<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19019">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>
<DIV>
<DIV class=h5>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>
<DIV dir=ltr><A href="http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1526"
target=_blank>http://pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1526</A><BR>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<TABLE style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: medium" dir=rtl
border=0 width="95%">
<TBODY>
<TR vAlign=top>
<TD
style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,verdana; FONT-SIZE: 13px; TEXT-DECORATION: none"
align=middle><IMG border=0 align=top
src="http://pacbi.org/images/logo.gif"></TD></TR>
<TR vAlign=top>
<TD style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,verdana; TEXT-DECORATION: none"
align=left><FONT size=2><FONT
style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,verdana; TEXT-DECORATION: none"><BR>PACBI</FONT> | <FONT
style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,verdana; TEXT-DECORATION: none">23/03/2011</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,verdana; FONT-WEIGHT: bold"
size=4>University of Johannesburg Makes History: UJ Senate Decides to
Sever Links with Israeli Apartheid</FONT></P>
<P><FONT style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,verdana; TEXT-DECORATION: none"
size=4></FONT></P>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><FONT
style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,verdana; FONT-SIZE: 13px; TEXT-DECORATION: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Occupied
Ramallah, March 23, 2011</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P><FONT
style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,verdana; FONT-SIZE: 13px; TEXT-DECORATION: none">
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif">The Palestinian Campaign for the
Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), representing a wide
spectrum in the Palestinian academy, salutes our South African colleagues
at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) for their principled support for
the cause of justice in Palestine by upholding the 29 September 2010 UJ
Senate resolution</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black"> to sever its
links with BGU [1].<SPAN> </SPAN>The UJ press release notes
that:</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 40.5pt 10pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black">In a protracted and
spirited debate, the Senate of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) today
voted to allow its formal relationship with Ben-Gurion University (BGU) in
Israel to lapse on 1 April 2011. [2]</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black"></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>The
Senate’s decision is a commendable step in the direction of ending
relations with Israeli institutions implicated in apartheid policies and
in supporting the occupation.<SPAN> </SPAN>This decision is
guaranteed to resound around the globe! The real victory also lies in the
intensive mobilization and awareness-raising effort by key activists and
academics in South Africa that indicated beyond any doubt the groundswell
of support for Palestinian rights in the country and that played a key
role in the UJ Senate vote.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>A
petition urging UJ to sever links with BGU remarkably gathered more than
400 signatures of academics from all academic institutions in South
Africa, including 9 vice chancellors and deputy vice chancellors. The
petition was also supported by main trade unions in the country, including
COSATU and NEHAWU.[3]<SPAN> </SPAN>Moreover, there was
unprecedented mainstream media attention, in South Africa as well as
internationally, to the facts of BGU’s complicity and the heavy moral
burden placed on the shoulders of South African institutions, in
particular, to end all forms of cooperation with any Israeli institution
practicing apartheid. <SPAN> </SPAN>In the end, views favorable
to justice and upholding international law gained wide coverage and won
the day.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>PACBI
warmly salutes all those who worked on and who endorsed the campaign to
cut links with BGU. This precedent-setting initiative, endorsed by
prominent leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Breyten Breytenbach,
John Dugard, Antjie Krog, Barney Pityana, and Kader Asmal, does not mince
words in calling for severing links with BGU; furthermore, it implies a
termination of collaboration with all Israeli institutions complicit in
violations of international law.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black">Archbishop Tutu
defended the call to sever links with complicit Israeli institutions
saying "It can never be business as usual. Israeli Universities are an
intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice." [4] Reiterating
his unwavering support for the Palestinian-led global campaign for
boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, he eloquently
adds:</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black">Together with the
peace-loving peoples of this Earth, I condemn any form of violence - but
surely we must recognize that people caged in, starved and stripped of
their essential material and political rights must resist their Pharaoh?
Surely resistance also makes us human? Palestinians have chosen, like we
did, the nonviolent tools of boycott, divestment and sanctions.
