This newsletter contains the following items:
1. Further update on students trapped in Gaza
2. Tel Aviv University research lab in the occupied Golan?
3. Academic links with a Palestinian university, 30th January 5.30-7.00 pm London
4. Israel Academic Monitor - a website to monitor radical academics in Israel
5. FFIPP letter to Nobel Laureates
6. The Anti-Defamation League and the Armenian genocide
7. Reminder about the FFIPP-UK Books for Palestine Project - shipment to be finalised by early February
1. Further update on students trapped in Gaza
Khaled Al-Mudallal, the Bradford University business management student trapped in Gaza at the start of the academic year, finally made it to Bradford after a concerted campaign by Bradford students, staff and supporters throughout the UK. Others have not been so lucky.
Gisha reports, 1st January 2008:
Despite the State Attorney Office’s Commitment to High Court Israel Still Preventing at least 625 Students from Leaving Gaza
Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement has asked the Supreme Court to protect the students' right to leave Gaza and access higher education. “Israel’s closure policies violate the fundamental principle of international law which prohibits collective punishment,” Gisha claims.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008: Israel is still preventing some 625 students from leaving Gaza to pursue higher education in the USA, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and other places around the world. Despite pledging to allow university students to leave Gaza as a “political gesture,” Israel has let out fewer than half, and now refuses to let the others go.
After letting some 484 students and family members leave Gaza in early December, as of December 11, Israel has stopped permitting student departures from Gaza. The “gesture” that allowed partial exit came after Gisha petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court in October, asking that the students be let out. Now Israel says that the “gesture” is over.
After Israel prevented him from reaching an interview at Tel Aviv University for a PhD program in environmental studies, as part of a ban on Gaza residents studying in Israel, Wissam Madhun, a married father of three, was successfully accepted into an environmental studies PhD program in Malaysia. “I’m still waiting for my name to appear on the list of those leaving Gaza. But there are no updated lists because no one is leaving. I don’t really understand the political logic of adding to the frustration of the residents of Gaza.”
Wissam Mussa, one of the petitioners, and her three children were supposed to travel to Germany for Wissam's computer engineering studies, but their visas expired during the long months that they were trapped in Gaza. They were among the "lucky" ones, given 12 hours to pack up and leave Gaza – but their passports had been sent to the German consulate for visa renewal and were returned only after the 12 hours expired. Now, the military has refused their requests to reschedule their exit. “There is a feeling that they control your life in every sense,” says Mussa. “I cannot plan my professional future. Things are forced on me from above, or more precisely, from the north, by Israel.”
Gisha’s Executive Director Sari Bashi., said: “Israel, which controls Gaza’s borders, must allow students to reach their studies. Allowing these talented young people to access education is vital to Gaza's future – and to Israel's future, too.”
Appendix to News Release
The 625 students trapped in Gaza are just some of the thousands of people who have been stuck in Gaza since the closure of the Rafah crossing (between Gaza and Egypt) on June 9, 2007. Israel, which has indirect control over Rafah, is exercising a veto power over the opening of the crossing and also prevents exit by sea or air, where it has absolute control.
Since the Rafah crossing was closed, Israel has allowed only a trickle of individuals to cross to the outside world via the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel. In late August and early September 2007, Israel operated four shuttle services out of Gaza via the Erez crossing and then through the Egyptian border.[1] However, in a September 19, 2007 Cabinet decision calling Gaza “hostile territory,” Israel approved punitive measures against the residents of Gaza, including restricting the movement of people. The shuttle services stopped, operated again in December 2007 – but allowed exit for fewer than half the students seeking to leave.
These restrictions severely infringe upon the freedom of movement and right to education of young Palestinians from Gaza who seek to pursue higher education. Israel’s policies prevent all Palestinian students from leaving to study abroad.
