The Global BDS Movement (BDS meaning Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) just reported that Hampshire College in Massachusetts has become the first college in the U.S. to divest from companies that support Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, now lasting over 41 years. During that time, numerous American, European, and Asiatic companies have directly supported the occupation/colonialism by selling Israel the implements of ethnic cleansing and settlement building and expansion. The most notorious of these companies is probably Caterpillar, whose bulldozers have been responsible for the demolition of thousands of Palestinian homes, farms, and orchards.
According to the Movement, this landmark decision was a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign on campus, led by the peace group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
The group pressured Hampshire College’s Board of Trustees to divest from six specific companies due to human rights concerns in occupied Palestine. Over 800 students, professors, and alumni have signed SJP’s “institutional statement” calling for the divestment. The proposal put forth by SJP was approved on Saturday, 7 Feb 2009 by the Board. By divesting from these companies, SJP believes that Hampshire has distanced itself from complicity in the illegal occupation and war crimes of Israel.
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This groundbreaking decision follows in Hampshire’s history of being the first college in the country to divest from apartheid South Africa thirty-two years ago, a decision based on similar human rights concerns.
The divestment has so far been endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Rashid Khalidi, Vice President of the EU Parliament Luisa Morganitini, Cynthia McKinney, former member of the African National Congress Ronnie Kasrils, Mustafa Barghouti, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, John Berger, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, among others.
Thus far most of the DBS actions in the US have been taken or considered by church groups concerned about indirectly sponsoring Israel’s illegal occupation and its violations of international law. The SJP expressed hope that this decision by Hampshire College will now pave the way for other institutions of higher learning in the U.S. to get involved.
In 2002, when Israel was devastating Palestinian neighborhoods and numerous civilians were killed in the West Bank, campaigns at 40 campuses across the country, including Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Ohio State, and the University of Michigan, were initiated calling for institutional divestment from Israel as a means of supporting Palestinians’ basic human rights. These earlier attempts to spur divestment actions at US universities, however, failed.
The Hampshire College action is therefore a beginning.