7/28/2019 Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua letter to UC Berkeley against divestment and in support of criminals, April 14, 2010

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April 14, 2010

Dear Members of the Berkeley Senate,

We hope that our names are not unknown to you. We have been invited to lecture at

Berkeley on many occasions, and have been graciously received by your faculty and

students.

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, the two of us along with other authors, artists and

intellectuals, have struggled incessantly to advance the notion that the territories captured

by Israel during the Six day War must not be annexed into the Jewish state; but rather

returned in their entirety to Egypt, Syria, and of course to the Palestinians in exchange for

full peace and appropriate security arrangements, in the spirit of UN Security Council

Resolution 242, adopted unanimously by the international community.

In the ensuing years of war and upheavals, Israelis, Arabs, and particularly the

Palestinians, often rejected this approach. However things have changed in Israel. Backed

by only a minority of Israelis in 1967, the idea of return of territory in exchange for peace

has earned wide support within Israel today, and has become the cornerstone of many

Israeli political party platforms. This concept is supported today even by the current

government of Israel, considered by many to be right-leaning.

Egypt and Jordan signed peace agreements with Israel on the basis of this UN resolution,

and since 1993, the Israelis and the Palestinians have been engaged in difficult and

complicated peace negotiations on the basis of two states for two peoples.

It is true that the path is not easy, and there have been many regrettable setbacks for

which both sides must bear responsibility but our fundamental direction remains clear.

Therefore, instead of launching a divestment campaign against Israel, you need to work to

encourage and support Israel and the Palestinians to continue moving towards two states

for two peoples, a goal to which they have both formally committed themselves.

In todays world, we are witness to waves of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel antipathy from

right-wing racists and Holocaust deniers, who seek not peace to the Middle East, butrather to condemn Israel and the Jewish people no matter what. In addition, we are

witness to absolutist threats to Israels existence from Iran and its allies who threaten to

use nuclear weapons to achieve this aim.

It will be a tremendous misfortune if UC Berkeley, a liberal progressive community, joins

with reactionary anti-Semitic forces by advancing hatred and sanctions against Israel.

7/28/2019 Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua letter to UC Berkeley against divestment and in support of criminals, April 14, 2010

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Moreover, sanctions by the left will only strengthen the hawkish extreme in Israel, and will

weaken the peace efforts of the Israeli liberal camp.

Therefore we call on you to desist from any form of divestment against Israel, and to join

us Israelis in advancing and keeping faith with the one real option for peace the

establishment of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders living in peace and security

alongside the State of Israel.

Sincerely,

A.B. Yehoshua Amos Oz