Supporting an Academic Boycott As a Path to Freedom

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

2. 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).

3. 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

4. 35 Ongoing nakba: demolition of Al-Araqib

5. 33 Ongoing nakba – home demolitions in Lydd

6. 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

7. “Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, not a state of all its citizens.” -- MK David Roten

8. “...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.

9. 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

10. Since ‘Oslo Accords’

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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?

15. 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]

16. 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

17. What is the responsibility of academia? “The traditional spirit of the academia ... is that intellectual responsibility includes the safeguarding of moral principles.” -Tanya Reinhart

18. Can the academic boycott contribute to the dismantling of the structures of apartheid? • “The Delegitimization Network tarnishes Israel’s reputation, constrains its military capabilities and advances the One-State Solution ” • - The Reut Institute’s ‘THe Deligitimization Challenge.’ Feb. 2010. The Public Lobby in Knesset to Cope with the Delegitimization of Israel: to fight “claims for the Palestinian Right of Return, apartheid, the prosecution of Israeli military officers in Israel and abroad, not serving in the Israel army, calling for refusal to serve in the military, the Goldstone Report and calls for economic, academic, cultural and political boycott of Israel.” - February 2011

19. 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

20. Freedom is merely privilege extended unless enjoyed by all

21. the speech ended here. the remaining slides were used in the Q&A as further evidence of the culpability of Israeli Institutions

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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