In addition to its numerous violations of human rights in ...



The Academic Boycott of Israeli Institutions: FAQWhat is BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions)? BDS is a global non-violent campaign aimed at pressuring the state of Israel to comply with international law and human rights. BDS is a strategy that allows people of conscience to express solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for justice and to participate effectively in this struggle. The campaign was initiated by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations in 2005. The academic boycott has been endorsed in the USA by several academic associations, including the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS); the Association for Humanist Sociology (AHS); the American Studies Association (ASA); the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA); the Critical Ethnic Studies Association (CESA); and the African Literature Association (ALA).What would an MLA sponsored boycott entail? If the MLA membership passes a resolution in support of academic boycott, this would commit MLA as an organization to suspend official ties with Israeli academic institutions. It would not exclude individual Israeli academics from attending the MLA or from publishing in its publications, and it does not discourage scholarly collaboration between MLA members and individual Israeli scholars. While it would not force anyone to follow any specific course of action, it would encourage MLA members to honor the boycott by refusing to speak at Israeli institutions or engage in activities that lend legitimacy to the current regime. It would also support its members who suffer reprisal from their own institutions as a result of their advocacy of the boycott. Reasons for a MLA Boycott Of Israeli Academic InstitutionsThe boycott expresses opposition to Israeli violations of Palestinian academic and human rights. In addition to its numerous violations of human rights in the West Bank and Gaze, Israel systematically violates the right to education of Palestinians. As well as severely limiting access to education by imposing severe restrictions on travel and mobility, Israeli military has repeatedly raided Al Quds University in Jerusalem, the Arab American University in Jenin, and Birzeit University near Ramallah. This summer, Israeli aerial bombardment destroyed much of the Islamic University of Gaza. The Israeli state also isolates Palestinian academia by preventing Palestinian students from traveling to pursue academic opportunities abroad. 2. Israeli universities are complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights. In addition to lending military and ideological support to the systematic human rights violations under the occupation, Israeli universities discriminate against Palestinians in all areas of student life. Administrators have canceled speakers they deemed too political, banned movie screenings, and have sought to expel students for participating in legal demonstrations on campus. Professors who express criticism of Israeli human rights violations have faced retaliation from their universities, including being denied tenure or fired. 3. A boycott expresses solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for academic and human rights.Over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations have asked us to aid them in their struggle against occupation and illegal discrimination. This boycott is a non-violent action that could introduce significant changes leading to a just peace.4. The MLA has a tradition of expressing its support for human rights struggles, including struggles against academic and intellectual repression.The MLA has repeatedly taken principled stances on numerous infractions of human rights– from Poland, El Salvador, and the USSR to Oklahoma -- and this boycott would be a public affirmation of our solidarity, as scholars, with the struggle of our Palestinian colleagues. Five Myths About The BoycottMyth #1: The boycott is unfair in that it targets all Israeli scholars on the basis of their citizenship, ethnicity, or religion.Fact: Our boycott applies to academic institutions, not individuals. The boycott does not deny Israeli scholars the right to attend conferences such as the MLA meeting, visit US universities, or publish their work in American venues. It does call for the boycott of institutionally supported events (such as conferences held at Israeli universities) on the grounds that attendance at such events serves to normalize and lend legitimacy to the regime and thus contributes to the perpetuation of injustice.Myth #2: The boycott is a refusal to engage in productive dialogue.Fact: The boycott encourages effective dialogue. Boycott is not a silencing of speech but is intended to encourage discussion about academic and human rights in Israel/Palestine that will have a concrete effect. To date no amount of dialogue has had the slightest impact on government policy, and Israeli violations of Palestinian rights have in fact increased under the cover of dialogue. Dialogue under conditions where one side maintains a virtual monopoly of effective force is meaningless. BDS is already proving effective in rectifying that imbalance.Myth #3: The boycott undermines principles of academic freedom.Fact: It is in the name of academic freedom that this boycott is initiated. It is the Israeli state and its universities that violate academic freedom through repeated military assaults on Palestinian schools and institutions of higher learning, discrimination against Palestinian students in both the occupied territories and within Israel, and censorship on Israeli campuses. The boycott demands that Israel respect the academic rights of all people who seek to learn. To continue to collaborate with Israeli institutions is to lend ideological support to the erosion of academic freedom in both Israel and Palestine..Myth #4: A boycott is counter-productive--universities are precisely where critical debate flourishes.Fact: While a few courageous academics have spoken out against their government (frequently at great personal cost), Israeli universities have without exception participated in infringing on the rights of Palestinians both in Israeli and living under occupation. By highlighting the discriminatory practices of Israeli universities, this boycott lends solidarity to both Jewish and Palestinian critics of Israeli state and university policy.Myth #5: The boycott imposes a double standard by singling out Israel. Many other countries also violate human rights.Fact: A boycott is a tactical measure effective under specific circumstances. Supporting this boycott does not entail automatically accepting or rejecting other boycotts, each of which should be evaluated on its own terms, and it does not require establishing a hierarchy of comparative atrocities. It should be remembered that a boycott is a practical tactic. It has effect if the target is vulnerable to boycott as a result of its material connections to the nations whose publics boycott it.? The boycotted nation’s public must also care about the opinion of those boycotting them. This is the case with Israel, as it was with South Africa, since the nation has a stake in being counted among “democratic” western nations. A boycott will also be effective only if it has tangible and clearly articulated goals that are realizable by the nation boycotted -- for example conforming to international law and humanitarian norms, dismantling a racist or apartheid system, and negotiating in good faith.For more information and documentation, visit MLA Members for Justice in Palestine Commons site. All factual statements made here are documented more fully in the file “MLA Resolution ACBI Evidence” uploaded on the MLA Commons site of the MLA Members for Justice in Palestine: ................
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