers. We recognize and respect thatfact that UCLA stands on American Indian land.