Irish academics call on EU to stop funding Israeli academic institutions
David Landy, The Electronic Intifada, 16 September 2006
In a letter published in the Irish Times today (text below), 61 Irish academics from a wide variety of disciplines called for a moratorium on EU support of Israeli academic institutions until Israel abides by UN resolutions and ends the occupation of Palestinian territories.
The letter was organized in response to the Palestinian call for an academic and cultural boycott. The ongoing Israeli occupation has meant that educational establishments are closed off for many Palestinians. The checkpoints, closures and curfews Israel has imposed, as well as the ongoing harassment of academics and students, have played havoc with university life. In addition, military attacks on universities and schools and the occupation of many schools by Israeli soldiers have turned education into a life-threatening activity.
To date, 171 civil society organizations in Palestine including the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), the General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT), and the Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities' Professors and Employees have called for a boycott of Israel, seeing such a boycott as a way for people around the world to express practical solidarity, and effect change in a nonviolent manner.
While this letter does not call for a comprehensive boycott, it does demand that European academic institutions cease funding collaborative projects with Israeli institutions. It also calls for academics to refrain, where possible, from institutional collaboration with Israel. Such actions are to continue until Israel abides by international law, part of which is ending the occupation.
Such a moratorium is not directed against individuals but against Israeli institutions which provide support — both moral and practical — for a racial system within Israel and an illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. The comparison is with South Africa. Just as blacks in South Africa called for sanctions against that country, so have Palestinians under Israeli control called for sanctions against the Israeli state and its institutions. It is no coincidence that modern day South Africans are among the strongest supporters of actions that will peacefully end the brutal racially-based regime in Israel, just as the apartheid regime was toppled.
Groups across the world have heeded the Palestinian call for an academic boycott. The British Academic union NAFTHE recently supported the academic boycott of Israel, followed by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). On July 10th, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), explicitly drawing on their own struggle against apartheid, called for a boycott of Israel. Moreover in Ireland, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has already adopted a position of supporting political and economic sanctions on Israel - a position taken at its biennial conference in 2005. Irish parliamentarians too, at a specially convened meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs on August 4th, unanimously called for the imposition of sanctions on Israel.
TEXT OF LETTER WITH SIGNATORIES
Madam - There is widespread international condemnation of Israel's policy of violent repression against the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and its aggression against the people of Lebanon. The Israeli government appears impervious to moral appeals from world leaders and to longstanding United Nations resolutions.
We feel it is time to heed the Palestinian call to take practical action to pressure Israel to comply with international law and basic human rights norms. Many national and European cultural and research institutions, including those funded by the EU regard Israel as a European state for the purposes of awarding grants and contracts.
We call for a moratorium on any further such support to Israeli academic institutions, at both national and European levels. We urge our fellow academics to support this moratorium by refraining, where possible, from further joint collaborations with Israeli academic institutions. Such a moratorium should continue until Israel abides by UN resolutions and ends the occupation of Palestinian territories.
Hounaida Abi Haidar, Department of Geography, TCD
Dr Kieran Allen, School of Sociology, UCD
Professor James Anderson, School of Geography, Queen's University Belfast
Professor Ivana Bacik, School of Law, TCD
Ken Bond, Department of Zoology, Ecology & Plant Science, UCC
Professor James Bowen, Department of Computer Science, UCC
Dr Barbara Bradby, Department of Sociology, TCD
Harry Browne, School of Media, DIT
Noreen Byrne, Department of Food Business & Development, UCC
Dr Joseph Cleary, Department of English, NUI Maynooth
Professor John Coakley, School of Politics and International Relations, UCD
Dr. Steve Coleman, Department of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth
Denis Condon, Centre for Media Studies, NUI Maynooth
Dr Laurence Cox, Department of Sociology, NUI Maynooth
Dr Colin Coulter, Department of Sociology, NUI Maynooth
Professor Seamus Deane, Institute for Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame
Mary Eldin, WERRC, School of Social Justice, UCD
Dr Nazih Eldin, Head of Health Promotion, Dublin North East
Dr Adel Farrag, Department of Electronic Engineering, Institute of Technology Tallaght
Professor Tadhg Foley, Department of English & Chair of the Board, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway
Catherine Forde, Department of Applied Social Studies, UCC.
Dr Kathy Glavanis, Department of Sociology, UCC
Professor Luke Gibbons, Department of English, University of Notre Dame
Dr Brian Hanley, Department of Modern History, TCD
Dr Deanna Heath, Department of Modern History, TCD
Conn Holohan, School of Media Studies, University of Ulster
Marnie Holborow, School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, DCU
Dr Kevin Hourihan, Department of Geography, UCC
Dr Carole Jones, Department of English, TCD
Sinead Kennedy, Department of English, Mater Dei Institute of Education
Dr Heather Laird Department of English UCC
David Landy, Department of Sociology, TCD
Dr Steve Loyal, School of Sociology, UCD
An Dr. Seosamh Mac Muiri, Rannog na Gaeilge, Roinn na dTeangacha agus an Leinn Chultuir, Ollscoil Luimnigh.
Dr. Breandan Mac Suibhne, Institute for Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame
Professor Brian Maguire, Faculty of Fine Art, NCAD
Professor John Maguire, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, UCC
Dr Sandra McAvoy, Women's Studies, UCC
Piaras Mac Einri, Department of Geography, UCC
Dr Conor McCarthy, Department of English, NUI Maynooth
Dr Cathal McCall, School of Politics, International Studies & Philosophy, Queen's University Belfast
Caroline McHugh, Department of Geography, NUI Galway
Dr Des McGuinness, School of Communications, DCU
Dr Bill McSweeney, Irish School of Ecumenics, TCD
Montserrat Fargas Malet, School of Social Work, Queens University Belfast
Dr John Nash, Department. of English, TCD
Dr Emer Nolan, Department of English, NUI Maynooth
Dr Feilim O hAdhmaill, Department of Applied Social Studies, UCC
Garrett O'Boyle, Political Scientist
Dr. Eamon O Ciardha, School of Languages and Literature, University of Ulster
Gearoid O Cuin. Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway
Dr Ruan O'Donnell, Historian
Professor Patrick 0'Flanagan, Department of Geography, UCC
Professor Denis O'Hearn, School of Sociology, Queens University Belfast
Dr Lionel Pilkington, Department of English, NUI Galway
Jim Roche, Department of Architecture, DIT
Dr. Ailbhe Smyth, WERRC, School of Social Justice, UCD
Dr Andy Storey, Centre for Development Studies, UCD
Dr Gavan Titley, Centre for Media Studies, NUI Maynooth
Dr Hilary Tovey, Department of Sociology, TCD
Dr Theresa Urbainczyk, School of Classics, UCD
David Landy works in Trinity College Dublin where he is researching networks of Israel-critical Jewish groups in the Diaspora.
Related Links
BY TOPIC: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions
BY TOPIC: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: Academic Boycott
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
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