[5]</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal> </P>
<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black">This decision cannot
but be viewed as a triumph for the logic of academic boycott against
Israel's complicit academy, as consistently reflected in the positions of
the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and
Employees (PFUUPE) as well as PACBI and its partners worldwide, including
in South Africa. It is, indeed, a significant step in the direction of
holding Israeli institutions accountable for their collusion in
maintaining the state's occupation, colonization and apartheid regime
against the Palestinian people. As former South African cabinet minister
and ANC leader Ronnie Kasrils wrote in the Guardian, “Israeli universities
are not being targeted for boycott because of their ethnic or religious
identity, but because of their complicity in the Israeli system of
apartheid.” [6]</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black">BGU as an institution
is as guilty of complicity in the Israeli occupation and apartheid
policies as any other academic institution in Israel; nothing can make any
"environmental" or "purely scientific" project it conducts with UJ morally
acceptable until it comprehensively and verifiably ends this complicity.
When science is used to cover up grave violations of human rights and
international law, it forfeits any claim to “sanctity” and loses its moral
raison d’etre. The culpability of the entire institution in violations of
international law and human rights cannot be washed away by narrowing the
focus or diverting attention only to details of the project with
UJ.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"><FONT
size=3>As Archbishop Tutu said:</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>In the
past few years, we have been watching with delight UJ's transformation
from the Rand Afrikaans University, with all its scientific achievements
but also ugly ideological commitments. We look forward to an ongoing
principled transformation. [7</FONT><A
name=12ee8a41ae6de041_12ee6d6a89b9d228_12ee6d427c3b4eb1__GoBack></A><FONT
size=3>]</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"><FONT size=3>A
post-apartheid South African university that is in the process of
transforming itself to a truly democratic institution has proven that it
cannot possibly complete this necessary transformation while maintaining a
partnership with an apartheid institution elsewhere. We sincerely salute
UJ for completely severing its institutional links with BGU and look
towards other universities around the world to be inspired by this
historic precedent by ending their own links with Israeli institutions
complicit in violating international law and all basic tenants of human
rights.<SPAN> </SPAN>We further call on all conscientious
people in academies around the world to follow the path of UJ, adopt BDS
as a comprehensive tool to end crimes against the Palestinian people, and
call on their institutions to sever institutional ties with the Israeli
academy.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"><FONT
size=3>PACBI</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><A href="http://www.pacbi.org/" target=_blank><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"><FONT
size=3>www.pacbi.org</FONT></SPAN></A><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"><FONT size=3></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><A href="mailto:pacbi@pacbi.org" target=_blank><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"><FONT
size=3>pacbi@pacbi.org</FONT></SPAN></A><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif"><FONT size=3></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">[1] <U><A
href="http://www.ujpetition.com/2010/10/uj-senate-resolution-29-september-2010.html"
target=_blank>http://www.ujpetition.com/2010/10/uj-senate-resolution-29-september-2010.html</A></U></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">[2] </SPAN><SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><A
href="http://www.uj.ac.za/EN/Newsroom/News/Pages/UJSenatevotesonBenGurionpartnership.aspx"
target=_blank>http://www.uj.ac.za/EN/Newsroom/News/Pages/UJSenatevotesonBenGurionpartnership.aspx</A></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">[3] <A
href="http://www.ujpetition.com/"
target=_blank>http://www.ujpetition.com/</A></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">[4]<SPAN
style="COLOR: blue"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><A
href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article675369.ece/Israeli-ties--a-chance-to-do-the-right-thing"
target=_blank><SPAN>http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article675369.ece/Israeli-ties--a-chance-to-do-the-right-thing</SPAN></A></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">[5]
Ibid.</SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">[6]</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><A
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/29/south-africa-boycott-israel"
target=_blank><SPAN>http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/29/south-africa-boycott-israel</SPAN></A></SPAN><U><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></U></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">[7] <A
href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article675369.ece/Israeli-ties--a-chance-to-do-the-right-thing"
target=_blank><SPAN>http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article675369.ece/Israeli-ties--a-chance-to-do-the-right-thing</SPAN></A></SPAN></P>
<P></P>
<P>Posted on
23-03-2011</P></FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>