[lbo-talk] FT on Israel boycott

[Bryan Atinsky]

This seems to indicate that it is having an effect.

*Israel urged to lift ban on Palestinian students *

*Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem*
*Wednesday May 30, 2007*

*EducationGuardian.co.uk*

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,,2091528,00.html

 

Four Israeli university presidents and several high-profile authors
today called on the Israeli government to lift its restrictions on
Palestinian students.

The call, in a letter to the defence minister, appears to have been
timed to coincide with the vote among British academics over a proposed
boycott on Israeli universities.

The group said Israel should lift a ban that prevents all Palestinian
students in Gaza from studying in the West Bank. Several courses,
including medicine, occupational therapy and health administration are
only available in the West Bank, but Gazan students are not given
permission to travel there to study. Israel usually cites security
concerns.

"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 which respects and supports the principle of academic
freedom and the right to education," the letter said.

It was signed by the presidents of Ben-Gurion, Hebrew, Haifa and
Technion universities, as well as prominent Israeli authors including
Amos Oz, AB Yehoshua and David Grossman. The presidents of two other
major universities, Tel Aviv and Bar Ilan, did not sign.

"The military should listen to calls from intellectuals and the Israeli
academy who ask that the universal principle of academic freedom be
respected - for Palestinians and Israelis alike," said Kenneth Mann, a
professor and committee chair at Gisha, an Israeli human rights group.
Gisha has brought a petition to the Israeli high court against the ban.