[Fdu] Over 100 Middle East scholars and librarians call for academic boycott

[Cynthia Wright]

[from Jens Hanssen of U of T] 
Dear colleagues and friends,

In an unprecedented expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people, and especially at this time with the Palestinians in Gaza, a group of now well over 200 prominent scholars and librarians of the Middle East have called for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.  As reasons for action, our letter cites the siege of Gaza and "the occupation and dispossession in East Jerusalem, the Naqab (Negev), and the West Bank; the construction of walls and fences around the Palestinian population, the curtailment of Palestinian freedom of movement and education, and the house demolitions." We add that these violations have "long histories and no apparent end in sight."  We have pledged "not to collaborate on projects and events involving Israeli academic institutions, not to teach at or to attend conferences and other events at such institutions, and not to publish in academic journals based in Israel."  

This action comes on the heels of recent academic boycott resolutions by a number of academic associations including the American Studies Association (ASA) and, most recently, the Critical Ethnic Studies Association (CESA), and African Literature Association (ALA).

Scholars have taken their lead from the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE), which is one of many Palestinian civil society organizations that have called for the comprehensive implementation of boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) of Israel.  They call on the boycott of complicit Israeli academic institutions "until such time as these institutions end their complicity in violating Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law, and respect the full rights of Palestinians by calling on Israel to:

1. End its siege of Gaza, its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967, and dismantle the settlements and the walls;

2. Recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab­Palestinian citizens of Israel and the stateless Negev Bedouins to full equality; and

3. Respect, protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

 

For more, go to: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/18811/over-100-middle-east-scholars-and-librarians-call-

 

If you are a Middle East scholar, researcher, doctoral or postdoctoral, archivist or librarian and have not yet endorsed this call, go to: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1u1Z0GOyVCmkii1t4hgR9Me4y-wLfuGalS3LZvQ_AZUQ/viewform 

 

 



 
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