The options for Gaza residents to pursue higher education within the Palestinian Authority’s territories – Gaza and the West Bank – are extremely limited, due, among other things, to Israeli control there: even when Gaza’s borders are open, Israel does not allow Gaza residents to study in the West Bank, where most of the Palestinian universities are located, and does not allow foreign lecturers and experts, especially from Arab countries, to enter the Gaza Strip.
At Gaza's three universities, a limited range of subjects are offered at the undergraduate level and fewer at the graduate level. Certain key disciplines – such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, dentistry, and physical therapy – are not taught in the Strip at all. Moreover, there is no opportunity for doctoral study anywhere in the Palestinian Authority’s territory. The movement restrictions have prevented and continue to prevent university faculty from Gaza from pursuing advanced studies, and attending conferences and seminars around the world. The opportunities to conduct joint research and to cooperate with colleagues at other academic institutions worldwide are likewise extremely limited.
Gisha petitioned the High Court in October demanding that the students of Gaza be allowed to leave to pursue their studies abroad. Following the submission of that petition, Israel pledged to allow the students to leave in what it called a “gesture” to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. On December 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11, Israel operated transports via the Erez crossing to the Egyptian border, and granted preliminary permission for some 1,200 Gaza residents to exit,[2] among them 484 students and their families.[3] However, some 625 additional students and their families are still waiting. ][4
[1] Approximately 550 people left Gaza via the transports in August and September, 2007.
[2] According to the lists published by the civil committee in Gaza that is operated by the Palestinian Authority. The number of people that actually left is smaller since some were turned back by Israel or the Egyptians even after receiving preliminary permission to leave. The number does not include a few isolated individuals who were permitted to leave but whose names were not published by the Palestinian Civil Committee.
[3] According to the records of the Palestinian Civil Committee. This refers to the number of students who received exit permits. Despite receiving preliminary approval to leave, approximately 19 students were returned by Israel, and approximately 82 were returned by Egypt. In many cases, the students' travel documents expired during the long months of wait, and so border officials returned them to Gaza.
[4] As of December 24, 2007. This number does not include those who have not yet completed their registration at the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee in Gaza.
For testimonies and for a list of the students seeking to leave, by country in which they are enrolled to study, please see oor a list of the students seeking to leave, by country in which they are enrolled to study, see http://www.gisha.org/index.php?intLanguage=2&intItemId=930&intSiteSN=113
For more information, see Gisha's report, "Israel Undermines Higher Education – and Its Own Best Interest – in Gaza", October 2007, available on the gisha website
2. Tel Aviv University research lab in the occupied Golan?
Just Peace UK carried a brief note from Ron Cohen to that effect that in a piece published in the Hebrew edition of Haaretz about heavy particles and black holes, it appears that Tel-Aviv University has a lab on the Hermon mountain, which is part of the occupied Golan. Apparently, this lab is financed by CERN, as is the most geophysics research in Israel.
Does anyone know anything about this - or is in a position to follow it up?
3. Academic links with a Palestinian university, 30th January 5.30-7.00 pm London
The Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association is organising an "Academic Links" meeting on Wednesday January 30th - 5.30-7pm at University College London in the Malet Place Engineering Building* (first floor, room 1.02).
*The Engineering Building is a glass building on the left,
entering UCL from the Torrington Place (Waterstones) side.
Speakers:
Nandita Dowson, Chair of CADFA - Camden Abu Dis links
Una Doyle, NUT – The teachers’ visit to Abu Dis in October
Rep. from CADFA Student Links – Info on the progress of CADFA student links
Pete Green, UCU - What are academic links about?
& planning for their academic links visit in April 2008
All welcome.
4. Israel Academic Monitor - a website to monitor radical academics in Israel
You might like to know of the existence of the Israel Academic Monitor, an Israeli-based website at http://www.israel-academia-monitor.com which describes itself
as monitoring "abuses of academic freedom and politicalization of Israeli campuses by radicals who collaborate with anti-Semites and bashers of Israel from around the world. The purpose of Israel Academia Monitor is to bring to light abuses of academic freedom in Israel, including on-campus indoctrination in political extremism. It is modeled in part on the highly successful "Campus Watch" in the USA... IAM documents the Israeli university faculty members who promote mutiny and insurrection by soldiers, who collaborate with anti-Semites and enemies of Israel, who sign petitions defaming Israel and Jews, and who support lawlessness and terror."
