<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1433174209955_4638"><span>Very well stated.</span></div> <br><div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> On Monday, June 1, 2015 10:24 AM, Robert Naiman via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net> wrote:<br> </font> </div> <blockquote style="padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 5px; border-left-color: rgb(16, 16, 255); border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid;"> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv3852677799"><div dir="ltr"><div class="yiv3852677799gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/2015-05-31/illinois-bill-backs-illegal-settlements.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/2015-05-31/illinois-bill-backs-illegal-settlements.html</a><div><br></div><div><h1 style="margin: 15px 0px 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 1.1; padding-top: 4px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5em; border-top-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-top-width: 9px; border-top-style: solid;">Illinois bill backs illegal settlements</h1><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 20px; font-size: 14px;"><div style="width: 710px; padding-right: 15px; padding-left: 15px; float: left; min-height: 1px;"><div><span style="font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px;">Sun, 05/31/2015 - 7:00am | <a title="View user profile." style="color: rgb(19, 41, 75); text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.news-gazette.com/users/digitalmedia" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">The News-Gazette</a></span><div><div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Georgia,; font-size: 17px;">The News-Gazette is delighted that the Illinois Legislature has voted to require state pension funds to divest from (foreign) companies that "boycott Israel" ("Boycott issue cuts both ways," May 22).</div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Georgia,; font-size: 17px;">But you missed a crucial detail. The Illinois legislation defines "boycotting Israel" to include boycotting any enterprise in "Israeli-controlled territory," i.e. any enterprise in an Israeli settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The West Bank is not recognized as "Israel" by the international community, including the United States.</div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Georgia,; font-size: 17px;">European countries in particular regard Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law. Human Rights Watch has the same view.</div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Georgia,; font-size: 17px;">Thus, the real import of the legislation is to try to legitimize Israeli settlements in the West Bank as equal to "Israel." The goal of the bill's proponents, and supporters of the settlements more generally, is to prevent diplomatic resolution of the conflict according to the international consensus: creation of a Palestinian state.<br><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><br>If no Palestinian state is created, and if the Palestinian residents of the West Bank are not granted Israeli citizenship, what remains is for the Palestinian residents of the West Bank to remain stateless — to live under a system of apartheid, subject to rule by a government for which they are not allowed to vote.</span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Georgia,; font-size: 17px;"></div><div style="margin: 10px; clear: both; float: right;"><div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 300px; text-align: center; min-height: 250px;"><div style="border: 0pt currentColor; width: 300px; display: inline-block; min-height: 250px;"></div></div></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Georgia,; font-size: 17px;">Ironically, while critics of "the global BDS movement" resent the comparison of Israel to apartheid South Africa, the goal of the Illinois legislation and the pro-settlement movement is to make reality conform to the analogy more explicitly.</div><div></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Georgia,; font-size: 17px;">ROBERT NAIMAN</div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Georgia,; font-size: 17px;">Urbana</div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br clear="all"><div><div><div dir="ltr">===<span class="yiv3852677799HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br>Robert Naiman<br>Policy Director<br>Just Foreign Policy<br><a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><a href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><div><span style="text-align: left;"><a href="" rel="nofollow">(202) 448-2898 x1</a></span><br></div></font></span></div></div></div>
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