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Rehov King George 14

91020 Jerusalem, Israel

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E-mail: info@icahd.org
Website: www.icahd.org

AN OPEN LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

EFFORTS TO DIVEST FROM THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION
February 2, 2015
Dear University of California Regents and Student Association,
As the head of an Israeli peace and human rights organization, The Israeli Committee Against House
Demolitions (ICAHD), I would like to add our voice in support of your efforts at University of
California to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli Occupation and facilitate human
rights violations in Israels occupation of the Palestinian Territories
ICAHD, like many other Israeli and Jewish organizations in the US and other countries, fully
endorses the call of Palestinian civil society to divest from companies profiting from the Occupation
and especially those such as Caterpillar (whose military bulldozers are designed explicitly to
demolish Palestinian homes), General Electric (GE), Hewlett Packard (HP), Lockheed Martin, Elbit
and others all of whom are heavily invested in and support the Israeli military. After almost a half
century of diplomatic and grassroots efforts aimed at inducing Israel to end its Occupation while
watching it grow ever stronger, more permanent and increasingly violent and repressive, we believe
the time is long overdue for people the world over to tell Israel in no uncertain terms that it cannot be
expect to be a part of the international community as long as it violates human rights, international
law and dozens of UN resolutions with impunity.
As Israelis actively struggling alongside Palestinians on the ground in the Occupied Territories, we
understand that Israeli policies and actions are motivated not by security concerns but by a pro-active
intention of expanding into the West Bank and East Jerusalem in order to claim that land as it own,
thereby foreclosing the establishment of a viable, truly sovereign Palestinian state. The demolition of
more than 29,000 Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories since 1967, the expropriation of
more than half the land of the West Bank, the building of around 200 settlements housing a halfmillion Israelis, the uprooting of some two million olive and fruit trees, the devastation of the
Palestinian economy and the immiseration of its people, and the construction of a wall twice as high
as the Berlin Wall through Palestinian communities not on this can be explained by security.
Now as then, governments were moved to action only when civil society raised its voice. Your
divestment efforts will add yet another principled voice to the struggle for justice, alongside those of
other campuses throughout the world. We in the Israeli peace camp salute and support you.
In appreciation and solidarity,
Jeff Halper
ICAHD Director