Its listing of the 'crimes' of individual academics is a useful guide to some of the resistance offered by Israeli academics. You often have to pinch yourself to realise that these remarks are put forward as glaring and taken-for-granted evidence of crimes against the state of Israel. Here are some of the heinous examples cited:
Yigal Bronner, South Asian Studies lecturer, struggles on behalf of Palestinian Victory
'Yigal Bronner is one of over 600 signers of the Courage to Refuse statement (www.seruv.org) and one of over 1600 Israeli soldiers (www.refusersolidarity.net) who refuse to serve in the occupied territories. For his conscientious objection, Bronner served a jail term in Israel. Bronner has worked extensively with Ta’ayush, the Arab-Jewish Partnership (www.taayush.org), a groundbreaking activist organization that fosters Israeli-Palestinian cooperation to challenge policies of occupation.
In addition, he has been one of the leading voices in the campaign against the Israeli Separation Wall, currently under construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Using maps and statistics from the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, Bronner’s presentation will examine the location and construction of the barrier, as well as its social, economic, and political impact. Bronner teaches South Asian Studies at Tel Aviv University and the University of Chicago.'
Judith Harel (psychology) claims 'Settlers attack UN personnel near southern Hebron Hills'
I was one of the lucky UN staff members in this car accompanyying Amira Hass and Alex Libak ( an Israel Laureate photograper). We were all very lucky indeed because it was a nightmare - we felt threatened for our life when those maniacs broke the windscree of the car and started carrying towards it huge rocks with which eventually they only blocked the car...I have never been so scared in my life and never so happy to see the IDF....
In any case it was excellent exercise for the purpose of our trip: to show how Palestinians were evicted from the area and became dsplaced as a result of settler violence.
Oren Yiftachel (BGU, Geography) incites Bedouins against the Israeli state in 'Bedouin in Limbo'
"These people are being denied their basic rights and ignored by the planning system." This master plan is wrong environmentally, socially and politically, contends Oren Yiftachel, professor of Political Geography, Planning and Public Policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), who has contracted with the Council of Unrecognized Villages to produce another alternative plan for the Council of Unrecognized Villages. "The real issue here is a planning crime, because the state's discrimination has caused great suffering."
Philosophy Professor Anat Biletzki’s “philosophy” is to smear Israel abroad
Professor Biletzki’s analytical philosophy is to smear Israel abroad politically at anti-Israel symposiums and events on college campuses and elsewhere that are fundamentally organized by Arab irredentist groups that frequently use the words “human rights” and “peace” as a deceptive cover to destroy the Jewish state. As an expert in the philosophy of language, Professor Biletzki of all people should understand how language is used to mask real intent, particularly by Arab propagandists. Despite this, she speaks frequently to and is quoted extensively by members of the International Solidarity Movement who claim to be “nonviolent human rights advocates” in one breath, then endorse violence against Israelis as “legitimate resistance” in the next as they act as human shields for terrorists.
Nurit Peled-Elhanan's study about the presentation of the Palestinians in Israeli schoolbooks
The denial of Palestinian national and territorial identity is still one of the core messages of Israeli textbooks. In a recent study of Israeli textbooks Firer (2004:75) claims that "as political correctness has reached Israel it is no longer appropriate to use blunt, discriminatory language in textbooks", and then adds that in the years 1967-1990 "the stereotypes of Arabs and Palestinians almost disappear" (ibid. p. 92). However, examining mainstream school books that were published after 1994, including the ones Firer praises most for political correctness, one cannot avoid seeing that visually and verbally, Palestinians are still represented either in a racist stereotypical way, or as absent people, namely as an 'impersonalized' or excluded element.
