I wonder if colleagues could help me with the following, reflecting on recent correspondence:
1. Is there any way of criticising Israeli state politics that is not instantly stained directly or indirectly with the retort of anti-semitism?
2. Is it absolutely acceptable to equate the acts of suicide bombers (who, of course, must be condemned) attached to factions who seek to use terror (who should be equally condemned) with the use of helicopter gunships, tanks etc explicitly representing the will of the leadership of the Israeli state?
3. If a boycott is such a bad idea, particularly because it hurts those who do not support and indeed oppose Sharon, why do we use the same on Iraq etc. Are there not anti-Saddam forces who suffer from that boycott?
It seems to me, particularly since but not exclusive to 9/11, that there is a breathtaking double standards to how we look at the arab world and how we look at the European, which Israel is always closely associated with - and that this is reinforced by at the least euro- or enthnocentricity and at worst racism. It also seems to me that the the palestinian/israeli conflict has to be addressed in the context of considerable inequalities of power and military force, the pathologising of arab and middle eastern peoples since 9/11, and a lack of understanding of history.
Those who want peace accept there have to be two states - palestinian and israeli - and certain compromises and guarentees about historical disputes mediated - at least at first - by international forces. Not suicide bombers, military incursions, illegal settlements or any of the like. If someone can point out the last time the Israeli's formally accepted the Palestinian right to exist and what they would have to do to accommodate it, please let me know. No one wants to boycott Israeli colleagues, so perhaps Ronald J. Pohoryles would like to let us know what can be done to apply pressure for a cessation of violence and a move towards peace, or does he propose silence and let the clearly peaceloving regime of Sharon move its agenda forward.
Paul
Paul Reynolds
Senior Lecturer in Politics and Sociology
Centre for Studies in nthe Social Sciences
Edge Hill College
St Helens Road
Ormskirk
Lancs L394QP
Tel: 01695 584370
email: [log in to unmask]
>>> "Ronald J. Pohoryles" <[log in to unmask]> 04/08 11:46 am >>>
Dear Hilary, dear Steven,
upon my return from holidays I found your mail, and also that of Baruch Kimmerling's. Considering both of you good friends and renown political analysts, I must say that I was shocked by the petition and especially by the fact that you might have initiated it.
I have been aware of the new wave of anti-semitism since some time. This is clearly expressed in the recent debate on the ESA mailserver. Without associating any of you personally or in the slightest with the emerging new forms of anti-semitism which recently culminated in attacks against Jewish institutions and synagoges in Europe (my son had two weeks ago his Bar-Mitzwa; not only a pleasant event given the amount of security necessary for not getting attacked as a Jew these days), I do think that the inappropriate form of your protest against Israeli politics plays very much the game of antisemits.
I do not wish to enter into a debate on the Middle East problem at this point - despite the fact that I miss criticisms vis-ŕ-vis the terrorist attacks which killed a lot of innocent people on the Israeli side as well. I just would like to remind my colleagues that - as social scientists - we should be very much aware of what we call "civil societies". In fact the most critical people in Israel are the academics there - and those we want to boycott????? This not just morally wrong, this is a stupidity.
May I encourage all of you to read (hopefully again) what Karl Mannheim and Max Horkheimer wrote in the 30s about the role and the mission of intellectuals particularly in dangerous times. You might then better understand my point.
You might call me now an ardent Zionist - which I am not. But you certainly could not call Baruch one; he is even more critical about the Israeli politics than myself. And he teaches at the HUJI - with him you want to break the links, him you want to boycott!
I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Ronald J. Pohoryles
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Baruch Kimmerling [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Gesendet: Montag, 08. April 2002 11:55
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: Petition opposing a European moratorium on cultural and
academic ties with Israel
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I know we are all swamped with petitions, but please take the time to read this exchange between Israelis scholars and our European colleagues who would like to place a moratorium on European-Israeli academic links. While we understand the motivation of this call for boycotting Israeli academia, many Israeli scholars believe it is
a mistaken way to proceed. The responses below eloquently explain why. Let me simply add, for those of you who are not familiar with Israeli politics, that our ultra-nationalist Minister of Education and Culture -- Limor Livnat -- has been trying for quite some time now to undermine and circumscribe the activities of academics, who
are well-known for being active opponents of right-wing views and many of the present government's policies. Both she and other members of her government have strong interests in isolating and silencing Israeli academics; indeed the weakening of academia would be a reason for them to rejoice. Thus the call by some European
professors to boycott Israeli academia would serve on a silver plate (a part of) the head the Education Minister has been unsuccesfully trying to cut for quite some time. I believe that isolating Israeli academia would do little to bringing us closer to achieving peace with the Palestinians and would in fact directly play in the
hands of those who have other plans in mind.
