During this past summer, the Israeli government enacted Operation Protective Edge, its latest war on the besieged Gaza Strip, following mass arrests of Palestinians and invasion of the West Bank. Over the course of fifty days, more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed, a quarter of those being children. Massacres such as this one have been occurring like clockwork in Palestine for decades, and both the Israeli government and military forces have not faced any consequences for the injustices they have inflicted upon the Palestinian people. For more information on the massacre that took place this summer in Gaza, please read more here.

Israel has gone unpunished for their crimes due to the abundant and unconditional political and financial support from the United States. To date, the United States has provided Israel with $121 billion of overall financial support, and currently supplies $3.1 billion annually in military aid to Israel. Israel is our country’s biggest recipient in foreign aid. The Israeli military machine is now considered one of the most powerful in the entire world. The Israeli state uses its massive military prowess against the defenseless Palestinians in Gaza, who do not have any army, any air force, or any other credible means to defend themselves. Israel occupies the Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem by using brutal force with its powerful military capabilities. Billions of dollars that support the Israeli military and help it to sustain the occupation of Palestinians come from our tax dollars. For a more concise breakdown of aid given by the United States, please read more here.

The conflict may seem far away and out of reach, but there is something we can do. Palestinian Civil Society has called upon all people of conscience to support the nonviolent movement known as Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and the Universal Principles of Human Rights. Click here to see more information.

The University of California, Davis, is currently invested in companies that are directly involved in helping Israel in its ongoing occupation, colonization, and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Involvement in these companies goes against Standard 12 of the UC Davis Business Code of Conduct of the Honest and Fair Business Practice statement that declares, “University personnel shall adhere to fair business practices and accurately and honestly represent themselves and the university’s services and products.” This direct violation of this statement by our University affects us all because a portion of the money that is invested comes out of our tuition. From tuition hikes to investments in socially irresponsible companies, we as students, faculty, and community members deserve to have a say in where UC Davis invests its money, especially when it is invested in companies that frequently commit injustices against humanity.

As students, teachers, sisters, brothers, parents, and primarily as human beings, the ongoing genocide and erasure of the Palestinian peoples and culture by the exclusionary, racist state of Israel should be something that concerns us all. Your money is currently complicit with these human rights atrocities meaning that even if you wish to remain neutral on the conflict, you can not do so now without removing your indirect financial support for these companies. The companies we specifically are calling upon the university and regents to divest from are as follows:

1.)Veolia for violating UN Resolution 63/201 by dumping all kinds of waste materials in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan. These wastes include municipal solid waste, construction waste, sterilized medical waste and electronic waste, some of which are deemed to be hazardous.

2.)G4S which provides equipment for Israeli-run checkpoints and terminals in the West Bank and Gaza, both of which prohibit movement of the Palestinians and other local peoples. It also lends support to the imprisonment of Palestinian political prisoners, some who have yet to be charged, by equipping prisons with advanced security machines.

3.)Caterpillar’s machines are used for the demolition of Palestinian houses in the occupied Palestinian territories, the construction and expansion of settlements and the Separation Wall in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act, and settlement infrastructure on Palestinian land, for creating roadblocks, dispersing demonstrations and as weapons.  

4.)Raytheon supplies the Israeli military with the weaponry used in the ongoing massacres of palestinian civilians. More specifically, Raytheon sells missiles, cluster bombs, bunker busters, and other types of ammunition used in attacks on civilian populations in Palestine, including in the 2014 Operation Protective Edge and the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead.

See more at this website.

These violations of human rights have been going on for far too long and it is time for everyone to take action! We are calling on people of all backgrounds and communities to sign this petition to support the divestment resolution being brought to the UC Davis campus. This resolution is a call to the University of California, Davis and the UC regents to divest from companies that are involved in the ongoing, illegal occupation of Palestine.

You don’t have to be Palestinian to care about this cause, you just have to be human. Be on the right side of history and be a voice for the silenced Palestinians fighting to live. In the words of Martin Luther King, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”

#yestodivest

 ****Important****If you are a UC student, please indicate which campus you are from when signing your name on this petition!