The Palestinian citizens of the state of Israel are always depicted dichotomously as "Israel' Arabs" vs. the Israelis, or as the "Non-Jewish population" vs. the Jewish one.
Dr. Tom Segev, historian, thinks Israel should apologize
Most Israelis still find it hard to acknowledge that they bear historical responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. The Zionist vision is based, among other things, on the assumption that its fulfillment need not cause injustice to anyone: If only the Arabs would relinquish their nationalist yearnings and agree to the fulfillment of our dream, it would be good for everyone, including them.
This historical fiction is very harmful because as long as we convince ourselves that we have no part in the responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian tragedy, we have no real reason to try to correct the injustice. This is the importance of acknowledging our responsibility. When the day comes to publish the historic declaration of reconciliation, it will be possible to remember Peres' Kafr Qasem apology and the main lesson that emerges from it: It does not hurt to ask forgiveness.
Kobi Snitz [Bar-Ilan U, math] in Amherst claims Israel has no right to build a defensive wall to keep out terrorists
Several weeks ago, Rateb Abu Rahma and Kobi Snitz, members of the group "Faculty for Israeli - Palestinian Peace," visited the University of Massachusetts and the surrounding area. Their talk was titled "Bil'in, Village of Resistance," and referred to a town where non-violent resistance led to an Israeli court ruling to redirect a portion of the wall that goes through the area. The event was poorly attended at UMass but nevertheless proved to be very informative and was greatly appreciated. It was a privilege to have people who have experienced Israeli crimes firsthand come speak for the sake of spreading knowledge and nurturing concern for innocent people on both sides of the conflict. The speakers' message was clear: the separation that Israel has built along the West Bank is a hindrance to people's lives in the region and must be torn down if peace is desired.
The website also has a 'How can I complain?' page which usefully provides email addresses and other contact details for university rectors, presidents et al which can be linked to from its home page.
5. FFIPP letter to Nobel Laureates
In August 2007 an advert appeared in the International Herald Tribune (August 4) and the New York Times (August 5) under the auspices of the ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION FOR HUMANITY. Signed by 57 Nobel Laureates it read:
'We, Nobel Laureates, deplore the shameful decision by the University and College Union to boycott contact and exchanges with Israeli educators and academic institutions. We also deplore a similar move by Unison and its 1.3 million public service employees, as well as the boycott of Israeli goods by Britain's National Union of Journalists. Not only do such boycotts pander to hardliners. They also glorify prejudice and bigotry. The cherished principle of academic freedom must not be undermined.'
The following response was sent to those of the signatories we could find email contacts for in November 2007. Regrettably there has not been a single response to date, but they will be contacted again shortly:
Dear Sir/Madam,
We respect your belief, expressed recently in the statement that you and other Nobel Laureates signed opposing boycott calls against Israel, in which you say: ‘The cherished principle of academic freedom must not be undermined.’
Like you, we value that freedom. We believe that the principle should be universally applied and thus would like to draw your attention to the persistent undermining of academic freedom in Palestine over many years and decades. Academic freedom there is highly constricted by the Israeli occupation: checkpoints (so many of them internal to the West Bank, not on Israel’s green-line borders) make a mockery of freedom of movement. Students and staff alike are often unable to reach even their own universities (or schools) or are humiliated in the process of doing so. As a result students cannot generally choose to study courses, including post-graduate courses, offered only at universities outside their home district. And of course students from Gaza have been expressly prohibited from studying in the West Bank universities since long before Hamas came to power. Furthermore, Palestinian and other academics who hold foreign passports, are unable to get permission to remain in Palestine for more than three months at a time. Many have recently had their permission to stay revoked without notice. Palestinians with foreign passports are particularly vulnerable and can find themselves denied entry after traveling abroad. On the other hand, resident Palestinian faculty and students are arbitrarily denied permit to travel abroad for advanced studies, or risk their residency being revoked if they do so. In sum: the freedom to research, to study, to express opinions and attitudes that might affect residency rights, are all highly circumscribed.
