The UN statehood bid and the internationalization of the Palestinian struggle: Joseph Dana

Yasmin Ahmed

(LSE SU Palestine Society)

Joseph Dana, an American independent freelance journalist currently based in Ramallah (West Bank), was invited to speak at the London School of Economics by the LSE SU Palestine Society about "New directions in Palestinian resistance after the Arab Spring: The UN statehood bid and the internationalization of the Palestinian struggle".

He began by speaking about what he called a "crisis of legitimacy" regarding the Palestinian leadership, highlighted by the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN in September 2011 which was presented as a "top-down" initiative rather than it being a collective decision taken democratically via the consultation of the Palestinian people. Dana argued that the bid was "more about the Palestinian Authority staying in power as opposed to an organic initiative that came from below". 

He then went on to speak about the various ways that the state of Israel contradicts its own assertion as being "the only democracy in the Middle East". Dana focused on the 'Bill for Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel Through Boycott', passed earlier this year (July 2011), which has made it illegal for any Israeli to support boycott of the state, with the threat of being sued if they were to do so. There are currently 400 boycotters within Israel. Dana saw this move as indicative of the fact that "BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] is so effective that they [the Israeli government] were willing to pass this law with a majority and violate their so-called democracy's principles". The speaker also cited the controversial loyalty oath which effectively "bans Arabs from Tel Aviv" as a further example of Israel's true anti-democratic nature.

Dana finally moved on to speak about the paradoxical nature of the tent protests that have been taking place in Israel. Whilst citizens of Israel were holding these sit-ins in order to demand "social justice" within Israel, they were "unwilling to acknowledge or confront the occupation". He argued that this symbolises "that the one and two state solutions are both unviable". For this reason, Dana claimed that global pressure through initiatives of resistance on the international front such as the growing BDS movement, the Flotilla that was raided by Israel in May 2010 and the 'Flytilla' activists who attempted to enter Israel to visit Palestinian families last summer are "crucial" in the context of the continuing Palestinian struggle.

We would like to express our thanks and appreciation to Joseph for kindly accepting our invitation and providing us with a very interactive and thought-provoking talk.

Unprecedented BDS Victory in Germany: Deutsche Bahn Pulls Out Off Illegal Israeli Rail Project

Financial Times 

(FT.com / Middle East / Arab-Israel conflict - Deutsche Bahn pulls out of Israel project)

Deutsche Bahn, the German railway operator, has pulled out of an Israeli project that cuts through the occupied Palestinian West Bank, after pressure from activists and Berlin.

The move marks a victory for pro-Palestine Campaign groups and their boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, which tries to use economic pressure on Israel to help the Palestinian cause.

Campaigners were angered by the activities of Deutsche Bahn’s international consulting arm, which provided advice on the electrification of the new track linking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The high-speed line, due to be completed by 2017, has attracted sharp criticism from Palestinian officials because a 6-km    stretch cuts through the West Bank.

Opponents said the project was illegal because it used occupied Palestinian territory for a project that would be used primarily, or solely, by Israeli citizens. They also argued that the new line could have easily been built on Israeli territory alone, making land confiscations in the West Bank unnecessary.

Deutsche Bahn, which is state-owned, declined to comment on the reasons for the pull-out but said: “We told Israel Railways in February that we would not provide further services for this particular project.”

The operator added that the involvement in the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem line had been “modest” and that DB International, its consulting subsidiary, would continue to provide services to the Israeli rail operator elsewhere.

According to a letter sent by Germany’s ministry for transport to a member of parliament, the operator faced criticism for its involvement from the government itself: “The federal government pointed out [to Deutsche Bahn] that the project of the Israeli state railway is problematic from a foreign policy point of view and potentially breaches international law,” it said. The letter added that the German operator confirmed “in writing” that there would be no further involvement of its international subsidiary in “this politically very sensitive project”.

The document, dated March 11, was published on Monday on the website of Change.org, a campaign group.
Merav Emir, an activist with Who Profits, the campaign group that leads the lobbying effort against the rail project, welcomed the decision. “I want to congratulate the German government for making such a clear and bold statement about the illegality of this train route under international law,” she said. “We call on other European governments to follow suit in making sure that companies in their countries abide by international law.”

The Israeli transport ministry did not return calls for comment.

