{"id":3390,"date":"2009-11-01T15:41:46","date_gmt":"2009-11-01T15:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaza.haimbresheeth.com\/?p=3390"},"modified":"2009-11-09T09:45:59","modified_gmt":"2009-11-09T09:45:59","slug":"november-1-2009-page-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/2009\/11\/01\/november-1-2009-page-2\/","title":{"rendered":"November 1, 2009 Page 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sussex Students Boycott Israeli Goods<\/a><\/h3>\n

October 30th, 2009<\/p>\n

Following a landmark referendum, students at Sussex University have voted to boycott Israeli goods. The decision will become part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which calls upon Israel to respect international law and end the occupation of Palestine.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/a>
Students of Sussex Palestine Society and Stop The War Coalition. Photo \u00a9 Josh Jones 2009<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Students of Sussex Palestine Society and Stop The War Coalition. Photo \u00a9 Josh Jones 2009
\nThe referendum result mandates the Students\u2019 Union to remove all Israeli produce from its stores, and review its sources for food outlets. This makes Sussex Students\u2019 Union the first in the UK to implement a full boycott of Israeli goods. The vote was one of the largest and closest contested in the Union\u2019s history, with 562 votes for and 450 against the boycott.
\nThe referendum received messages of support and thanks from Jewish and Israeli academics and non-governmental organisations that oppose Israel\u2019s policy of occupation in Palestine. Author and scholar Norman G. Finkelstein described the referendum result as \u2018a victory, not for Palestinians but for truth and justice\u2019.
\nHe continued by saying, \u2018Let us hope the boycott transmits the message to Israel that it should end the occupation, so that Palestinians can lead a decent life and amicable relations can be restored between Israelis and other peoples.\u2018
\nUK charity War On Want and the Palestinian civil rights group Stop The Wall also sent messages of support.
\nDebates over the boycott were often tense, with the Friends of Palestine Society leading the \u2018Yes\u2019 campaign, and the \u2018No\u2019 campaign running under the slogan \u2018Build Bridges Not Boycotts\u2019. Martha Baker, a member of Palestine Society and speaker at one of the events, said that the biggest challenge for the pro-Boycott team was not, however, the pro-Israeli campaigners.
\n\u2018Our biggest challenge was ignorance: most students are not aware of the situation facing Palestinians living under occupation. Much of our work involved actually telling people what was happening in Palestine. The more we spoke to people, the more they understood the reasons for boycotting Israel.\u2019
\nThe 30-strong \u2018Yes\u2019 campaign team aimed to talk to as many students as possible in person. Syed Bokhari, one of the campaigners, pointed out that door-knocking on campus and talking to people face-to-face proved invaluable to the final outcome. In addition, a benefit club night featuring Lowkey helped raise awareness about the occupation of Palestine.
\nPro-Boycott students also made extensive use of social networking sites to raise awareness about the campaign. Messages of support from NGOs and academics were shared almost instantly across Facebook, and pro-Boycott talks were recorded and published on the Palestine Society\u2019s YouTube channel.
\nSenior Palestine Society member Bushra Khalidi says that the society will now focus its efforts on gaining scholarships for Palestinian students, and lobbying the Union to sell Palestinian West Bank produce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sussex Students Boycott Israeli Goods October 30th, 2009 Following a landmark referendum, students at Sussex University have voted to boycott Israeli goods. The decision will become part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which calls upon Israel to respect international law and end the occupation of Palestine. Students of Sussex Palestine Society and … Continue reading November 1, 2009 Page 2<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3390"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3398,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions\/3398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimbresheeth.com\/gaza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}