City Rejects Divestment

Somerville lawmakers resoundingly rejected a proposal last night to divest the city’s funds from Israeli holdings, effectively ending a debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that had sparked controversy in recent weeks.

The 9-1 vote by the city’s Board of Aldermen came five weeks after the proposal drafted by Somerville Divestment Project was first introduced. The proposal had called on the city to divest its pension fund from Israeli bonds and withdraw investments from American corporations providing military products to Israel.

“The vote this evening puts the matter to rest as far as the Board of Aldermen,” said Alderman William A. White ’77 last night.

Somerville’s mayor said earlier this month that he would veto a divestment plan, and the manager of the city’s pension fund said a Board of Aldermen resolution would legally have no effect on city investments.

Several alternate divestment proposals were placed on file by the Board, a procedural motion that effectively defeats the bills, according to White.

A spokesman for the Somerville Divestment Project had no comment last night.

After the vote was taken at Somerville’s city hall, supporters of the divestment plan walked up to the aldermen and began singing an African anti-apartheid song while distributing pro-divestment pamphlets, according to White.

“There was a brief disturbance, and then we resumed,” White said.

Shawn M. Yanklowitz, a student at the Graduate School of Education and founder of the Jerusalem Pluralism Project, a pro-Israel group on Harvard’s campus, held a sign reading “Anti-Divestment, Anti-Hate” at the Board meeting.

“I was very disappointed with the behavior of a lot of the pro-divestors. I didn’t realize that anti-Semitism had reached that level, at least locally,” Yanklowitz said.

Calls to members of the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee were not returned last night.

—Staff writer Michael M. Grynbaum can be reached at grynbaum@fas.harvard.edu.