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Sunday, May 21, 2006
British Academic Boycott of Israel "This group will work towards achieving peace in Israel/Palestine through candid sharing of information and concerns by Israelis, Palestinians, and others who hope to achieve truth and reconciliation there." I am convinced that those of us on the outside must do what we can to help the Israelis and Palestinians live together one way or another in peace! I would add this group's website to the others that I have located with at the list site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine but it is in Hebrew which I cannot read and, thus, check out and which also does not carry with my computer system. Others may want to look at it: <http://www.newprofile.org> This posting was sent on to me from Israel by Dorothy Naor, who works for truth and reconciliation there. Ed Kent] Ha'aretz Update Thursday, May 18, 2006 Last update - 21:37 18/05/2006 British professor refuses request to write article for Israeli journal <http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/717551.html> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/717551.html Hebrew: http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/717544.html By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent A British professor has refused a request to write an article for an academic journal funded by Israeli universities. Professor Richard Seaford, from the University of Exeter in England, refused to write the article, saying he was taking part in the academic boycott of Israel. "Alas, I am unable to accept your kind invitation, for reasons that you may not like. I have, along with many other British academics, signed the academic boycott of Israel, in the face of the brutal and illegal expansionism and the slow-motion ethnic cleansing being practiced by your government," Seaford wrote to Dr. Daniella Dueck. Dueck, a lecturer at Bar Ilan University and a member of the Scripta Classica Israelica editorial board had requested that Seaford write a book review for the journal. Scripta Classica Israelica is published by the Israeli Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies and is distributed to subscribers in Israel and abroad. Seaford, the head of the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Exeter University, told Haaretz that the academic boycott "is just a small contribution to the long-term raising of international consciousness which represents the only hope for an eventual just peace in the Middle East. In this respect, there is a parallel with the academic boycott of Apartheid South Africa." When asked why boycotts specifically target academics, Seaford said, "Though many charges of racism have been directed against Israeli universities, we do not want academics of all people to be boycotted: We would be delighted if there were other boycotts." On May 27-29, the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will debate a proposal in favor of an academic boycott against Israel. The International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom (IAB), established at Bar Ilan University to take action against academic boycotts, published a statement Thursday in which it "warns that a silent boycott between British and Israeli academics is already taking place," and called on an anti-boycott network of some 500 academics around the world to oppose it. In March, the London Jewish Chronicle reported that U.K. magazine Dance Europe refused to publish an article on Sally Ann Freeland, an Israeli choreographer, and her dance company. The magazine conditioned the publication of the article on an explicit declaration by Freeland against the occupation, which she refused to make. The academic boycott began in the United States and Europe during the first intifada, and intensified in 2002 after Operation Defensive Shield, during which Israel Defense Forces troops occupied West Bank cities. The boycott movement began in response to a request by Palestinian organizations, such as The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, an umbrella organization for dozens of Palestinian NGOs. An attempt is made almost annually in the U.K. to formally instate an academic boycott on Israel, through official decisions by lecturers' unions. The proposal slated to be discussed later this month by NATFHE differs from previous ones. According to the proposal, the current boycott will deal not only with the occupation, but also with discrimination against different populations in Israel, mainly in the field of education. The proposal encourages academics to "consider the appropriateness of a boycott of those that do not publicly dissociate themselves" from discriminatory and unequal policies. According to the IBA, "Such boycotts have no place in the academic community. Scholarship and research, and their expression in the open and free exchange of ideas, are among the foundations of civilization, and without them there can be no true advancement of human knowledge." ------------------------ New Profile Movement for the Civil-ization of Israeli Society www.newprofile.org to subscribe to our email list send email to newprofile-subscribe@googlegroups.com -- "A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli) -- Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/ http://www.bloggernews.net Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Ed Kent at 5:17 AM |
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