We would like to see Israeli academics and academic institutions openly speaking out against this curtailment of academic freedom in the occupied territories, often in defiance of international law. They remain generally silent. Instead, many participate in the development of the illegal institution, now on the verge of becoming a university, Ariel College (formerly the College of Judea and Samaria) which lies deep in occupied Palestinian territory.
We call on you to take the ‘cherished principles of academic freedom’ seriously and to protest in equal measure against their violations in the occupied Palestinian territory.
With best wishes,
Dr. Eyad El Sarraj, President, Faculty For Israeli Palestinian Peace (FFIPP)
Richard Falk, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Global Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara and Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University
Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor in Rhetoric and Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley
Annick Suzor-Weiner, Vice-president en charge des Relations internationals, Universite Paris-Sud
Etienne Balibar, Professor Emeritus (philosophy), Universite de Paris-Nanterre, Distinguished Professor of Humanities, University ot California, Irvine
Stuart Hall, Professor Emeritus, Birmingham University, The Open University
6. The Anti-Defamation League and the Armenian genocide
No matter how intrinsically important the topic of the Armenian genocide, you might wonder why a newsletter about Israel-Palestinian Peace is carrying an item on it. Read on...
In the USA the Anti-Defamation League's mission statement tells us that it 'was founded in 1913 “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Now the nation’s premier civil rights/human relations agency, ADL fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all.'
There has been some mission creep, however, and some critics of Israel have become fair game. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, whose 'Israel Lobby' article recently appeared in expanded book form, are included by ADL director Abe Foxman in his 6 November 2007 annual meeting keynote address, together with President Ahmadinejad and 9/11 conspiracy theorists as guilty of "Jew hatred".
But it was Foxman's refusal to recognise the Armenian genocide in July 2007 that aroused widespread anger among liberal Jews in America. American Jewish Life magazine (which aims to be the "Jewish Rolling Stone") published a glorious, swinging critique of the ADL by Bradley Pilcher, former editor of the Jewish book blog TribeWrite. When he was asked if the Armenian slaughter was genocide, Foxman was agnostic - "I don't know." The ADL has joined other Jewish groups, such as the American Jewish Committee, in opposing efforts at recognizing the Armenian genocide. The reason for it, as Pilcher says, 'is simple, if ugly. They didn’t want to offend Turkey, a major ally of Israel in the Middle East.'
The whole article, provocatively entitled 'The Day the Holocaust Died' is well worth reading. So too is Pilcher's follow-up, in which he says that, much to his surprise, he hadn't received anything but positive feedback about it. And he ends up asking for a compelling argument as to why Abe Foxman might right in principle - why 'the mission of combating anti-Semitism and bigotry should be conflated with defending Israel, or getting wrapped up in Israeli political considerations such as those that presented themselves in the Armenian case?'.
7. Reminder about the FFIPP-UK Books for Palestine Project - shipment to be finalised by early February
Please help in any way you can. For more information email Richard Kuper
A leaflet appealing for books can be downloaded
We are very grateful to the UCU for including the following in their 'Campaigns Update, 14th September 2007':
Books for Palestine
UCU is a supporter of FFIPP, the Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, which is a network of network of Palestinian, Israeli, and International academics and reseachers working for an end to the occupation and for a just peace. In Gaza in particular, universities have been closed for prolonged periods and students prevented from traveling to university to study. Universities in Gaza are also starved of resources. As part of their work to promote academic freedom in the occupied territories, FFIPP are collecting books and donations to help buy study resources.
You can help by
• donating books (English is widely used) - all kinds and levels welcome, but introductory textbooks are particularly needed - up-to-date and in excellent condition please
• donating money – so that we can buy books that are specifically requested and contribute to shipping costs;
• acting as a local agent - as a focal point for donations in your college, university or department.
For more information on how you can help, please email Richard Kuper
A leaflet appealing for books can be downloaded
|
FFIPP-UK