Anti-Israel Academic boycott

[davidfcooper]

http://tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w050425&s=karsh042805

LONDON DISPATCH
College Coarse
by Efraim Karsh
TNR Online
Post date: 04.28.05

Saad al-Din Ibrahim is one of Egypt's foremost sociologists and founder of the respected Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies at the American University of Cairo. He is also an outspoken pro-democracy activist who in 2000 dared to criticize President Hosni Mubarak's reported intention to install his son Gamal as his successor. Professor Ibrahim was peremptorily sentenced to seven years of hard labor and his center was shut down and ransacked. He was released three years later as a result of heavy American pressure.

Professor Hashem Aghajari is a prominent Iranian historian and political dissident. In 2002 he was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death for stating that people should not blindly follow the teaching of religious leaders. The verdict was reaffirmed in May 2004, only to be commuted shortly afterward to five years in prison in response to mass student demonstrations throughout Iran. As he was freed on bail on July 31, 2004, a tearful Aghajari told reporters, "I hope there will come a day when no one goes to prison in Iran for his opinions, let alone be sentenced to death."

As a l

ongstanding member of the British Association for University Teachers (AUT), I cannot recall a single motion to boycott Egypt or Iran for these appalling human rights violations. Nor, for that matter, do I recall the AUT lifting a finger to ease the abysmal denial of academic freedoms and human rights in the Middle East, where repressive leaders supersede state institutions, where citizenship is largely synonymous with submission, and where physical force constitutes the main instrument of political discourse.

But then, in a mind-boggling decision taken without due process and against the wishes of the AUT executive, delegates at the association's annual conference last week singled out two Israeli institutions for immediate boycott: the University of Haifa, for alleged restriction of the academic freedom of a radical staff member, and Bar-Ilan University, for accreditation of a college in the West Bank town of Ariel, a disputed international territory whose fate, according to U.N. Resolution 242 of November 1967, is yet to be determined in peace talks between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

In practice, aside from being the only country in the Middle East where academics enjoy complete and unrestricted freedom of _expression, Israel has done far more to promote education in the Palestinian territories than has any other country. The West Bank and Gaza universities were established by Israel in the first place--neither the Jordanians nor the Egyptians, who conquered these territories during the 1948 war, had allowed universities prior to 1967. During the two decades preceding the intifada of the late 1980s, the number of schoolchildren in the territories grew by 102 percent, and the number of classes by 99 percent, though the population itself had grown by only 28 percent. Even more dramatic was the progress in higher education. At the onset of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank in June 1967, not a single university existed in these territories. By the early 1990s, there were seven such institutions, boasting some 16,500 students, as compared with 6 in Israel and 7 in the Irish Republic. Illiteracy rates dropped to 14 percent of adults over age 15, compared with 69 percent in Morocco, 61 percent in Egypt, 45 percent in Tunisia, and 44 percent in Syria.

But even if this had not been the case, the AUT would still be barking up the wrong tree. In accordance with the Oslo peace accords, in early 1996 Israel withdrew its forces from the West Bank's populated areas (withdrawal from Gazan towns and camps had been completed by May 1994) and dissolved its civil administration and military government. This was followed by the Israeli redeployment from Hebron in January 1997. As a result, 99 percent of the Palestinian population of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip no longer lived under Israeli occupation but rather under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. As the virulent anti-Israel and anti-Jewish media, school system, and religious preaching can attest to, during these years, any presence of a foreign occupation has been virtually nonexistent.

Were the AUT truly concerned about declining standards and restricted academic freedoms in the Palestinian universities of the West Bank and Gaza, it would have addressed its grievances to the real culprit: the corrupt and oppressive Palestinian Authority that has been in control of these institutions for nearly a decade.

That instead of doing so the association chose to single out a vibrant democracy with a distinguished record on human rights and extraordinary scientific and scholarly achievements for academic boycott resonates of darker periods in European history in which Jews were ostracized and denied free access to institutions of higher learning. Only now it is the Jewish State of Israel, rather than individual Jews, that is singled out for ostracism.

Academic discourse is about the free flow of ideas and the building of bridges, not exclusion and segregation, let alone on the bigoted grounds of religion, race, or nationality. The majority of AUT members must now resist the hijacking of their professional association for the political agenda of a small group of militant fanatics. Otherwise, this will not have been our finest hour, to say the least.



Efraim Karsh is the head of the Mediterranean Studies Programme at King's College, University of London.


YOUR LETTER AND ACTIVISM NEEDED NOW - regarding

The British Association of University Teachers (AUT) decision to boycott Haifa and Bar Ilan Universities and to distribute Birzeit University call for a total cultural and academic boycott of Israel ...

