It is with great disappointment that I am having to blog like this so early on in the year and after such a display of unity and mutual co-operation that was displayed at the NEC induction early in July.

The National Executive have a duty to uphold the policies of the National Union, whether they agree with them or not, whether they were passed at National Conference, National Council or the National Executive Committee. I know that there are times when we will disagree, as there will be times when you, in your unions will disagree, but first and foremost as members of the National Executive of NUS we are here to protect the organisation and uphold, if not necessarily promote, the policies passed democratically.

Since an email was sent out by our National Black Students’ Officer, I feel compelled to respond, to set out the actual events that took place and to stop any more confusion and anger as to what has taken place at the first NEC meeting of the year. Let me first start by saying that there were many discussions at the NEC meeting, about finances, education, welfare issues, NUS Services Ltd, NUS Extra and our Priority Campaign, as well as several motions on a variety of issues, in no way did we spend our entire time debating International Politics.

Since a National Executive Committee (NEC) motion was adopted on the (03-08-06) on the situation in the Middle East, there have been numerous letters and emails circulating. Some of these support the NUS position some of these do not. I accept this as the President of a democratic organisation, there will always be differences of opinion and different ways of looking at the polices passed.

However, whilst I recognise this, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify some of the misrepresentation about NUS policy, the NEC meeting in question and – as always - my personal position.

I apologise for this letter being a long one, but in the interests of accuracy and transparency I hope you will bear with me.

Let me start by saying that I understand this issue is extremely sensitive. Many students have been affected directly because of the violence in Israel and Lebanon, are outraged by the death of innocent civilians and many more are rightfully concerned about the impact this will have on a long lasting peace in the Middle East.

But just to clarify;

• This policy is a result of a decision taken by 27 democratically elected members of the NEC, and not, as has been insinuated, my ‘personal decision’. As the President and Chair of NEC, I do not have a vote.

• The only motions and amendments submitted on this issue were from the Organised Independents (which I signed), the Education not for Sale group, Labour Students and Sam Lebens - NEC member, all attached. No other motions or amendments were submitted for discussion from any other group. All NEC members should understand this process. If they do not, I, or one of the other officers, are more than happy to go through it with them.

• Motion 1 was discussed first, then the amendments to motion 1 detailed below were discussed and voted on.

• Motion 2 was then discussed and voted on.

• Many concerns have been raised about parts of the NEC policy. Most specifically the debate about ‘sustainable ceasefire’. From the discussion that took place in the NEC meeting, It is reflective of the debate that took place in the meeting to state that including the word sustainable did not mean it could not be both immediate and sustainable. After all this has to be an end to the violence completely, now and for the long term.

• Any factual inaccuracies about the death toll or the destruction are due to the fact that the motions deadline is ten days before the NEC meeting itself and a lot of the facts changed within that time.

• A mandate on the Anti-Racism Anti-Fascism co-convenors to condemn George Galloway’s comments about the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was passed. This has also caused some friction between the two convenors.

Just to end I, and I am certain, the rest of the NEC, deplore the continuing violence in the Middle East and our sympathies are with all affected peoples. To quote from NUS NEC policy “NUS believe that the capture of Israeli soldiers is unacceptable, however NUS also believes that Israel has continued to exercise disproportionate military action on Lebanon. Hundreds of innocent Lebanese, Israeli and Palestinian citizens have tragically lost their lives in the past weeks. More than half a million people have been forced to leave their homes. Every life lost in this bitter conflict is a message for us to call for a just peace in the Middle East.”

I urge anyone who wants to change the position of the NUS NEC, to contact your NEC and ask them to submit motions on your behalf. I am sure they would be willing to do so.

