BOYCOTT

4.6.06

The laugh of fate: The state waging a broad international campaign for a boycott is simultaneously waging a parallel campaign, no less determined, against a boycott. A boycott that seriously harms the lives of millions of people is legitimate in its eyes because it is directed against those defined as its enemies, while a boycott that is liable to hurt its academic ivory tower is illegitimate in its eyes only because it is aimed against itself. This is a moral double standard. Why is the boycott campaign against the Palestinian Authority, including blocking essential economic aid and boycotting leaders elected in democratic and legal elections, a permissible measure in Israel's eyes and the boycott of its universities is forbidden?

Statement by Reuven Abarjel, Founder of Israel's Black Panthers, in supports the Academic Boycott of Israel

Translated by Smadar.Lavie

Tuesday, June 6, 2006.

To The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

NATFHE – The University and College Lecturers’ Union, Britain

I am Reuven Abarjel. I was born in Morocco and have lived in Israel since 1950. In the 1970s I founded the Black Panthers Movement. Our struggle against the regime was difficult and without compromise. The violence spread in the streets and in order to break the Mizrahi resistance, the police acted with full force under the instructions of then prime-minister Golda Meir. From the onset of our struggle the Black Panthers embarked on a dialogue with both local and European Palestinian leadership. Black Panthers delegations traveled to Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Concurrently, we met in refugee camps with bereaved families who lost their children to the struggle against the occupation. Just before Hon. Chairman Yasser Arafat died I joined a delegation of activists who met with him in the besieged Muqata`a.

The Irish Times
03/10/2006

The idea of an overall academic boycott of Israel is not an attack on individuals and is most certainly justified, writes Ilan Pappe

Guy Beiner (Opinion, September 27th) has asked us all to rethink the idea of an academic boycott of Israel. This is always a good idea, and as an Israeli academic who strongly supports the boycott, I find it useful to rethink such a drastic move against my state and my peers in local academia.

However, most of his rethinking focuses on the tactics of the campaign and he says nothing about the background for it. He is also misinformed about its recent developments.

We, the undersigned representatives of Israeli and Jewish organizations, have witnessed the Occupation first hand. In our view, Israel's Occupation and settlement policies stem more from territorial claims than from genuine concerns of security, which can only be addressed through a complete end to the Occupation and peace with the Palestinians. Of the 12,000 Palestinian homes demolished by Israel in the Occupied Territories since 1967, less than 5% were demolished for security reasons (and even then we oppose demolition as a form of collective punishment, illegal under international law). In 95% of the cases the families involved were completely innocent of any security offense and were never even accused of or charged with any offense.

http://www.alternativenews.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=441&Itemid=70

The Economy of the Occupation, Part Six
The Question of Sanctions and
a Boycott against Israel
by Shir Hever
“It is in fact astonishing that the divestment campaign should
have generated so much controversy, given that its primary
demand is simply that a country that is showered with official
and unofficial American assistance […] merely acknowledge
and implement the rule of law.”

—Saree Makdisi1

At first glance, the Israeli economy is stronger than ever. Israeli economists are exhilarated, and claim that the Israeli market is one of the largest and fastest-growing importing/exporting economies in the world. But economic analysis must go further, and unveil the implications of the Israeli economy’s dependence on international trade. Now more than ever, Israel is vulnerable to economic sanctions. This is the international community’s opportunity to force Israel to respect the human and national rights of the Palestinians, and to stop many of the abuses that have become its central policies.

01/06/2006

By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent

Hebrew University will not offer a special program to Shin Bet personnel that would have allowed the completion of an undergraduate degree in Middle East studies in 16 months.

At a meeting of senior university staff on Tuesday, it was decided that the special conditions enabling members of the Shin Bet to take many of their classes at an installation belonging to the security organization were unacceptable.

The program came under intense public scrutiny primarily for the special treatment that was being granted to Shin Bet personnel by a respected academic institution.

By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent

An Israeli group is planning to brief the British teachers' association on a new Hebrew University program, approved last week, to grant undergraduate degrees to Shin Bet security services personnel. The Israeli initiative favors imposing sanctions on Israeli organizations that cooperate with the occupation in the territories.

The British National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) is to discuss a proposal Monday for an academic boycott of Israel.

The program, which will award a B.A. in Middle Eastern studies, was modified after it was first reported in Haaretz, and was lengthened from 16 to 24 months. Sixty percent is to be conducted on campus. The humanities faculty council last week approved the program by a large majority, but must still be vetted by the Council for Higher Education.