FORWARD this to your friends please

1. Write to AUT - see addresses in number 1 below

2. Copy your letter to the AUT and send it to the British press - ADDRESSES BELOW - see number 2

3, StandWithUs Press Release below, sent Friday, April 22,

4. Background information below FOR YOUR LETTER - WHO/ WHAT is AUT?? What have they done?

1. WRITE to AUT and COPY BRITISH PRESS
Dear Friends of Israel,

This is not the time to be silent ...

Write to the British Association of University Teachers (AUT) and tell them to REVERSE THEIR DECISION, made Friday April 22, 2005 to boycott Haifa and Bar Ilan Universities.

Here are the suggested AUT people to write to:

press@aut.org.uk
president@aut.org.uk
sally.hunt@aut.org.uk
paul.cottrell@aut.org.uk,
brian.everett@aut.org.uk,
catherine.wilkinson@aut.org.uk


2. Send a copy of your letter to the British press ...
Suggested addresses as follows:

letters@the-sun.co.uk,
stletters@telegraph.co.uk,
info@ap.org,
oneclick@bbc.co.uk
newsbeat@bbc.co.uk
psdalexander@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
info@standwithus.com
editor@thisislondon.co.uk,
help@ft.com ,
newsdesk@news-of-the-world.co.uk,
politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk,
foreigneditor@independent.co.uk,
newseditor@independent.co.uk,
expressletters@express.co.uk,
editorial@dailymailonline.co.uk,
dtletters@telegraph.co.uk,
online.editor@timesonline.co.uk

3. StandWIthUs Press Release
Sent on April 22 after the AUT decision was announced.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 22, 2005

StandWithUs Denounces Britain Association of University Teacher's vote to Boycott Israeli Academics

LOS ANGELES (April 22 2005) The international education organization StandWithUs (SWU) denounced Britain's Association of University Teachers' (AUT) decision today to boycott Israeli academics. "We are deeply disturbed by this one-sided, politically inflammatory decision. The vote was the result of a combination of propaganda campaign and racism," stated StandWithUs National Director Roz Rothstein.

Britain's AUT voted to boycott academics from Israel's Bar Ilan University and Haifa University and is continuing to review Hebrew University's status. These measures fall neatly in line with demands by Palestinian academics for what they call a comprehensive boycott of "all Israeli academic and cultural institutions."

"This boycott movement is simply part of the war against Israel and its legitimacy. It is reminiscent of Nazi Germany when that regime banned Jewish academics and even denounced Jewish science and art," said Rothstein. " Now the AUT has voted to ban academics simply because they are Israeli citizens. They justify their decision by twisting the truth about Israel and its university system which in fact promotes freedom of ideas and encourages Arab-Israeli cooperation."

SWU also criticized the AUT decision to exempt Israeli academics from the boycott if they sign a statement denouncing the Israeli government. "Apart from being McCarthy-like, this is blatantly one-sided. Why aren't Palestinian academics forced to condemn suicide bombing and PA media incitement in order to work with British universities? If the AUT's misguided method was sincere, they would have imposed demands on both sides," said Rothstein.

SWU also denounced the focus on Israel. "If the AUT wants to use academic boycotts to coerce offending governments, why aren't they focusing on China or other countries where intellectual freedom and civil rights are virtually non-existent? Why single out Israel?"

"The British University community should be ashamed of how this action reflects on them. The AUT vote is a perversion of academic integrity and a blow to international standards of scholarly cooperation and research. It should be overturned as soon as possible," Rothstein asserted. "Our organization will work energetically with other groups to ensure that this is rescinded and that fairness and accuracy return to the AUT's debate about this tragic conflict."

With offices in Los Angeles, New York and Jerusalem, StandWithUs is a U.S. non profit group dedicated to ensuring factual and balanced debate about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

END

4. BACKGROUND ON THE AUT ACADEMIC BOYCOTT
WHAT IS THE AUT? The Association of University Teachers, with 48,700 members, is the largest and most influential union of higher education lecturers and support staff, such as librarians, in the United Kingdom. THERE WERE 190 DELEGATES AT THE AUT MEETING.

WHAT WAS THE BOYCOTT RESOLUTION AND HOW DID THE AUT VOTE?

The resolution centered around five separate motions:

1. Contact and work with the Israeli Union of Higher Education. (An Israel-friendly counter-proposal.) This motion was tabled.

2. Boycott Hebrew University because it allegedly confiscated Palestinian land to build dorms. This motion was referred for further investigation because of inconclusive evidence.

