Dear all,

I forwarded the recent exchange of emails to a senior colleague  
working at Birzeit University.

She wrote in response, "I just do not understand how forging links  
with Palestinians could relieve us from the agony of daily  
violation.... I do not think individuals who are so far away quite  
understand, unless of course they visit, then maybe a change could  
take place. It is not merely that we are isolated, it is that  
Occupation inhibits us from academic work, teaching and research."

I am also including below a letter she wrote to the British Medical  
Journal on this subject.

We cannot continue these discussions without taking into account the  
explicit requests by Palestinian academics (and society far wider  
than just the academics). They have tried many avenues, and the  
current requests are not produced in a vacuum or based on a small  
timescale. We should take into account their struggle in reaching  
this point, rather than presume they started off here.

best wishes
Nadia

Opening up the boycott Israel debate is vital to exposing and  
removing the longstanding de-facto boycott of Palestinians
August 17, 2007
Rita Giacaman, Professor
Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University,  
Occupied Palestinian Territory
I would like to thank you for publishing your excellent viewpoint  
regarding the Academic boycott of Israel in the August 4 2007 BMJ  
issue: "Academic boycott of Israel: follow- up to the BMJ's debate",  
BMJ 2007;335:234-235.

Indeed, it is initiating a process where boycott is debated that we,  
Palestinian academics and health professionals living under Israeli  
military occupation, aspire to. The subject of grave Israeli  
violations of Palestinian human rights, including the right to  
health, has for long been presented from the perspective of  
unconditional support of Israel no matter what, and to the exclusion  
of a deeper understanding of what is truly happening in Palestine- 
Israel, and the Palestinian point of view.

Is this not a de-facto boycott of Palestinians?

Why is it that when Palestinians are boycotted, and for so long, no  
one seems to complain?

Could it perhaps be that the prevailing assumption is that  
Palestinians are not equal to Israelis - with the principle of  
equality at the heart of medical and public health work?

Are we subhuman, not deserving equal treatment and equal time to  
explain our situation and present the arguments that led us to  
believe that Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions are the only means  
left to non- violently resist Israeli occupation of Palestinian land?

Are we to stand silently in the face of the destruction of our  
economy, institutions, control of land and other resources and the  
violations of our most basic rights?

What other options do we have to resist severe violation, address low  
life quality and ill health, given that we have tried everything  
else, and nothing has worked?

Opening up the debate on boycotting Israel in the BMJ is a vital step  
in the process of removing the de-facto boycott against Palestinians,  
so crucial to bringing the voice of Palestinians out of confinement  
and isolation, and out of the realm of un-reason, to your readers,  
and to the world. This is why we hope that the debate that you have  
opened will continue in your journal and beyond.

In appreciation

Rita Giacaman

Competing interests: I am a Palestinian public health academic  
enduring the agony of Israeli military rule of Palestinian land.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/335/7613/234#174745