On 3 August the NUS NEC passed policy on the crisis in Lebanon (see below), refusing to call for an immediate ceasefire.

By the time of the NEC, Israeli attacks had already killed around 500 Lebanese civilians. By the onset of the ceasefire announced on August 14, this had more than doubled to over 1,100 Lebanese civilian fatalities. During the course of the conflict, tragically, around 50 Israeli civilians were also killed.

The most important thing for NUS NEC to do regarding this conflict was to add its name to the widespread calls on the government to demand an immediate ceasefire. Such a call from the British government would have been an enormous international pressure in securing this and saving many lives.

The NUS NEC's failure to call for an immediate ceasefire set it against much of civil society including around 150 MPs demanding a recall of parliament to discuss the issue, bodies such as Amnesty International, numerous charities who forged the Ceasefire Now coalition and against the peace movement including Israeli peace body Gush Shalom and the tens of thousands who marched through London demanding an immediate peace.

NUS' position was also in stark contrast to a TUC General Council statement of 26 th July calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Against this overwhelming call for a ceasefire, NUS NEC lined itself up with George Bush and Tony Blair who - by calling for a counter-posed 'sustainable' ceasefire and so for the continuation of war - were trying to buy enough time to secure Israel a 'victory'.

Tragically, over a thousand murdered civilians, more than 1 million displaced Lebanese civilians and billions of pounds worth of destruction to Lebanon's civilian infrastructure is the outcome of such a policy.

The NUS NEC motion did not only fail to call for an immediate ceasefire, but in other ways presented a partial picture of the situation in the Middle East. For example, whilst the motion adopted by NUS, rightly called for the release of the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbollah as well as the one captured in Gaza it completely failed to call for the release of the 10,000 Palestinians including 300 children and half of the democratically elected government and the Lebanese nationals captured and held by Israel.

Such one-sidedness is consistent with NUS' long record of refusing to support peace and justice in the Middle East including its failure to call for Israel to implement UN resolutions to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. Moreover, those who have spoken out against injustice faced by the Palestinian people have been accused of anti-Semitism.

NUS' position on the recent war is in no way representative of the vast majority of students, many of whom wrote to the national president to express their outrage. If the student movement is to really be a force for peace and justice, we need an NUS with the courage to speak out against violence and oppression no matter who the perpetrators are.

Achieving a lasting peace in the Middle East requires a solution based on justice. At the heart of this, it is crucial that Israel fulfils its requirements under international law and UN resolutions to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. NUS must add its names to such calls.

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