LSE Boycotts Eden Springs

Press Release

Eden Springs, a major water supply company will not have its contract renewed by the London School of Economics. This development comes off the back of a lengthy, high profile and controversial campaign launched by the LSE Students' Union Palestine Society, which has drawn attention to Eden Springs' odious business dealings in the Illegally Occupied Golan Heights. The LSE joins a number of UK Universities, including Edinburgh and Strathyclyde, whom have successfully cut all ties with Eden Springs.

The student campaign has been supported by academics, with over 19 LSE Academics, signing a joint letter which calls upon the School to terminate its links with Eden Springs “forthwith”.

Zachariah Sammour, President of the LSE SU Palestine Society, said 

“I'm delighted with the incredible pace of progress on this campaign and the widespread support it’s received from the students and academics of the LSE. I believe the success of this campaign demonstrates the deep commitment of LSE staff and students to ethical investment and global justice.

All academic departments formerly using Eden Springs as their water supplier have agreed not to renew their contracts, confirmation of which was received this past Friday.  The development is being hailed as a landmark victory for the wider Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israeli companies, a campaign aimed at undermining the structural mechanisms that make the illegal Israeli Occupation possible.

Ashok Kumar, Education Officer of the LSE Students Union, speaking in his personal capacity said,

 “This is a monumental victory for human rights because it understands, as with South Africa, the direct linkages between profiteering companies and a State that violates international law. Indeed, this is the first step in a long journey for the LSE.”

Students at the LSE will continue to pursue a Campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli companies who continue to feed the machinery of Occupation.  

Edinburgh University Students Vote Overwhelmingly For Boycott of Israeli Goods

By Liam O'Hare

Edinburgh University Palestine Society

A motion to boycott Israel was overwhelmingly passed at the Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA) General Meeting on Monday 15th March. In what was described as a 'landslide', the motion, 'Boycott Israeli Goods in EUSA shops and supply chains' received around 270 votes in favour, with only 20 students voting against. 

Despite the meeting requiring over 300 students to attend for it to be quorate and for decisions taken to be binding, the huge level of student support for the motion means that EUSA will be under severe student pressure to adopt it as official policy.

Proposed by students from Edinburgh University Students for Justice in Palestine, the motion noted that Israel is an apartheid sate and resolved to affiliate EUSA to the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, to boycott Israeli goods in EUSA supply chains and shops, and to mandate the EUSA executive to lobby the University to do the same.

After the motion was discussed for around 15 minutes, it was put to a vote and the result was so comprehensive that no count was required. The passing of the motion led to rapturous applause in the George Square Lecture Theatre, where the General Meeting was held, and was by far the most welcomed result of the night.

Similar motions have been passed at SOAS, Manchester, and Sussex Universities in recent years. This latest result seems a clear indication that students in the UK are continuing to play a prominent role in the campaign for a just peace in Palestine.


The motion came in the wake of recent protests against Israeli officials speaking at the University. In February, student activists shut down a talk by Ishmael Khaldi, advisor to Israeli foreign minister Avidgor Lieberman, and, two weeks ago, over 100 students protested against the invitation of Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor to the University.


The proposer of the motion, second year Maths and Music student Daniel Beesley said “I am overwhelmed with the outcome of the General Meeting. It is great to see students of Edinburgh University once again standing up against injustice, just as they did during Apartheid South Africa. EUSA represents that views of students and we are sure they they will take on board what was clearly the opinion of the vast majority who attended the GM, and endorse the boycott.”

The motion's seconder, Liam O'Hare, a student of International Relations, said: “Israel has occupied, ethnically cleansed and practised apartheid against the Palestinians for 63 years. The BDS movement seeks to force Israel to abide by international law and is gathering huge momentum year on year. I think the General Meeting proved that the student population at Edinburgh University do not want goods from an Apartheid state on campus and, despite the meeting narrowly not being quorate, I fully expect EUSA to act upon this motion.”

Chalking The Boycott

By Khaled Hanbali

The London School of Economics (LSE) Palestine Society's ongoing campaign to get Eden Springs off campus has taken to the streets!

Students are lobbying the School not to purchase water coolers and bottled water from Eden Springs UK, which is part of the Israeli company Mey Eden, which appropriates and sells water from sources in Syrian land that has been controversially occupied since 1967.

The campaign has been supported by a majority of the student body. Ongoing talks are taking place to reach an agreement where Eden Springs is boycotted from campus, other London universities are also launching their own Boycott Eden Springs Campaign. 

