By Sam Major
Last Tuesday, a number of Princeton faculty members ran an advertisement in The Daily Princetonian calling for the University to “divest from all companies that contribute to or profit from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and continued siege of Gaza.” Many students, however, disagree. As of today, 350 students have signedthis statement.
The faculty petition seems to be largely motivated by events in Israel and Gaza this summer. Before addressing the petition itself, I would first like to address this summer’s conflict.
On July 8, the Israeli Defense Forces launched Operation Protective Edge in order to quell Hamas rocket fire into Israel. Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, is recognized as a terrorist organization by theUS,EU,UK,Canada,Australiaand others. At the beginning of this operation, the IDF targeted Hamas terrorists firing at Israeli cities. Later, the IDF moved into Gaza to find and dismantletunnelsconstructed by Hamas to reach across the border into Israel in order to terrorize, abduct and kill Israelis.
During the operation, approximately 2,100 Gazans were killed.Groups differover what percentage of those killed were civilians. Some groups based in Gaza claim that civilians comprised over 80 percent of those killed; Israel maintains that militants comprised 50 percent of those killed. The IDF sustained 66 casualties fighting in and near Gaza; seven civilians in Israel were killed as well.
Some condemned Israel’s actions during this operation as“disproportionate,” a form of “collective punishment”or evengenocidal.
Undoubtedly,reportsdetailing the loss of innocent Gazans’ lives are deeply saddening.
However, it must be emphasized thatIsraeli forces went to incredible– or, as General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated,“extraordinary”– lengths to avoid such civilian casualties. It must be emphasized that before intensifying attacks against Hamas,Israel looked to avoid escalation while Hamas rejected diplomatic cease-fire efforts.It must be emphasized thatHamas intentionally fires from and embeds its terror infrastructure within densely populated civilian areasandcalls on civilians to ignore Israeli warnings and remain in the line of fire.It must be emphasized thatterrorists in Gaza fired over 4,000 rockets at Israeli cities, forcing millions of Israelis into bomb shelters. It must be emphasized thattheIron Dome– the US-funded missile defense system and testament to the life-saving power of the US-Israel relationship – saved countless lives in Israel. It must be emphasized thatno country would toleratesuch brazen violations of its citizens’ security as Hamas‘tunnelsandincessantrocket fire.Lastly – asPresident Obama,Secretary of State John Kerry,former Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, theUS Congress (unanimously), theEU,UK Prime Minister David Cameron,Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harperand many other world leaders have done – it must be emphasized that Israel has the right to defend itself. Furthermore, Israel has a responsibility to protect its citizens and ensure that they are not forced to live under terror.
It is in this context that faculty at Princeton launched the aforementioned divestment campaign. In their call for divestment, these professors assign absolute blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Israel, ignoring the daily threats to Israelis’ security and wellbeing. They ignore Hamas terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza devoted to murdering Israelis. They call for Israel to act unilaterally, without any guarantees of peace from Palestinian leadership. Furthermore, they ignorethe numerous peace efforts, compromises, and proposals made by Israeli leaders throughout the history of the conflict.
By assigning absolute blame to Israel, the faculty petition connects – whether directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally – to the larger boycott, divestment and sanctions movement targeting Israel. In light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the BDS movement calls for boycotting Israeli goods, divesting from Israeli companies and companies that deal with Israel and implementing sanctions against Israel.
As Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz explains, the BDS movement’s central flaw is that it hinders peace. Leaders of the BDS movement do not call for a mutual, negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Instead,of calling for two states for two peoples, living side-by-side in peace and prosperity, BDS leaders demonize Israel, ignore Palestinian shortcomings, and offer no constructive solutions to the conflict.
Accordingly, divestment – and the larger BDS movement – is counter-productive to establishing a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Condemning one party while ignoring the other’s faults drives the parties further from compromise by alienating the former and emboldening the latter to maintain uncompromising positions. Moreover, condemning the party that has extended its hand in peacetime and again only makes peaceful compromise more unlikely.
Instead of calling for divestment, we at the University should call for direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Peace cannot be imposed. It can only be reached through dialogue, negotiation and compromise. To be sure, fault lies on both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: whether from Israeli settlement policy, incitement to violence by Palestinian leadership or other unilateral actions. Demonizing or assigning absolute blame to either Israelis or Palestinians will only hinder diplomatic peace efforts. Princetonians have a choice. We can add to the never-ending blame game that divestment campaigns perpetuate, or we can help to bridge the divide between Israelis and Palestinians by calling for mutual peace, attainable only through negotiations pursuant to a permanent, peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I invite all Princetonians tojoin in signing our statement supporting mutual peace and prosperity. Be part of the solution.
Sam Major is a history major from New York, NY. He is thepresident of Tigers for Israel. Hecan be reached at sm16@princeton.edu.
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