London students call for divestment from Israel

The London School of Economics Students' Union (LSESU) on Thursday passed a resolution calling for its university and the National Union of Students in the United Kingdom to divest from companies that provide commercial and military support to Israel, which they dubbed the "apartheid regime," according to reports in British media.

The discussion last week began with a reminder that 60 years have pas since the "Nakba," or catastrophe – the term Palestinians use to describe the founding of the State of Israel. Students remarked that most Palestinians were expelled from their homes and in what was a premeditated methodical campaign by the founders of the Jewish State to rid the new entity of its Arab inhabitants.

They added that Israel has been setting up checkpoints in the West Bank in order to imprison the Palestinians population.

The university co-eds selected a quote from an article published in Haaretz in 2002 by Michael Ben-Yair, attorney-general from 1993 to 1996, in which he stated that: "We established an apartheid regime in the (Palestinian) territories immediately after they were conquered. This regime of oppression exists until today."

The union noted that it believes Palestinians have the right to return to their homeland and to receive fair compensation. They add that Israel must cease its discrimination against Palestinian citizens within Israel proper.

The measure applies to companies supplying Israel with weapons, companies involved in building the separation fence and destroying Palestinian homes as well as others operating in the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Students also called for the London university to support organizations such as Jews for Justice for Palestinian and to join the international campaign to end the siege in Gaza.

This is not the first time a group in the UK has called for a boycott of Israel. In May 2007, Britain's University and College Union (UCU), representing tens of thousands of British college lecturers, voted to endorse a Palestinian trades’ union call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.