3. Officially circulate the Call for a Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel that was issued by Birzeit University in the West Bank and signed by 60 PA academic unions and NGOs. This motion passed.

4. Boycott Haifa University because it allegedly violates academic freedom as evidenced by one professor's-Ilan Pappe's-complaints. This motion passed BY A NARROW MARGIN (96 TO 92).

5. Boycott Bar-Ilan University because it supervises degree programs at the Israeli College of Judea and Samaria in the West Bank. This motion passed BY A NARROW MARGIN (96 TO 92).

WHO INTRODUCED THE MOTION? Two anti-Israel activists, Sue Blackwell and Shereen Benjamin, both from Birmingham University AUT branch, co-wrote the resolutions calling for specific boycotts. The resolutions calling for the circulation of a boycott call was proposed by the open university branch of the AUT Blackwell draped herself in a Palestinian flag at the event. Blackwell and Benjamin were following the lead of Mona Baker, an instructor who was born and educated in Egypt, and linguists Steven and Hillary Rose, both Jews, who had led the way in calling for academic boycotts of Israel. The controversial Haifa University professor, Ilan Pappe, also worked closely with these AUT members.

WAS THERE DEBATE? No. Opponents were not allowed to speak.The AUT's Assistant General Secretary David Bleiman commented that the absence of debate meant the motion would "carry little moral authority." The AUT refused Jewish members' request that the motion be rescheduled from late Friday afternoon when Sabbath and Passover were beginning to an earlier day in the 3-day conference so they could attend and vote. The AUT also refused to accept evidence from Haifa and Bar Ilan Universities which disputed the facts stated in the motions.

WHY NOW? A motion to impose an academic boycott against Israel had been defeated in 2002. The proponents revised their strategy to make it more likely to pass. The new motion was more specific, targeting individual schools and their alleged abuses and it excluded Israeli academics if they signed an affidavit condemning Israel's policies. In addition, the AUT finally had the support of some Palestinians, which it had lacked before. The Birzeit Call for a Boycott had been signed by 60 academic unions and NGOs in the PA.

HOW HAVE OTHERS RESPONDED TO THE AUT VOTE? In general, British leaders and even newspapers normally hostile to Israel have been shocked by the violation of academic freedom and by the frank _expression of anti- Semitism. Many point out that this academic boycott is reminiscent of Nazi policy in the 1930's.

"The decision ... is a mockery of academic freedom, a biased and blinkered move that is as ill-timed as it is perverse ...[It] can quickly become an excuse for anti-Semitism ... Why does the AUT not call for a ban on contacts in dozens of other countries inimical to human rights?... AUT members should defeat this pernicious ban by cultivating every contact available as soon as possible with the two Israeli universities." London Times editorial, April 25 2005 http:// www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-1584297,00.htm

The boycott was "swiftly and rightly condemned by university vice-chancellors and principals." London Times editorial, April 25 2005 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542 -1584297,00.htm

The boycott "would appear to run contrary to contractual law, race and religious discrimination law, and academic freedom obligations, which are built into the contracts of staff in pre -1992 universities." Jocelyn Prudence, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association in Britain http://education.guardian.co.uk/ higher/worldwide/story/ 0,9959,1469980,00.html

"A boycott attempt based on nationality encourages discrimination and goes against the principle of judging academic work on its merits alone. It inhibits progress in areas that benefit humanity, cuts the UK off from leading research, prevents collaborations and encourages discrimination against some students and staff within the UK." Andre Oboler of Britain's National Postgraduate Committee, which includes all MA and PhD students. http:// www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1113445110820&p=1091072353995

"The AUT motion cannot be dismissed as the ravings of a tiny minority of far-left academics in a marginal union ... this development is merely the latest in an apparently unstoppable stream of comments and incidents of an anti-Jewish nature. And the crucial thing is the absence of outrage in the wider community ..." Melanie Phillips http://www.melaniephillips.com/ diary/archives/001150.html

The boycott is "an academic terror attack on Israeli academe." Its initiators were "a radical and extremist group" that has been trying for a long time to find an excuse to boycott Israel. Prof. Eitan Gilboa of Bar-Ilan's political science department. www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/568887.html

"The boycott should be seen as part of a broader strategy toward the de-legitimization of Israel, leading to eventual sanctions against the country. This is a political campaign. The people behind the campaign, such as Sue Blackwell, are opposed to the continued existence of the State of Israel." Jonathan Spyer, Interdisciplinary Center in Herzeliya. http:// www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1114136298531
email: info@standwithus.com
phone: 310-836-6140
web: http://www.standwithus.com