Boston suburb may become first US city to divest from Israel

Boston suburb may become first US city to divest from Israel

Jerusalem Post
Date: Nov. 26, 2004

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER

Somerville, a community abutting both Boston and Cambridge, could become the first US city to divest from Israel. According to those who track the issue, the city has already distinguished itself as the first place to formally consider a divestment resolution.

The measure stems from alleged Israeli human rights abuses and calls on Somerville's retirement board to rid the city's pension fund of $250,000 of Israel Bonds and other investments in American companies that "manufacture military equipment used in Israel's illegal military occupation," such as Caterpillar and Boeing.

The city of 80,000 can be described as both blue-collar and progressive.

The proposal came close to passing without debate when it was introduced on October 28, but the Board of Aldermen, Somerville's 11-member legislative body, decided to host a public hearing on November 8 to let the other side have its say. They will consider whether or not to modify the measure and hold a final vote at a legislative committee meeting on December 7. The resolution is non-binding, since the retirement board is independent of the board of aldermen.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC) is optimistic that the flood of e-mails, phone calls and public testimony its constituency has unleashed in the past month will stymie the measure.

The resolution was drafted by the grassroots Somerville Divestment Project, which presented a petition with 1,200 signatures and lobbied aldermen to back the proposal. Eight signed on as sponsors, but several of them have since backtracked, and some have suggested the December 7 meeting will result in a watered-down general resolution on the Middle East peace process ? or in the measure being buried in committee.

"It was a mistake to get involved in the first place," Alderman Bruce Desmond, a cosponsor of the resolution who has since decided to vote against it, told The Jerusalem Post. "My intentions were just to make a statement about human rights, and unfortunately I hadn't taken into consideration what kind of division it would cause in the city, and the arguments in the rest of the community that were quite strong."

He added, "A local community has neither the expertise or the background to be making decisions concerning this [issue]."

"A lot of the board has become enlightened by the discussion in the community," said Alderman Tom Taylor after the hearing in which scores of divestment foes showed up. "I didn't expect such a strong reaction at all."

"I guess I thought it was a simple comment [against] violating human rights," explained Taylor, who hasn't decided how he will vote, despite sponsoring the resolution. "I guess as I read it further, [it seemed] that it's targeting one country and that's not fair."

To the Somerville Divestment Project, however, it's the city that has unfairly singled out one country. According to Annique Caplan, a member of the project's board of directors, Israel is the only country in which the retirement board holds bonds. If Burma or even an independent Palestine were similarly invested in, Caplan maintained, her group would call for divestment there, too.

In any case, Mayor Joe Curtatone, who spoke against the resolution at the contentious November 8 hearing, promised to veto the measure.

"It's much more complex than any resolution can address," he said of the Middle East conflict. "Passing this resolution would just add more confusion and complexity."

While Caplan said her organization is still "hopeful" that its motion will prevail, she added, "We're realistic that when anyone, no matter how courageous, is confronted with a certain level of feeling intimidated and doesn't know what the ramifications ? political ramifications ? of taking a position might be, it remains hard to take a position."

She also charged that, "The retribution is so intense for anyone who takes a position that is supportive of the protection of Palestinians. The retribution is swift and intense."

Aldermen such as Taylor vociferously challenged the claim that they had been intimidated by anti-divestment forces, asserting, "It hasn't intimidated me. It's just caused me to look at it a little closer."

JCRC deputy director Alan Ronkin termed the charge "libelous" and said that there aren't enough Jews in the city to politically threaten the elected officials. Yet he welcomed the strong turnout and vocal opposition mustered against the divestment proposal.

"This is the broadest-based coalition of Jewish organizations I've seen on any issue," according to JCRC executive director Nancy Kaufman, who pointed to condemnation of the proposal from organized labor, leftist groups such as Brit Tzedek v'Shalom and blocs of Russian immigrants. But this positive result didn't prevent her from feeling shaken by the experience.

"This is a wake-up call," she said, noting that her organization was "surprised" by the Somerville initiative. Until now, divestment campaigns have mostly occurred on college campuses and among church groups, such as the Presbyterians.

"We need to come together to work out a strategy that is preventive, not reactive," Kaufman said. "This isn't the first [divestment campaign] and it's not going to be the last."

Though the Somerville Divestment Project might be the most far along in pushing municipalities to divest, it's not the only such attempt. The Palestine Solidarity Committee has for years been prodding Seattle to divest from American companies selling military equipment that Israel uses in the West Bank and Gaza.

So far, their efforts haven't been met with much success, as the City Council hasn't even been willing to meet with them. But PSC volunteer Edward Mast said the group is carefully following the "inspiring" project in Somerville. Those efforts have already achieved a lot of the purpose.

"Whether they pass it or not, they've gotten huge local attention [on] this issue and national attention," Mast said. "That's already a success for their campaign."

"They've won in some senses," the JCRC's Ronkin acknowledged. "Their goal is to delegitimize Israel [and] they've put Israel on the defensive."

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