Lisa Taraki
The Times Higher Education Supplement
Published: 08 June 2007
http://www.thes.co.uk/current_edition/story.aspx?story_id=2037034
The growing boycott movement has put Israeli academe on the defensive, but
more is required, says Lisa Taraki
On the day that UK academics debated motions to boycott Israel the
international media reported on a letter addressed to the Israeli defence
minister. It had been sent by academics and intellectuals, including the
presidents of four Israeli universities, and it called for the lifting of
the ban on Gaza students travelling to the West Bank. This move, as well
as the recent lobbying tour of UK universities by Israeli academics
opposed to the proposed UCU action, and the Israeli foreign minister's
intervention with the British government, show that the boycott is already
beginning to bite. Far from being ineffective, the action's inexorable
expansion into the mainstream is worrying its intended targets. However,
the Israeli response is as revealing as it is pathetic.
The intellectual elite's letter notes that "blocking access to higher
education for Palestinian students from Gaza who choose to study in the
West Bank casts a dark shadow over Israel's image as a state that respects
and supports the principle of academic freedom and the right to
education". This statement and its timing reveal that far from being
motivated by lofty sentiments it has more to do with the public relations
campaign to shore up Israel's badly deteriorating international image.
Is this the best they can do? Is it credible that the gravest issue facing
higher education for Palestinians today is the inability of students from
the Gaza Strip to study at "superior" West Bank universities? Even in the
heyday of the "good old" occupation before Oslo, Gaza did not contribute
more than a fraction of the West Bank student body. Do the presidents of
Israeli universities really intend to convince the world that they are
champions of the right to education for Palestinians? Do they hope that
this will let them off the hook?
What is the credibility of these "respectable" academics and intellectuals
who appeal to a key representative of the repressive occupation machine, a
cynical labour boss and politician responsible for much of the death and
destruction sown in Palestine and Lebanon since he took office? Instead of
making a bold statement against the occupation they ask for the
amelioration of some of its more sordid features. This is even further
diluted by the suggestion (stated by a member of the organisation that
initiated the appeal) that each case be evaluated individually. We all
know what "individual evaluation" entails, what its stringent and
un-transparent criteria are, and who does the evaluation: the military
security establishment itself.
The appeal epitomises what is wrong with the Israeli academy. While
throwing a stale crumb our way these academic leaders are silent on the
core issue: the deepening of the occupation regime that threatens the
lives and futures of all Palestinians, including students and teachers.
Not only that, they sidestep the issue of racism and discrimination
against Palestinian citizens within the Israeli academy itself.
It continues to be true that the Israeli academy has behaved shamelessly
in the matter of stifling of basic freedoms of Palestinians, including the
freedom of education. During the past 40 years our universities have been
shut down by military order numerous times and for long durations,
thousands of our students and teachers have been imprisoned and exiled,
and our basic right to free access to our institutions has been violated.
Not once have the presidents of Israeli universities, or for that matter
any association of Israeli academics, challenged the occupation regime and
demanded its dismantlement.
It is ironic that one of the persistent themes in the critique of the
academic boycott is the "fact" that the academy has done more than any
other sector in Israeli society to campaign for Palestinian rights. This
is a hollow claim belied by the fact that only a handful of brave Israeli
academics have ever taken a public stand against the occupation.
As an academic at a Palestinian university I remain vindicated in my
belief that pressure, and nothing but pressure, will make Israelis,
including academics, accede to demands for a radical change in the status
quo. This is not about punishment of Israeli academics. Rather, it is
based on the assumption that both the vociferous and silent colluders in
the academy can be pressured to act to bring about change. The growing
boycott movement has put the academy on the defensive, but there are many
more miles to be traversed before a truly moral response issues from its
spokespersons and rank and file.
Lisa Taraki is a sociologist at Birzeit University in Palestine.
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