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“One of the things that has upset me is that SOAS has been accused of being institutionally biased, that we're anti-Israel or pro-Arab,” Bundy said.
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LONDON,
December 5 (IslamOnline.net & New Agencies) - A British university
is facing a ferocious campaign for hosting on Sunday, December 5, a
conference that will see the launch of an academic boycott of Israeli
universities to protest incessant Israeli aggressions against
Palestinians.
The
conference - Resisting Israeli Apartheid: Strategies and Principles
- is being organized by the Palestinian Society in the London
University School of Oriental and African Studies, the Guardian
reported Saturday, December 4.
It
will mark the birth of a new boycott organization, the British
Committee for Universities in Palestine.
The
conference committee has drawn up a manifesto calling on academics to
break links with Israel by refusing to work with Israeli institutions,
referee academic papers, grant applications or attend conferences.
But
it promises to support Israelis “working with Palestinian colleagues
in their demand for self-determination and academic freedom.”
Nur
Masalha, a philosopher from St Mary's College in Twickenham, said the
academic boycott “is a peaceful way of trying to make a difference
and influence things.”
“We
believe that unless we do it nothing will happen. People were quite
happy to boycott South Africa. Why not Israel?" Masalha, who has
helped to organize speakers for the event, told the British daily.
Hilary
Rose, who is coordinating the campaign, said that it marked a
substantial escalation of the boycott movement.
“We
want people to think about the depth of the moral challenge of the
boycott. It's not an easy matter for any academic to do this, it's a
measure of our despair at our government's inability to take the
situation seriously and work for a just peace.”
Peace
& Equality
The
organizers refuted charges by Jewish groups of inciting hatred.
“We
are promoting peace and equality for the Palestinian people,” Awad
Joumaa, a coordinator of the Palestinian Society and one of the
conference organizers, said.
“We
are not the ones inciting hatred here. We are the ones under attack.
If having an academic conference is inciting hatred, I don't know what
their definition of it is.”
The
speakers include Professors Steven and Hilary Rose, who began the call
for an academic boycott of Israel more than two years ago in a letter
to the Guardian.
Also
expected to address the conference is linguist Mona
Baker , who was the subject of an official inquiry by the
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology after she
dismissed two Israeli members of a journal she edited as part of an
academic boycott of Israel.
Several
Israeli and Jewish professors and students are also set to show up for
the conference, Haaretz reported on Saturday.
Dr.
Ilan Pappe of Haifa University will deliver a lecture on the
significance and meaning of the academic ban.
Ben
Young, of the Jewish Students for Justice for Palestinians group, will
deliver a lecture titled “The Students Role: Lessons from South
Africa,” the Israeli paper added.
Vile
Campaign
The
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) released a statement
distancing itself from the conference.
Colin
Bundy, SOAS director, said he had received a “substantial” volume
of emails against hosting the conference, the Guardian
reported.
“One
of the things that has upset me is that SOAS has been accused of being
institutionally biased, that we're anti-Israel or pro-Arab.
“In
fact we probably do more on the Middle East than any other
university.”
Bundy
said they were making “appropriate preparation” to ensure a
peaceful event, but refused to discuss what this would involve.
The
school’s Jewish Society lambasted the decision to host the
conference, claiming it would incite hatred.
“I
see this conference as an out-and-out hate conference which is solely
there to delegitimize Israel and its people. It makes no pretence of
balance,” said Gavin Gross, a member of the society.
“SOAS
has a reputation for being the center of political extremism. In the
past this has only meant the vilification of Israel; there's no
attempt at all to achieve an understanding of the conflict.”
The
Union of Jewish Students is organizing a counter-meeting at SOAS on
Sunday.
This
is not the first time Jewish groups attack universities who allow free
speech concerning Israeli aggressions against Palestinians.
On
October 17, the American Duke University, North Carolina, hosted the
fourth annual conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM)
despite a ferocious
Jewish campaign to throw a spanner in its works.
The
university defended the decision as a demonstration of its commitment
to free speech and academic freedom.
