On Mar. 18, the UC Berkeley Student Senate passed a bill to divest from companies that produce helicopters and other armaments for Israel. In so doing, UC Berkeley moves a step closer to being the first large public university to divest from companies supporting Israel. The bill, approved on Mar. 18, was a response to what students argued was an Israeli violation of international law in its dealings with Palestinians, including the siege of the Gaza strip.
 
The bill demands that the UC Regents and student government divest from General Electric and United Technologies, two U.S. companies involved in helicopter manufacturing for Israel. The bill also created a task force to develop an investment policy for the UC system that aims to do business with more socially responsible groups.
 
The Senate deliberated deep into the night, ending at 3am the night of the 18th. Impassioned students, educators, and community members overcrowded the meeting, forcing a room change. Seventy-six guest speakers, ranging from college freshman to Vietnam veterans pushed for the bill which passed on a 16-4 vote.
 
Momentum for this kind of action has grown over the last decade. UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine has been working on divestment from Israel since 2000, and a related group of Berkeley law students has been doing research on Israeli human rights violations for the last three years.

In 2005, the Israeli divestment movement gained speed when 171 Palestinian civil society organizations called on "people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel...until it fully complies with the precepts of international law."
 
Student Senator Rahul Patel supported the bill, recalling the student government’s influential action in the 1980's, when it demanded that the University divest from South African apartheid. Patel noted that the new divestment bill supports a nationwide movement against occupation and war crimes around the world.
 
“Student government can be a space to mobilize and make decisions that have a significant impact on the international community,” Patel said. “We must utilize these spaces to engage each other about issues of justice worldwide."
 
Hampshire College of Northampton, MA was the first US educational institution to divest from companies supporting Israeli government occupation of Palestinian territory. The school group Students for Justice in Palestine was the main advocate for this initiative.

Emily Carlton, a co-sponsor of the UC Berkeley bill, said, “This action will only be historic if it is repeated throughout the country and the world; I hope that student governments all over America will see in this a sign that the time to divest from war is now.”


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