Press release the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
Here is the press release from the Hebrew University about the letter signed today by the rectors of all the universities in Israel (except Bar Ilan) calling upon Defence Minister Peretz to cancel the sweeping ban on Palestinian students from entering Israel.
This is the kind of solidarity action that UK academics should engage in: putting pressure on the Israeli government by getting their colleges and mandating their unions to support the calls of Palestinian and Israeli academics and universities to lift this ban, and writing to Minister of Education Yuli Tamir, Minister for Science and Technology Ofir Pines, and Minister of Defence Amir Peretz. Engage sees this as a campaign based on the right to academic freedom for Palestinians and Israelis. The effectiveness of this campaign derives not from boycotting or isolating Israeli academics but from the ability to build upon their own support for their Palestinian students and colleagues. Paul Frosh
News Release
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Oct. 18, 2006
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rector Prof. Haim D. Rabinowitch has initiated a letter signed by rectors and other senior administrators of universities in Israel, calling upon the minister of defense, Amir Peretz, to cancel the sweeping ban the security forces have imposed on the entry of Palestinian students from the territories into Israel.
In the letter, they state that the universities protest the sweeping ban and call upon the security establishment to examine all such instances on an individual basis and enable students, who are not suspected of involvement in activities that threaten the security of Israel, to enter the country for academic purposes.
Signing the letter in addition to Prof Rabinowitch, were the rectors of: Tel Aviv University Prof. Dany Leviatan; the University of Haifa, Prof. Yossi Ben-Artzi; and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Prof. Jimmy Weinblatt; plus the dean of the Feinberg Graduate School of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Prof. Yosef Yarden, and the senior executive vice president of the Technion, Prof. Aviv Rosen.
The call to the minister of defense was issued following the ban which was imposed on Sawsan Salameh, a Palestinian from the village of Anata near Jerusalem. Salameh was accepted last year for doctoral studies in chemistry at the Hebrew University, but despite this she was not permitted by the security authorities without any explanation - to receive an entry permit to Israel
Since she was not able to physically reach the campus, the Hebrew University did not require her to pay tuition for last year.
For further information:
Jerry Barach, Dept. of Media Relations, the Hebrew University, Tel: +972-2-588-2904,
or Orit Sulitzeanu, Hebrew University spokesperson, Tel: +972-2-5882910 or +972-52-260-8016.
Internet site: http://media.huji.ac.il.