MAJOR US ACADEMIC ASSOCIATION VOTES FOR BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL

مركز المعلومات الفلسطيني- تنزانيا

Palestine Information Centre (Tanzania)

Kituo cha Habari cha Palestina (Tanzania)

PRESS RELEASE

17 December 2013

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major US academic association votes for boycott of Israel

BETHLEHEM -- The largest and oldest academic organization dedicated to the study of the United States announced on Monday that its membership had voted overwhelmingly to endorse the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
In a landmark decision, more than 66 percent of voting members of the American Studies Association opted in favour of a resolution that supported the boycott. The resolution also expressed the association's support for US-based academics to speak critically of Israeli policies.

"The ASA's endorsement of the academic boycott emerges from the context of US military and other support for Israel; Israel's violation of international law and UN resolutions; the documented impact of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian scholars and students; the extent to which Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights; and finally, the support of such a resolution by a majority of ASA members," a statement released by the association on Monday read.

According to the ASA's website, the resolution entails a ban on "formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions, or with scholars who are expressly serving as representatives or ambassadors of those institutions."

It does not, however, call for "a boycott of Israeli scholars engaged in individual-level contacts and ordinary forms of academic exchange," the site clarifies, adding that "the goal of the academic boycott is to contribute to the larger movement for social justice in Israel/Palestine that seeks to expand, not further restrict, the rights to education and free inquiry."

The American Studies Association is the largest US-based academic association (5000 members) to support the academic boycott of Israel to-date, and it follows the Association for Asian American Studies' decision to do so in April.

The vote is a particularly historic move given that the United States is one of Israel's strongest allies and gives it more $3 billion in aid per year.

The campaign was supported by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), a major scholarly organization with nearly 1000 endorsements from many leading US academics.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel was officially launched in 2004 by Palestinian civil society in order to pressure the state of Israel to end its systematic violations of Palestinian human rights, including the right to education.

Activists argue that extensive institutional collaboration between Israeli universities and the Israeli military warrant an international boycott campaign, as part of a broader movement of boycott, divestment, and sanctions targeting the State of Israel in order to end the occupation and its extensive human rights violation

The full text of the ASA's resolution follows:

    Whereas the American Studies Association is committed to the pursuit of social justice, to the struggle against all forms of racism, including anti-semitism, discrimination, and xenophobia, and to solidarity with aggrieved peoples in the United States and in the world;

    Whereas the United States plays a significant role in enabling the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the expansion of illegal settlements and the Wall in violation of international law, as well as in supporting the systematic discrimination against Palestinians, which has had documented devastating impact on the overall well-being, the exercise of political and human rights, the freedom of movement, and the educational opportunities of Palestinians;

    Whereas there is no effective or substantive academic freedom for Palestinian students and scholars under conditions of Israeli occupation, and Israeli institutions of higher learning are a party to Israeli state policies that violate human rights and negatively impact the working conditions of Palestinian scholars and students;

    Whereas the American Studies Association is cognizant of Israeli scholars and students who are critical of Israeli state policies and who support the international boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement under conditions of isolation and threat of sanction;

    Whereas the American Studies Association is dedicated to the right of students and scholars to pursue education and research without undue state interference, repression, and military violence, and in keeping with the spirit of its previous statements supports the right of students and scholars to intellectual freedom and to political dissent as citizens and scholars;

    It is resolved that the American Studies Association (ASA) endorses and will honour the call of Palestinian civil society for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. It is also resolved that the ASA supports the protected rights of students and scholars everywhere to engage in research and public speaking about Israel-Palestine and in support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

____________________________________________________________________________

Contact us:  P.O Box 20307, 612 UN Road – Upanga West, Dar es Salaam Tel: 2152813, 2150643 Fax: 2153257    Email: pict@pal-tz.org Website: www.pal-tz.org