The
growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in support of
Palestine notched a significant victory as the University of London
Union voted 10-1 to institute and campaign for BDS. The ULU, with
more than 120,000 members at colleges across London, is the largest
students’ union in Europe.
The
motion, passed on May 18, calls for other students’ unions to join
in the campaign. In addition to supporting divestment and sanctions,
it called for a boycott “to target products, companies and
institutions that profit from, or are implicated in, the violation of
Palestinian rights.”
The
ULU noted the impact BDS had in overturning apartheid in South
Africa. It condemned the 8-meter high separation wall in the West
Bank and the ongoing expansion of illegal Israeli settlements “in
direct violation of Article 49, paragraph 6 of the 4th Geneva
Convention, which declares ‘an occupying power shall not deport or
transfer part of its own civilian population into territories it
occupies.’”
