Members of the Brandeis Israel Political Action Coalition (BIPAC) organized several campaign events in Somerville Thursday and Sunday in an effort to combat a petition that would force the city to liquidate any investments in Israel Bonds or companies that do business with Israel.BIPAC President Jacob Baime '08 said the group made the trips in response to a petition being circulated by the Somerville Divestment Project (SDP). The divestment group sought to obtain 4,000 signatures before a Monday deadline to add its divestment initiative to the town ballot in the November elections.

At press time, it was unclear whether the necessary signatures had been collected or whether an appeals court would uphold the legality of the petition.

"We as Brandeis students are thrilled to do our part in this campaign," Baime said. "This is happening in our own backyard, and we feel a responsibility to take action."

About half a dozen Brandeis students stood in the streets of Somerville Thursday and Sunday and conducted a phone drive in an effort to persuade Somerville residents to withhold support for SDP's campaign. Baime said BIPAC hopes to send several activists to Somerville today, when thousands of residents will be going to the polls to vote in a special election for their state senator.

Divestment first became an issue in Somerville last spring, when a resolution to divest the city's $1.4 million in Israeli assets was defeated 10-0-1 by the city council. SDP then began a new effort to have a divestment initiative placed on the ballot for elections next November.

The Somerville Coalition for Middle East Peace challenged the legality of SDP's petition, arguing that it was one-sided and improperly formatted under Massachusetts law, and a judge upheld the Coalition's argument Thursday, allowing the city to throw out the petitions. An appeal of the decision is pending and the SDP has continued its signature-collection campaign.

SDP argues in its mission statement that Israel has committed human rights violations against the Palestinian people. The document draws comparisons between Israel and apartheid South Africa, whose regime crumbled after a successful global divestment campaign in the late 1980s.

According to the statement, the group "believe[s] that the residents of Somerville will be on the right side of history and will not allow funds to be connected to gross violations of international law, and racist policies against Palestinians."

A member of the Somerville Coalition strongly rejected these arguments, saying that "the people of Somerville want to be more engaged in the region, not less, in terms of municipal investments ... [divestment] sends the wrong message at the wrong time. It's unbalanced, one sided and not constructive for peace."

For BIPAC member Alex Fineburg '08, who traveled to Somerville on Thursday to distribute fliers at a local train stop and make phone calls to families in the area, the trips were an opportunity to "give [Somerville residents] information, ask for their support and get polling information."

"I genuinely felt our efforts were successful when people stopped to ask us questions about what was going on," Fineburg said. "Having an open dialogue about what was going on was the most rewarding aspect of the engagement."

Fineburg said the students found the climate civil and respectful for most of the evening, with the exception of an elderly man who Fineburg said became enraged when told why the group was there. When Fineburg attempted to engage the man in discussion, he reportedly began to scream condemnations of Jews and of Israel.

Despite this encounter, students said they felt the experience was a positive one. The member of the Somerville Coalition had nothing but praise for the Brandeis volunteers.

"Students from Brandeis were extremely helpful," he said. "They did a terrific job, were enthusiastic and highly valuable to the campaign."

Another divestment debate sparked a campus uproar in March 2004, when Hillel boycotted a public forum on divestment hosted by the Brandeis Debate and Speech Society. The Debate and Speech Society had initially asked Hillel to co-sponsor the event, but Hillel rejected the invitation.

Then-Hillel President Rachel Silverman '04 wrote in a letter to the Justice that "debating the idea of divestment from Israel is anti-Semitic in the same way that debating the idea of segregated classrooms is racist.