UGM
14th January 2009
DEFEND GAZA!
CONDEMN ISRAELI MASSACRE
UGM, Thursday 15th January, 1pm, Old Theatre
The following motion has been submitted to the LSE Students' Union to be voted on this Thursday the 15th January.
The suffering of the Palestinian people continues to worsen. Our Union must stand with them. Please come, bring your friends and vote to pass this motion in the Old Theatre at LSE.
Defend Gaza, Condemn the Israeli Massacre
Proposer: Joseph Brown 200600243
Seconder: Mira Hammad 200803519
Union Notes:
1) The 41 year Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Israeli control of Palestinian airspace, borders, and seaports denying the freedom of movement of many Palestinians including students to leave the Gaza strip or for aid agencies to enter for humanitarian relief.
2) The Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip beginning on the weekend of the 27-28 December, 2008 and the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza beginning on January 4, 2009.
3) The killing of around 900 and injuring of 4,100 Palestinians, including some 300 children, as of January 12, 2009 by Israeli military aggression against Gaza.
4) The desperate shortage of food in Gaza, caused by the Israeli siege since early 2006, forcing residents to scavenge for food and even eat grass.
5) The chronic shortage of medical supplies in Gazan hospitals, caused by the Israeli siege; resulting in many hundreds of wounded failing to receive adequate treatment and the attack of al-Awda Hospital by two Israeli shells on 5th January 2009.
6) That the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on Earth and as such civilian causalities are rarely avoidable and that 800,000 Gazans are under the age of 18, with the average age of Gaza at 17.
7) The bombing of Gaza’s Education Ministry and its only university in the early hours of December 29, depriving over 20,000 students of their access to higher education and the bombing of two United Nations schools, including Asma elementary school on 6th January 2009 killing 40 Palestinians seeking shelter, many of them children.
8) The "Twinning LSESU with a Palestinian University” Motion of LT, 2007 which affiliated the LSESU with the Right To Education Campaign, recognising the need to defend Palestinian students from “fear and harassment and will aid the emergence of peace and justice in Israel and the Palestinian territories.”
9) The "HOLD ISRAEL ACCOUNTABLE - DIVEST" Motion of LT, 2008 and its affiliation of the LSESU with The International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza.
Union Believes:
1) That peace in the Middle East is something this Union should continue to strive for and recognises that peace lays in the realisation of a just resolution to the Occupation and siege of the West Bank and Gaza.
2) That this the current war in Gaza and injustice of the Occupation serve only to radicalise the Palestinian population, force out moderate voices and push us further away from achieving a just peace.
3) That the siege on Gaza is an irresponsible and systematic attempt to ghettoise the population and turn Gaza into an open-air prison, cutting off access to the outside community and further impoverishing a population of whom 80% already live under the poverty line, constituting collective punishment of 1.5 million people which is objectionable and illegal under international law. Such action can do nothing to further a peaceful resolution.
4) That the Israeli government knows that Gaza is one of the most densely populated people on Earth and therefore knows its bombs are very likely to kill civilians.
5) The knowing endangerment of civilians is illegal, immoral and unacceptable and that our Union has a moral obligation to against such action whenever it occurs.
6) That our union should not sit quietly while Israel launches yet another violent assault on the caged and oppressed Palestinian people.
7) That the right to education and the intentional persecution of Palestinian students is something that our Union should continue to stand against.
Union Resolves:
1) To request that LSE’s RAG Campaign include Medical Aid for Palestinians as a key part of its fund raising drive.
2) To mandate the Sabbatical team to demand that LSE Director Howard Davies issue a statement condemning Israel’s attack on educational institutions.
3) To mandate the Sabbatical team to request the LSE establish an emergency fund for Palestinians students from Gaza and waive their tuition fees to support their efforts to acquire an education and waive all application fees from students coming from Palestine.
4) To mandate the Sabbatical team and request the Part Time Executive to issue a public statement, in consultation with the LSESU Palestine Society, strongly condemning Israel's attack on Gaza and the bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza and Gaza’s civil infrastructure. This statement is to be sent to the Director of the LSE, the LSE Council, and all national newspapers and student media, the Israeli Embassy, the US Embassy, 10 Downing Street and the Palestinian Delegation. This statement should also recommend that Britain push to suspend the current discussions for an EU trade agreement with Israel and recall our ambassador to Tel Aviv as a clear declaration of support for the Palestinian cause.
5) To mandate the Sabbatical team to advertise as widely as possible, (through global email etc) all demonstrations, protests and events related to its previous commitments to ‘The International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza’ and ‘The Right to Education Campaign’.
6) To support the efforts of LSE faculty to build links with Palestinian universities.
7) To actively engage in education campaigns to publicize the injustice of the Israeli Occupation including but not limited to the plight of Palestinian refugees - considering 80% of the Gazan population are refugees from what is now Israel - focusing on their right of return.