The Jerusalem Post Newspaper : Online News From Israel - Columns Article

      Against the academic boycott
      David Newman


      One of the disturbing signs of Israel's increasing isolation as a result of recent events has been the attempt by a group of European academics to impose a total boycott on all links with Israeli academic faculty and institutes.

      To this end, a letter - signed by 120 faculty - was published in the Guardian, and a letter was sent to the offices of the European Commission requesting that Israel be excluded from all future research projects.

      The response was quick to come. A group of Israeli academics sent out a counter petition opposing the boycott. A Web site was set up on Geocities, enabling academic faculty throughout the world to sign on. The response exceeded all expectations, with more than 3,000 hits and 800 signatures within the first 48 hours. As of yesterday, this number had increased to more than 4,000 signatures worldwide and is growing daily.

      What is interesting is the large number of international faculty who, while making it clear that they oppose Israel's present policies in the West Bank and Gaza and/or believe that Israel should immediately withdraw from the occupied territories and enable the establishment of a Palestinian state, oppose - in principle - the notion of a collective boycott.

      Some of the signatories wrote to say that such a boycott is unfair to those Israeli academics who share their political views and have been involved in the pro-peace, anti-occupation activities of the past few decades, not least in opposing the present hard-line tactics employed in the West Bank. Others, based on their own experiences, note that similar boycotts practiced in the past against apartheid South Africa had little, or no effect in changing the political policies of the South African regime, but instead only increased the sense of isolation experienced by those within the country who were campaigning for change. Some also wrote to say that collective boycotts were often the first sign of fascist and anti-liberal tendencies, particularly amongst those who themselves lay claim to the values of liberalism and freedom of expression.

      MANY OF the Israeli research contacts, especially those funded by the European Commission and the "people to people" projects, are designed to bring Israeli and Palestinian academics into contact and in developing a working relationship and greater mutual understanding between the two groups.

      Other cooperative projects are specifically aimed at strengthening political links between scholars in the two national communities and the creation of think tanks which can, and have actually contributed to innovative ideas aimed at promoting peace instead of violence and suggesting ways forward for the next round of negotiations between the politicians and diplomats.

      Some of the earliest contacts and secret lines of communication between Israelis and Palestinians were developed through academic meetings. In the period when formal contact between Israeli citizens and members of the PLO were still deemed illegal, academic faculty were not prevented from taking part in scientific meetings which included a Palestinian presence. Had they not been allowed to do so, Israel would have been guilty of exactly the same boycott attempt that this group of European academics are now trying to impose upon Israel itself.

      Particularly disturbing was the reaction from some of the people who signed the original boycott petition, arguing that a fraud had been committed and that they had been asked to sign a completely different letter, one which had not included a call for a collective academic boycott against Israel.

      The dangers to democracy, liberalism, and freedom of speech are all too clear to see in such an attempted boycott, an action which would only serve to make it even more difficult to maintain those important links between Israeli and Palestinian society at a time when almost all other links have disintegrated.

      Our colleagues abroad would do well to rethink their actions and to find ways which could advance the cause of peace, rather than make it even more difficult to achieve.

      The writer is chairperson of the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and editor of the International Journal of Geopolitics.

















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