BOYCOTT

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.