LSE Palestine Society Stunt: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions - Eden Springs

By Nadia Marques de Carvalho
(LSE Palestine Society)

On Thursday 20th January the London School of Economics Palestine Society staged a surprise stunt at midday on Houghton Street, to raise awareness of a recent campaign it has launched to get Eden Springs off its campus. 

LSE Palestine Society Members in the Stunt

The stunt involved having bottles of Eden water symbolically wrapped in barbed wire, surrounded by two Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers on either side. Note some of the bottled water stained symbolically with red tint, to portray the blood of Palestinians. 

The Stunt in the Union General Meeting 

The stunt was a successful and dramatic way to mobilise the student body into standing in solidarity with the core concepts of Justice, Equality and Freedom, which the BDS movement endeavours to achieve in Palestine - well, should I say, The Occupied Territories. 

Signatures filled the petition papers that propose that the university not purchase water coolers and bottled water from Eden Springs UK, which is part of the Israeli company Mey Eden, which appropriates and sells water from sources in Syrian land that has been controversially occupied since 1967.

LSE Palestine Society Committee Members

This campaign to get Eden Springs off campus is only the beginning. 

The LSE Palestine Society are in the process of contacting other British Palestine Societies to follow in suit.

 In solidarity we can end the illegal, Israeli Apartheid regime. 

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Sticker on the London Underground

LSE Palestine Society Campaign to Drown Eden Springs

Lukas Slothuus

Members of the Students’ Union Palestine Society are currently protesting the School’s use of water from a company which operates sources and plants in the Golan Heights.

Students are lobbying the School not to purchase water coolers and bottled water from Eden Springs UK, which is part of the Israeli company Mey Eden, which appropriates and sells water from sources in Syrian land that has been controversially occupied since 1967.

The extension of Israeli law and administration throughout the territory has been condemned by the United Nations Security Council, and widely denounced.

The Palestine Society ran a stall on Houghton Street last Thursday and Friday, from which they asked students to sign a petition supporting their cause. They also sold cakes and traditional Palestinian foods to fund a new initiative with the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organisation. The LSE has no central contract or purchasing agreement with Eden Springs UK, but the company is on a list of suppliers offered to individual departments by the London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC), with which the School has a framework agreement.

LSE Palestine Society's Stall

A spokesperson for the School said that departments could choose between at least six water suppliers; empty water canisters are regularly seen outside offices in the Department of International History, among others.

The School also clarified that water ordered from Eden Springs UK originates from West Hyde, Hertfordshire, and not from the Golan Heights.

Similar campaigns have been organised by Palestinian rights activists at other British universities. In February 2009, a sit-in protest by forty students convinced the University of Strathclyde to cancel its contract with Eden Springs UK. The protest, which was led by members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, presented a list of demands, including the severing of investments with BAE Systems, an arms manufacturer, and the creation of a scholarship scheme for Palestinian students wishing to study at the university.

Signing the petition to get Eden Springs off campus

Eleven students at UCL submitted a motion in February 2010 petitioning their students’ union to “put pressure on UCL to cancel its contract with Eden Springs UK Ltd as soon as is legally possible”.

The UCL motion, which passed at the union’s Annual General Meeting in the same month, also mandated the education and ethics and environment Officers to write to the university’s Provost on the issue. UCL’s Procurement Services website, which was last updated in October 2010, still lists Eden Springs as a contracted supplier of water coolers, though two other suppliers are also specified.

A statement from the LSE confirmed that the framework agreement with LUPC expires on 30th June, and that it would be a matter for LUPC as to whether Eden Springs retains its place on a new agreed list of suppliers.

Among the sources operated by Mey Eden is the Salukia spring in the Golan Heights. The company also owns a bottling plant in Katzrin, an Israeli settlement in the region.

20,000 Israeli settlers inhabit the Golan Heights alongside an equal number of Syrians; the unilateral annexation of the region in 1981 is not internationally recognised.

Palestine Society President Zachariah Sammour told the Beaver: “The natural resources of a State should be of benefit to the people of that State alone; either through national ownership or through State taxation of profits accrued through its economic use”.

Sammour added, “Israel is therefore denying the people of that region the benefits of their own land and resources and illegally subverting it for themselves.

“We believe that a progressive institution like the LSE should not be conducting business with a company facilitating a state of affairs that is both illegal and which poses a massive threat to world peace, namely the continued, illegal Israeli Occupation”, he said.

The School also said it was their intention in the longer term to “eradicate all bottled water supplies on campus in favour of water fountains using filtered tap water, as this is a more sustainable option."