I'm a bit behind on this discussion, as I receive only the digest of these messages. But I had a very similar response as many others on this matter. It is vitally important that we do not contribute to the reproduction of geographies of exclusion, inequality, and militarization by attending a workshop at Tel Aviv University, an institution that directly contributes to the occupation of the Palestinian West Bank. In this regard, it our responsibility to stand in solidarity with Palestinian civil society, who have called on the rest of the world to participate in the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Once the occupation has ended, once Palestinian refugees are able to return to their homeland, and once Palestinians within Israel are treated as equal citizens, then I think it would be great to participate in such a workshop at Tel Aviv University. But until then, we should not legitimize an agent of occupation and militarization.
Bob
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 01:22:04 -0800
From: William Payne <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: CFP: The Settlements in the West Bank (1967-2014): New Perspectives
Dear all,
As a doctoral student with a background as a human rights worker in conflict zones including a short posting in the occupied West Bank several years ago, I am interested in this conversation. I don't doubt the value of the proposed workshop yet find myself dwelling on the importance of 'how' such scholarly pursuit is conducted. It seems to me fundamental that Palestinian scholars be fully involved at every level of such a scholarly endeavour, that there not be particular impediments to their participation and that there be positive efforts to include them and to facilitate their involvement. Also, if it is to be useful for those to whom it matters most, specifically those displaced by the colonial project that is at the root of settlements, it seems to me crucial that such a workshop align itself with the principles of the BDS movement. Perhaps the workshop could take place in the West Bank?
William Payne
PhD Candidate - Critical Human Geography
York University
[log in to unmask]
"Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers… And it is not necessarily better to be moved. Sentimentality, notoriously, is entirely compatible with a taste for brutality or worse."
-Susan Sontag
------------------------------
|