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This
statement outlines the position of Palestinian academics
and intellectuals on the international boycott of
Israeli academic institutions. Our position is a consequence
of decades of debilitating occupation, the dispossession
of most Palestinians, Israel’s continuing atrocities,
its campaigns to disrupt Palestinian educational and
other civil institutions, its breaches of international
law and of humanitarian standards, as well as the
general discriminatory nature of its system. These
practices are all well documented in UN resolutions,
in reports of human rights agencies, and are starkly
visible in the form of facts on the ground.
Because
the facts speak for themselves, but a solution is
nowhere in sight, it is time for people of conscience
to take a stand and influence both public opinion
and government policies. It now must be so since the
world’s powers have failed to take measures that
hold Israel, like any other state, accountable for
its abuses and force it to adhere to international
standards. In the absence of any such accountability,
it becomes the duty of citizens to act independently
to expose and resist injustice. The boycott of Israeli
academic institutions is a pacifist form of resistance
already available the world over and has demonstrated
growing potential. It sends a strong message of concern
over the on-going destruction of Palestinian educational
institutions and, in particular, helps expose to the
world’s public the culpability of Israeli academic
institutions in perpetuating illegal occupation. This
boycott entails a pledge not to support or participate
in any conference, cooperative research, grant writing
or grant evaluation, or other supportive activities,
such as academic exchanges or visits, held at or involving
Israeli universities and other state institutions.
We believe this international boycott should be sustained
until Israel withdraws from all lands occupied in
1967, including East Jerusalem, removes all its colonies
in those lands, agrees to United Nations resolutions
relevant to the restitution of Palestinian rights,
and dismantles its system of apartheid. Meanwhile,
we encourage dialogue with people (internationally
and in Israel) who demonstrate readiness to participate
in realizing these objectives.
We
challenge other academics and intellectuals not to
remain unmoved, or by their silence become complicit,
but rather to take a stand and act in solidarity with
the Palestinians, with Israeli dissenters, and with
the growing international movement against the Israeli
government’s colonial war in occupied Palestine.
We urge fellow academics and intellectuals worldwide
to adhere to and publicize this call to boycott, and
to affirm it as an act of conscience.
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