By Julian Bender, Weather Vane student newspaper
An unusual combination of attendees united in Common Grounds Wednesday night. The topic of divestment from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank brought these people together.
David Hosey, working for the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation, presented a brief overview of the Israeli occupation and its effects on Palestinians: The West Bank is best described as a giant prison with movement in and out of it, heavily restricted by Israeli checkpoints, barriers, and military actions. The Israeli government is continually developing settlements, which are Jewish-only neighborhoods on land often confiscated from Palestinian owners. Their function is a de-facto annexation of land intended for a future Palestinian state. Arbitrary arrests and killings, deprivation of economic resources and opportunities, and house demolitions plague the two-and-a-half million Palestinians living under occupation, making normal life all but impossible and filling day-to-day existence with frustration, oppression and fear. Both the occupation and the Israeli settlements are illegal under international law; both Israel and its ally the United States have consistently ignored this fact.
Hosey listed a number of the tools used by the occupation: surveillance cameras, military equipment, and concrete for the separation wall which divides portions of the West Bank from Israel, to name a few. Many of these products, he went on to show, are manufactured by American companies. He then made the point that not only is the US a major contributor of military aid to Israel (starting in 2007, US military aid to Israel will total $30 billion over a decade), but that American corporations are heavily involved in, and profiting from, the occupation.
He made the case for morally responsible investment