In short, I ask that you read the documents and exchange found below and consider supporting a call to oppose the boycott of European-Israeli cultural and academic ties. If you agree that such a boycott is ill-advised and counter-productive, please sign this "petition" with your name and institutional affiliation at the bottom of
this email, forward it to your colleagues, and sent us a copy with your "signature."
Emails should be sent to:
[log in to unmask]
or
[log in to unmask]
Thanks you,
Eva Illouz
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Original Press Release: April 6th, 2002
University Professors call for a European boycott of research and cultural links with Israel
As of noon on Friday, more than 120 university academics and researchers from across Europe had signed during the course of three days, an open letter, presented for publication in The Guardian, calling for a moratorium on all future cultural and research links with Israel at European or national level until such time as the
Israeli government abide by UN resolutions and open serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians along the lines of the recent Saudi peace plan.
The signatories include more than 90 from the UK, amongst them 43 university professors including some of the country's leading natural and social scientists. The list includes one signatory from within Israel itself.
Other signatories are from Eire, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
For further information contact either:
Professor Hilary Rose ([log in to unmask])
or Professor Steven Rose ([log in to unmask])
The full text of the letter and list of signatories (not included) follows:
Letter:
Despite widespread international condemnation for its policy of violent repression against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories, the Israeli government appears impervious to moral appeals from world leaders. The major potential source of effective criticism, the United States, seems reluctant to act. However there are
ways of exerting pressure from within Europe. Odd though it may appear, many national and European cultural and research institutions, including especially those funded from the EU and the European Science Foundation, regard Israel as a European state for the purposes of awarding grants and contracts. (No other Middle Eastern state
is so regarded). Would it not therefore be timely if at both national and European level a moratorium was called upon any further such support unless and until Israel abide by UN resolutions and open serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians, along the lines proposed in many peace plans including most recently that sponsored
by the Saudis and the Arab League.
Israeli reactions to the Open Letter signed by European academics
Letter sent by Hillel Shoval April 6th:
Dear Dr. Rose:
A colleague in Israel sent me a copy of your petition calling for a European boycott of all Israeli academics and academic institutions. I would like to bring to your attention and to the attention of your many colleagues who signed that petition that many of the European Union projects with Israel as well as many of the European
bi-national projects you suggest that should be boycotted are joint Israeli/Palestinian/European projects being carried out in cooperation by European / Israeli/ Palestinian scientists who believe in promoting peaceful cooperation and active Israeli/Palestinian dialog in the promotion of mutual understanding and mutual respect.
This is known as "second track diplomacy" which has played a very important role in maintaining open lines of communication , collegial relations, and friendships between Israelis and Palestinian. I have been actively involved in several such project financed by the EU for years and can assure you that they have made an important
contribution to improving, in a modest way, Israeli/Palestinian relations and in promoting peace. Calling for the boycott of such projects by the European cooperating scientists and the EU would hardly be an act promoting the much needed peace process. It would be totally counter- productive since it would result in cutting off
the financial support for the Palestinians partners as well since the basic requirement for most of these projects is that they be joint Israel/Palestinian efforts.
Israel is a democracy and not all of us support the policies of the present government. Many of us in the academia and the scientific community are active in PEACE NOW and the newly established ISRAEL/PALESTINIAN COALITION FOR PEACE and would view an academic boycott of all Israel academics as an improper and immoral act of
collective punishment not worthy of our colleagues in the academic community in Europe. You can freely publish statements of your political views concerning the position of the present government of Israel and the urgent need to reopen negotiations for a peaceful solution, but a boycott against all Israelis academics will be
perceived as an intolerant act of collective punishment and will cast a reflections as to the lack of serious judgment by you and your group and may even raise questions among some as to possible improper underlying motivations.