I hope this will bring the matter to a close so I can get back to my work representing our 5.3 million members

In Peace and Unity,

Gemma Tumelty

National President

Motions and amendments submitted to NUS NEC (03-08-06)

MOTION 1: Escalation of Violence in the Middle East

Submitted by: Stephen Brown, Gemma Tumelty, Alex Kemp, Ama Uzowuru, Dave Charlesworth & Louise Sweeney

NUS Notes

1. The escalating violence and military action across Lebanon, Israel and Palestine.

2. The Capture of the Israeli Soldier in Southern Israel who is currently being held in Gaza and the capture of two Israeli Soldiers in Northern Israel by Hizb’alllah currently believed to be in Lebanon.

3. The Capture of Lebanese and Palestinian government officials by Israel

4. Hundreds of innocent Lebanese, Israeli’s and Palestinian citizens have tragically lost their lives in the past weeks.

5. More than half a million people have been forced to leave their homes

6. The escalating humanitarian disaster

NUS Further Believes

1. That the further escalation between Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas is detrimental to peace future stability of the region and will only lead to further loss of life.

2. The whilst the capture of Israeli soldiers is inexcusable, Israel has continued to exercise disproportionate military action on Lebanon.

3. The Lebanese army has been told not to respond to the Israeli attacks.

4. That whilst the Lebanese President continues to support Hezbollah, the Prime Minster has urged for the release of the Israeli soldiers.

5. Every life lost in this bitter conflict is a message for us to call for a just peace in the Middle East.

6. As a progressive union it is our duty to promote peace and understanding between peoples.

7. The UK Government has not done enough to end the crisis

NUS Resolves

1. To Support calls for a UN Peacekeeping Force in Southern Lebanon.

2. To call on Israel to halt its disproportionate military action and to add our voice to calls for a ceasefire

3. To Support Lebanese internationalists and the movement for progressive democratic reform in Lebanon.

4. To call for the opening of diplomatic ties between the Lebanese Government and Israeli Government.

5. To support the call for the release of Israeli soldiers

6. To reaffirm our commitment to a free and independent Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza alongside a secure and independent Israel side by side in peace, with free trade, communication and travel between the two states.

Amendment 1:

REPLACE Further Believes 9 WITH:

Believes 9) Slogans seen on the STWC demo of 22/7 such as “We are all Hizbollah” conflate support for the Lebanese people with support for a reactionary political movement engaged in terrorist attacks on innocent Israelis.

Believes 10) Diplomatic efforts from the US and UK governments has so far been out of sync with wider opinion in Europe and elsewhere and has failed to bring about a sustainable ceasefire.

REPLACE Resolves 3 with:

Resolves 3) To support labour and student peace movements in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon fighting for a democratic solution to the conflicts, an end to terrorism and violence and a stable, just and secure two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Amendment 2

REPLACE Resolves 2 WITH:

Resolves 2) To call on Israel to halt it disproportionate military action, condemn continuing attacks by terrorists on Israeli citizens and add our voice to calls for a sustainable ceasefire.

BOTH AMENDMENTS SUBMITTED BY:

Wes Streeting, Kat Stark, James Alexander, Scott Cuthbertson, Richard Angell and Steven Findlay

Amendment 3 Sofie Buckland, Joe Rooney

- Delete resolves 1.

- In resolves 7, add “with the same rights as Israel” after “independent Palestinian state” and “East Jerusalem” after “West Bank”. Delete “trade,”.

Amendment 4 Sam Lebens

NEC Believes

1) That on the 22nd of July, George Galloway attended a rally in London and said that “What I’m about to say is illegal in this country … Hezbollah has never been a terrorist organisation. I am here to glorify the Lebanese resistance, Hezbollah, and to glorify the resistance leader, Hassan Nasrallah …”, that Mr. Galloway went on to wish aloud that more Arab leaders were like Hassan Nasrallah and that at this same rally, placards were displayed that read, ‘We are all Hezbollah!’ (www.youtube.com)

2) Hezbollah is implicated in the following selected instances:

• Bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia killing 19 U.S Servicemen (1996)

• Bombing of Jewish Community Centre in Buenos Aires killing 96. The largest terrorist attack ever to take place on Argentinean soil, and the largest attack on Jewish non-combatants since World War II (1994)

• Bombing of Israeli Embassy, Buenos Aires killing 29, injuring 242 (1992)

• Abduction, torture and death of CIA Station chief in Lebanon (1985)

• The kidnapping of around 30 other Westerners between 1982 and 1992, including U.S. journalist Terry Anderson, British journalist John McCarthy, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy Terry Waite and Irish citizen Brian Keenan.

