Dear Student,

On Thursday 3 August, the NUS NEC discussed and passed policy on the current crisis unfolding in the Middle East.

Unfortunately the NEC voted down a proposal calling for an immediate ceasefire.

I believe that this decision is completely out of touch with the views of students, the overwhelming majority of whom want to see peace and justice now.

Over the last three weeks the conflict has claimed the lives of some 1000 Lebanese and around 100 Israelis. The United Nations Children's' Fund have estimated that a third of the casualties are children. Children make up nearly half of the 1 million Lebanese - more than a quarter of the population - who have been displaced by the conflict and are now at risk from disease and malnutrition.

As the killing and violence continues, students should demand that NUS adds its voice to the scores of MPs from across the political spectrum, Amnesty International, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Israeli peace organisation Gush Shalom and many others calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Instead of calling for an immediate end to this carnage, the NUS NEC in effect followed the lead of George Bush and Tony Blair, by calling for a 'sustainable ceasefire', suggesting that further violence including ongoing slaughter of civilians and wholesale destruction of the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon, is necessary.

NUS should not stand by while the death toll continues to mount.

I encourage all students and student officers to write to NUS President, Gemma Tumelty gemma.tumelty@nus.org.uk and send me a copy to ruqs@nus.org.uk urging that NUS adds its voice to those calling for an immediate ceasefire as the first step towards a lasting peace for all.

Yours,

Ruqayyah Collector

NUS Black Students' Officer

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