I would sincerely appreciate it if you would kindly pass on my comments to your colleagues who sign your petition so that each one of those who signed can consider his position after reading this..
Sincerely yours,
Professor Hillel Shuval
Lunenfeld-Kunen Professor of Environmental Sciences
Division of Environmental Sciences
The Herrmann School of Applied Sciences
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Tel./Fax. + 972-2-566-0429
email [log in to unmask]
Letter sent by Aaron Benavot April 7th:
Dear Professors Hilary and Steven Rose:
I recently received a copy of the petition being circulated in the UK
and in other parts of Europe calling for a moratorium on all
European-Israel multilateral and bilateral research and cultural
projects. While I fully support your right -- and that of other European
academics -- to openly voice their opinions, however critical they may
be, concerning Israel's policies towards the Palestinian leadership and
people, I believe that the moratorium called for in this petition is
unwarranted, inappropriate and, in fact, counter productive.
Allow me to bring to your and your colleagues attention some instances
of European funded projects which contribute to promoting peace in the
region and which, if placed on hold, would strike a counter-productive
blow to the aspirations you and your colleagues seek to promote:
1) Many EU funded and European bilateral projects have provided
important frameworks for Israeli Jews, Palestinians, and Arabs from
North Africa and the Middle East to meet in a "neutral" setting outside
the region, to discuss academic topics of mutual interest, and to build
informal interpersonal ties which help counter years of accumulated
misunderstanding and animosity. Last year, for example, during my
sabbatical at the European University Institute in Firenze, Italy, I
participated in the EU-funded 2nd Mediterranean Social and Political
Research Meeting which was attended, together with European colleagues,
by a large number of Arab and Israeli academics thereby providing a very
unique context for interaction and dialogue. I am also aware of other
European and EU funded projects that have been explicitly constructed to
allow Israeli and Palestinian scholars to work together toward common
research objectives in a context of mutual respect.
2) EU funded programs also provide opportunities for Palestinians who
hold Israeli citizenship. For example, under a program to facilitate the
mobility and training of young scholars, a Palestinian doctoral student
of mine has received funding from the Marie Currie Fellowship program
(at the University of Manchester) for training in the areas of social
inclusion/exclusion, ethnic relations and labour market discrimination.
The scientific experiences and networks this student will acquire during
this 2 year period are not only particularly formative, but will
undoubtedly benefit his academic career in Israeli universities. (At
present there are only two tenured Israeli Palestinian professors in
sociology/anthropology in the country's 7 major universities).
I can think of many such examples, but I think that the main point is
clear: programs funded by individual European nations as well as the
European Union have played (and continue to play) important roles in
furthering scientific cooperation between Israeli Jews, Palestinians
(who reside both within and across the green line) and scholars in other
parts of the Arab world. Freezing Israeli access to and participation in
such programs will not only undermine these activities, but make a difficult
situation even worse.
Israeli academics, like myself, who are strongly opposed to the present
government's policies are working hard to change these policies, using
every legitimate means that our young, but cherished democracy has
placed at our disposal. We write letters, we give lectures, we appear in
the mass media, we demonstrate, we support financially opposition
movements -- in short, we seek to counteract the devastation being
wrought on the Palestinians by our duly elected political leadership. We
do so under very difficult conditions given the aftershocks of the
recent spate of suicide bombings -- increased fear, revenge and
dehumanization.
In my opinion, our work -- both directly and indirectly -- will only be
weakened by the freezing of all cultural and research links between
Europe and Israel.
I hope that you will consider my comments and circulate them amongst
your colleagues.
All the best,
Dr. Aaron Benavot
Senior Lecturer
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
office tel: 972-2-5883324
dept. fax: 972-2-5324339
email: [log in to unmask]
Signatories who oppose the call to place a moratorium on European-Israeli cultural and academic ties
1. Professor Hillel Shoval, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2. Dr. Aaron Benavot, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
3. Dr. Eva Illouz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
4. Professor Elihu Katz Hebrew University and University of Pennsylvania
5. Baruch Kimmerling
6. Ronald J Pohoryles
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