• Car bombing of U.S. embassy on Beirut killing 241 & car bombing of French military barracks in Beirut killing 58 (1983)

3) That Hassan Nasrallah in his speech on the 9th of April 2000 at the Shi'ite Moslem "Ashura" flagellation ceremony, called ‘Nazi atrocities’ a legend ‘invented by the Jews’ and called for the dissolution of the state of Israel on the grounds that "Anyone who reads the Koran and the holy writings of the monotheistic religions sees what they [the Jewish people] did to the prophets, and what acts of madness and slaughter the Jews carried out ...

Anyone who reads these texts cannot think of co-existence with them, of peace with them, or about accepting their presence, not only in Palestine of 1948 but even in a small village in Palestine, because they are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment..."

NEC Further Believes

1) George Galloway is clearly not ignorant of Hezbollah’s history of violence and the killing of innocents knowing his comments may breach the 2000 Terrorism Act

2) By expressing support for Hassan Nasrallah George Galloway is supporting a leader who is openly antisemitic and a holocaust denier.

3) The views expressed by Hassan Nasrallah as the leader of Hezbollah and applauded by George Galloway run contrary to the values of our union: solidarity, peace and respect.

4) Hezbollah carries out acts of terror and as such should be viewed as a terrorist organisation.

NEC Resolves

1) To condemn George Galloway for his comments and support for the racist, antisemitic, fascist leader of Hezbollah.

2) For the Co-convenors of the Anti-Racism campaign to write a letter to the Respect party condemning their current stance on the crisis in the Middle-East, and for this letter to be sent out as a press release.

MOTION 2: Stop the War on Lebanon

Submitted by: Sofie Buckland and Joe Rooney

This NEC notes

1)The military assault by the Israeli government on Gaza and Lebanon.

2)The continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories by the Israeli

army.

3)The death of up to 100 people in Lebanon due to Israeli attacks.

4)The kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by Islamist militants in Hamas and

Hizbollah, as well as the shelling of Israeli targets by Hizbollah.

This NEC further notes

1)A demonstration of around 5,000 Israeli and Arab peace activists in Tel

Aviv demanding an immediate cessation of Israel's actions.

This NEC believes

1)Israel's massively disproportionate reaction to the kidnapping of the

soldiers exposes the expansionist motivations of its government.

2)The destruction of Lebanese social and political infrastructure by the

Israeli military machine can in no way be seen as a legitimate or reasonable

response to terrorism or any kind of self-defence action.

3)Only unity between labour, student and peace movements in the Middle East

can guarantee a democratic solution based on the national rights of all

peoples in the region.

This NEC further believes

1)That while Israel's military expansionism is the key force in the region

and the one on which we must focus our opposition, this in no way implies

support for clerical-fascist forces such as Hizbollah or Hamas, whose

guerilla actions are motivated by a reactionary hostility to the Israeli

people as a whole.

2)Slogans seen on the STWC demo of the 22/07 such as “We are all Hizbollah”

conflate support for the Lebanese people with support for a reactionary

political movement.

This NEC resolves

1)To oppose Israeli military incursions in Gaza and Lebanon.

2)To demand an immediate cessation of Israeli attacks in Lebanon and immediate withdrawal from the Occupied Territories.

3)To support labour, students and peace movements in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon fighting for a democratic solution to the conflicts.

4)To support a solution for the Middle East based on the national rights of

all peoples; for a viable independent Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and

East Jerusalem with the same rights.

The Blogs on this site represent the individual views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or practices of the National Union of Students.

All links in blogs will open in a new browser window.

The permanent URL for this specific blog entry is: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/gemmatumelty/272769.aspx