Transcript Supporting an Academic Boycott As a Path to Freedom Lund - May 13, 2011 Rania Masri.

Supporting an
Academic Boycott
As a Path to
Freedom
Lund - May 13, 2011
Rania Masri
9
What is Apartheid?
 “…similar policies and practices of racial segregation and
discrimination as practiced in southern Africa” which have
“the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination
by one racial group of persons over any other racial group
of persons and systematically oppressing them, in
particular by means such as segregation, expropriation of
land, and denial of the right to leave and return to their
country, the right to a nationality and the right to freedom
of movement and residence” (Article II, International Convention on
the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, UN General
Assembly Resolution 3068, 30 Nov 1973).
8
Is Israel an Apartheid State -- throughout the land of
Palestine?
 The persistent denial of the UN-sanctioned
rights of the Palestinian refugees, paramount
among which is their right to reparations and
to return to their homes of origin, in
accordance with UNGA Res. 194.
 the ongoing ethnic cleansing


The system of racial discrimination against Palestinian
citizens of Israel; and
The prolonged occupation and colonization of Gaza and
the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and other Arab
territories
35
Ongoing nakba: demolition of Al-Araqib
33
Ongoing nakba – home demolitions in Lydd
8
Israel is an Apartheid State -- throughout the land of
Palestine

The persistent denial of the UN-sanctioned rights of
the Palestinian refugees, paramount among which is
their right to reparations and to return to their
homes of origin, in accordance with UNGA Res. 194.
 The system of racial discrimination
against Palestinian citizens of Israel;
and
 The prolonged occupation and colonization of Gaza
and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and
other Arab territories
“Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, not a
state of all its citizens.” -- MK David Roten
“...the Judaization project is driven by the
Zionist premise that Israel is a territory and a
state that ‘belongs’ to, and only to, the Jewish
people.” -- Dr. Haim Yacobi, Ben Gurion
University.
8
Israel is an Apartheid State -- throughout the land of
Palestine

The persistent denial of the UN-sanctioned rights of
the Palestinian refugees, paramount among which is
their right to reparations and to return to their homes
of origin, in accordance with UNGA Res. 194.
 The system of racial discrimination against Palestinian
citizens of Israel; and
 The prolonged occupation and
colonization of Gaza and the West
Bank, including east Jerusalem, and
other Arab territories
Since ‘Oslo Accords’
• We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon
international civil society organizations and people of
conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts
and implement divestment initiatives against Israel
similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid
era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states
to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We
also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for
the sake of justice and genuine peace. (2005)
•
www.bdsmovement.net
Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal
Principles of Human Rights.
•
These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel
meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right
to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international
law by:
•
1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling
the Wall;
•
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of
Israel to full equality; and
•
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees
to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
What is academic freedom?
Is the freedom to produce
and exchange knowledge
and ideas sacrosanct
regardless of prevailing
conditions?
Does academic freedom
include the freedom to
incite hatred?
Can the academic boycott generate academic freedom?
“We, as Israeli citizens, raise our voices to call on EU
leaders: use sanctions against Israel's brutal policies
and join the active protests of Bolivia and Venezuela.
We appeal to the citizens of Europe: please attend to
the Palestinian Human Rights Organisation's call,
supported by more than 540 Israeli citizens
(www.freegaza.org/en/home/):
boycott Israeli goods and Israeli institutions;
follow resolutions such as those made by the cities
of Athens, Birmingham and Cambridge (US).
This is the only road left. Help us all, please!”
– [January 17 2009]
Are Israeli academic institutions innocent?
“I will be the first to admit
that Israeli academic
institutions are part and
parcel of the oppressive
Israeli state that
has...committed grave
crimes against the
Palestinian people.”
-Baruch Kimmerling
What is the responsibility of academia?
“The traditional spirit of
the academia ... is that
intellectual responsibility
includes the
safeguarding of moral
principles.”
-Tanya Reinhart
Can the academic boycott contribute to the dismantling of
the structures of apartheid?
The Public Lobby in Knesset to Cope with the
 “The Delegitimization Network tarnishes
Delegitimization
of
Israel:
to
fight
“claims
for
the
Israel’s reputation, constrains its military
Palestinian
Right ofand
Return,
apartheid,
the prosecution
capabilities
advances
the One-State
Solution
” officers in Israel and abroad, not
of Israeli
military
servingin -the
army, ‘THe
calling
for refusal to serve in
The Israel
Reut Institute’s
Deligitimization
the military,
theFeb.
Goldstone
Report and calls for
Challenge.’
2010.
economic, academic, cultural and political boycott
of Israel.”
- February 2011
Can the academic boycott contribute to the dismantling of
the structures of apartheid?

“The validity of the BDS option is a first step in triggering a
process of disarming Israel from its lethal ideology and its
real material arms. ... A message that will be directed
specifically against those who officially represent Israeli
culture (spearheaded by the state’s academic institutions
which have been particularly culpable in sustaining the
oppression since 1948 and the occupation since 1967) can
be the start of a successful campaign for disarming the
state from its ideological constraints.”

- Ilan Pappe, Out of The Frame
Freedom is merely privilege
extended unless enjoyed by all
 the speech ended here. the remaining slides were
used in the Q&A as further evidence of the
culpability of Israeli Institutions
Institutional Racism at Haifa University: freedom to
incite crime ?
- University provides institutional sponsorship (legitimacy)
to academics inciting hatred
“Arab demographic threat”
Apartheid Wall - “exactly my map”
“When 2.5 million Palestinian live in a closed-off Gaza...
these people will become even bigger animals than they
are today... So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to
kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.”
- Arnon Sofer, chair of geostrategy, vice chair of its Center
for National Security Studies
Institutional Racism at Haifa University
With the support of the rector of
the University, convened a
conference: ‘The Demographic
Problem and Demographic
Policy in Israel’ - May 17, 2005
Ethnic Cleansing at Hebrew University
• 1968:
Israeli occupation authorities
confiscated 6,345 dunums of Palestinian
land. Most of that land privately owned by
Palestinians living in that area. Large part
of land given to Hebrew University
•1973: Israeli court ruled that Palestinian
families must leave their homes
•Land is part of E Jerusalem -- occupied
territory according to international law
•By moving Israelis to work and live on
occupied Palestinian land, the HU (like all
Israeli settlements) violates international
law