The veto of a controversial U.C. Berkeley divest-from-Israel resolution stands — which means the bill has effectively been killed, at least in its current form and perhaps only temporarily.
A motion to reconsider a vote that had failed to overturn ASUC President Will Smelko's veto went nowhere April 21, as U.C. Berkeley student senators failed to reach a consensus after more than five hours of discussion, the Daily Californian student newspaper reported.
Link
Background
A divest from Israel resolution passed last month by the U.C. Berkeley student senate. On March 24, Associated Students of the University of California president Will Smelko vetoed the measure urging U.C. Berkeley and the U.C. Board of Regents to divest from two U.S. companies supplying war materials to Israel. Last week, the Cal Berkeley student senate, after an initial 12-7-1 vote to uphold ASUC President Smelko's veto, the senate tabled the bill to this week. Last night, the Senate failed to override the veto, which means the bill has effectively been killed.
For more background, see my previous diary here.
Jibber Jabber
For the moment, the bill is dead. However, as for the motion to revisit the veto vote, no vote was never taken. Though it appears that vote could still be reconsidered, it seems that an easier course for those in favor of the Bill would be to simply redraw and resubmit a new bill. Time will tell.
Editorial
Again, for the moment, even the widely Left UC Berkeley community refuses to analogize Israel to Apartheid, some on the Pro-Palestine side do. FYI, the Bill is titled "A Bill In Support of UC DIVESTMENT FROM WAR CRIMES", and you can read it here.
The Bill is one-sided. It is part of a deliberate attempt by the Pro-Palestinian Left to analogize Israel with South Africa, and thereby shift the paradigm in this country to from the current pro-Israel one to one anti-Israeli. Three things about that:
- The I/P conflict is fundamentally between two peoples who claim the same land. Any settlement to this conflict rests on a mutual recognition that both sides have claims, that there is and will be a Jewish state and that there will be a Palestinian state. All else is commentary.
- In this way, the Pro-Palestinian Left's attempt to resurrect the Zionism-is-Racism line of argument is counter-productive and ultimately foolish. This rejection of Jewish claims to the land has gotten them nowhere, and will only bring more of the same.
- In the past fifteen years, the violent fissure between Fatah and the Hamas is the most salient development of the I/P conflict. The split has retarded prospects of any settlement and until the rise of Hamas is taken into account, prospects for peace are minimal to non-existent.
The Pro-Palestinian Left's silence on the rise of Hamas and the political split in Palestine amongst the Palestinians is both significant and telling. Significant because until Hamas is de-radicalized, nothing can be accomplished. Telling because it is the primary reason behind the Left's retreat further into fanciful ideology like the Binational state. Palestinians are more divided now than even all the divisions rampant in the PLO.
That is the reality that they simply have proven incapable of struggling with. When reality clashes with ideology, ideology will always win. Hence, divestment.