Petition against divestment

[dafka]

Courtesy of Standwithus.com (http://www.standwithus.com/actions/070102.asp) ,
University of California students, alumni, and staff can now sign a counter petition, opposing the UC divestment petition (http://ucdivest.org/).

Here's the introduction to the petition:

Dear Faculty, Students and Friends of UCLA Hillel,
More than 125 professors have recently signed a petition demanding that the University of California to divest from Israel. At Harvard and MIT students, faculty, staff and alumni/ae have accumulated over 6,000 signatures on a counter-petition that opposes divestment. Please help us take a strong stance against divestment by signing the attached Petition to Oppose Divestment from Israel. We need your assistance in disseminating this information - forward this e-mail to everyone you know, encouraging them to Stand With Us for Israel.

[dafka]

Here's another site where you can register opposition to the UC Divest From Israel Campaign.

http://www.ucjustice.org/

[Tamar]

Please read and sign

columbiadontdivest.org (http://columbiadontdivest.org)

Barnard College and Columbia University students, alumni, parents and staff can now sign a petition, opposing the divestment petition at columbiadivest.org. Spread the word .

Here's the introduction to the petition (http://columbiadontdivest.org) :

Columbia University Campaign Against Divestment

Introduction

We members of the Columbia University and Barnard College community, who support the quest for peace in the Middle East, oppose the petition calling for our University to take punitive action against the State of Israel.

We have diverse opinions on how peace in the Middle East can be achieved, and hold widely differing views regarding the policies and actions of Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab countries. We support the right of all members of the University community to hold and express their different views.

We are unanimous, however, in our condemnation of this petition as a one-sided attempt to punish the State of Israel.

The petition to divest is based upon the allegation that Israel is pursuing a military solution to what is, at heart, a political problem. It singles out "the use of Israeli military force on a civilian
population" as "a fundamental problem" in the conflict.

To place all the blame on Israel for the current state of affairs, and to demand unilateral concessions is simply wrong. The petition calls upon Columbia to take action that will deny or withhold from Israel its ability to defend itself, which is a fundamental right and responsibility of every nation.

The petition totally ignores the Palestinian suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. It also completely overlooks the contributions by the Palestinian leadership and the various Arab governments to this conflict, and the many political, regional and historical complexities of the Middle East.

We are appalled that, in response to the tragic situation in the Middle East, our colleagues support such a distorted position that ignores the current and past history of this conflict, and revives rhetoric long discredited by its use among some who deny Israel's right to exist.

Similar divestment campaigns have been waged at other universities and were rejected by each one. In responding, we join distinguished colleagues at Princeton, Harvard, MIT, Tufts, University of California, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Harvard University President Lawrence Summers observed that, "some here at Harvard and some at universities across the country have called for the University to single out Israel among all nations as the lone country where it is inappropriate for any part of the university's endowment to be invested. I hasten to say the University has categorically rejected this suggestion."

We invite you to sign our petition (http://columbiadontdivest.org) , which calls upon the Administration and Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York to reject the call for divestment.

Note: We have linked to this web site various articles that present
different rebuttals to the call for divestment.

--Columbia/Barnard Faculty Committee Against Divestment