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Vote ends Israeli boycott
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,9959,1493583,00.html
Matthew Taylor, education correspondent
Friday May 27, 2005
The Guardian
Lecturers voted last night to overturn a controversial boycott of Israeli academia which had provoked a backlash at universities around the world.
The Association of University Teachers had moved to sever links with two Israeli universities which it claimed were complicit in the abuse of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, at its conference in Eastbourne last month.
But yesterday, after a four hour emergency meeting in London, officials announced that delegates had voted to "revoke all existing boycotts of Israeli institutions".
Anti-boycott campaigners said this was a victory against "leftwing anti-semitism".
Jon Pike, a senior philosophy lecturer at the Open University and founder of anti-boycott group Engage, said: "I am relieved that ... the membership has mobilised and made clear its view that the boycott was an infringement of academic freedom and contributed nothing towards peaceful resolution of the conflict."
But Birmingham University's Sue Blackwell, who proposed the original boycott, said that despite the result the "genie was out of the bottle".
"This is the start not the end as far as the boycott campaign is concerned. We have put this issue firmly on the map and we have shown that people in British academia do care about what is happening in the occupied territories.
"There has been a massive and well funded campaign against us and incredible pressure put upon members in the run up to this debate."
The AUT had voted to boycott Haifa and Bar-Ilan universities, and said it was considering severing links with a third pending investigation.
All three institutions denied the allegations and Haifa has threatened to sue the AUT for defamation.
Yesterday, Wendy Sandler, a professor at Haifa University, said she was relieved the decision had been overturned.
"Certainly everyone at Haifa will be very relieved that we can start to put this issue behind us. Of course the fear is that the fanatics will continue to push their agenda of delegitimising Israel."
Delegates at yesterday's meeting supported a resolution calling on the AUT to give practical support to Palestinian and Israeli trade unionists and academics, and committed the union to a full review of its international policy.
In a brief statement, the AUT general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "It is now time to build bridges between those with opposing views here in the UK and to commit to supporting trade unionists in Israel and Palestine working for peace."
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