Category: Press Releases

A call to endorse: U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

30 March 2009

In solidarity with the International Global Day of Action for Palestine, the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel announce the endorsement of over 300 US academics and cultural workers, and the affiliation of over 20 organizations.

As educators of conscience, we have been unable to stand by and watch in silence Israel’s indiscriminate assault on the Gaza Strip and its educational institutions and its ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine. In response to the call of Palestinian civil society organizations and in solidarity with the growing international movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, USACBI renews its call for the complete academic and cultural boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

A major element of the occupation and the blockade has been the destruction of Palestinian culture and of its institutions of education and the normalization of the occupation through academic business-as-usual and cultural “embassies”. We therefore encourage our colleagues throughout the United States to join us in pursuing this non-violent means to end Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and its apartheid system by:

(1) Refraining from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions that do not vocally oppose Israeli state policies against Palestine;
(2) Advocating a comprehensive boycott of Israeli institutions at the national and international levels, including suspension of all forms of funding and subsidies to these institutions;
(3) Promoting divestment and disinvestment from Israel by international academic institutions;
(4) Working toward the condemnation of Israeli policies by pressing for resolutions to be adopted by academic, professional and cultural associations and organizations;
(5) Supporting Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as an explicit or implicit condition for such support.

We believe that non-violent external pressure on Israel, in the form of an academic, cultural and economic boycott of Israel, can help bring an end to the ongoing massacres of civilians and an end the occupation of Gaza and Palestine. We therefore urge a comprehensive boycott, including divestment, political sanctions, and the immediate halt to all military aid, sales and deliveries to Israel. However, as educators of conscience, we specifically call for an academic and cultural boycott of Israeli institutions as a key element in this larger action.

We urge our colleagues, nationally, regionally, and internationally, to stand up against Israel’s ongoing scholasticide and to support the non-violent call for academic boycott, disinvestment, and sanctions.

This boycott should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;

2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and

3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

To endorse, please e-mail uscom4acbi@gmail.com with your name and institutional affiliation.

The newly formed Advisory Board consists of internationally known scholars, artists and human rights activists:
Desmond Mpilo Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town
Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Bill Fletcher, Jr., Executive Editor, The Black Commentator and immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum
Glen Ford, Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report
Mark Gonzales, Educator, Poet, Human Writes Project
Marilyn Hacker, poet
Edward S. Herman, Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Associate Professor of American Studies and Anthropology, Wesleyan University
Robin D. G. Kelley, Professor of History, University of Southern California
Ilan Pappé, Chair in the Department of History, the University of Exeter and co-director of the Exeter Center for Ethno-Political Studies.
James Petras, Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at SUNY Binghamton
Adrienne Rich, poet, essayist, activist
Michel Shehadeh, Executive Director, Arab Film Festival
Lisa Taraki, Associate Professor of Sociology, Birzeit University, Palestine and a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

Calls for independent investigation into military’s conduct during Operation Cast Lead

B’Tselem

30 March 2009

Israeli human rights organizations say, in response to the Israeli Army’s speedy closing of internal investigation files about war crimes in Operation Cast Lead: The speedy closing of the investigation immediately raises suspicions that the very opening of this investigation was merely the army’s attempt to wipe its hands of all blame for illegal activity during Operation Cast Lead.

The internal investigation ignored a significant amount of material that was collected and that coincides with soldiers’ testimonies recently publicized in Israel media. In addition, the Military Advocate General disregarded allegations that several of the commands given during the military operations were illegal. It is clear that in this case, the Military Police Criminal Investigations Department (MPCID) has decided to focus on the individual soldier, a measure which is neither effective nor reliable.

“The closing of the Army’s own investigation only strengthens the need for the Attorney General to allow for an independent non-partisan investigative body to be established in order to look into all Israeli Army activity during Operation Cast Lead,” say Israeli human rights organizations.

Israeli forces violently disperse Hebron demonstration, one German citizen arrested

11:30am on Saturday, the 28th of March, Israeli forces violently dispersed a Hebron demonstration, firing tear gas and sound bombs and arresting one German solidarity activist.

video of the demonstration

More than 50 Palestinian residents of Hebron, supported by international and Israeli solidarity activists, were nonviolently rallying against the illegal Israeli settlements inside of Hebron’s old city. The demonstrators gathered near Beit Romano settlement, holding signs against the occupation and chanting, “free, free Palestine!”

Israeli soldiers and police responded by firing sound bombs and tear gas. At this time, the German solidarity activist was arrested and taken to the police station in Kiryat Arba. He was brought to court and released with conditions.

Knesset member Mohammad Barakeh was also present to speak in support of the demonstration, which was organized by the Youth Against Settlements group. Barakeh was tear gassed and pushed by Israeli forces as the rally was dispersed.

The Hebron demonstration also marked Land Day, which commemorates the massacre of six Palestinian citizens of Israel by Israeli authorities during demonstrations in the Galilee on March 30, 1976. Every year, Land Day is remembered all over Palestine with protests against the Israeli occupation.

Hundreds of illegal settlers are living in Hebron’s old city. Israeli road closures prevent Palestinian residents from accessing large areas of the old city, which remain under the direct control of the Israeli military.

Aqraba village to host festival on popular resistance to Israeli occupation

On Friday, the 27th of March at 1.30pm, Aqraba village, southeast of the city of Nablus, will hold a festival of popular resistance in response to recent house demolition orders issued by Israeli authorities.

The festival will take place in the Aqraba high school.

Aqraba village was given demolition orders last month for 15 structures, including homes, barns, a mosque and a water well. These structures are situated on the outskirts of the township, in an area known as Khirbit Al Taweel.

Israeli authorities want to displace the residents of Khirbit Al Taweel, which is located in Area C, under direct Israeli military control. The Israeli military has informed the owners of the 15 structures that they have until the 26th of March to evacuate their homes.

The festival, organized by the Aqraba municipality, the Agricultural Popular Committees, and the Local Council for Popular Resistance, will draw attention to the recent rise in home evictions and demolitions orders throughout Palestine.

A resident of Shiekh Jarrah, a neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem facing mass evictions, will speak about the shared struggle Palestinian communities face under Israeli occupation policies.

Israeli police violently prevent cultural festival in occupied East Jerusalem, several arrested

Sheikh Jarrah, Occupied East Jerusalem: Israeli police violently disbanded an event held in conjunction with the Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture festival in Sheikh Jarrah, occupied East Jerusalem.

At least seven people, including one American and one Danish solidarity activist, have been arrested. One middle–aged Palestinian resident was thrown into a police car with severe bleeding to her head and nose after being roughly handled by police.

Around twenty policemen arrived at the protest tent in Sheikh Jarrah, which was erected to protest the evictions of Palestinian residents in the neighborhood. House evictions and demolition orders number in the hundreds in areas of occupied East Jerusalem, including Silwan and Shu’fat refugee camp.

In November 2008, the al-Kurd family was evicted from their home, and 27 more housing units in the neighborhood also face eviction. The Sheikh Jarrah community has created a tent to protest these pending evictions and to demand that the al-Kurd family be allowed to return to their house. Organizers of the banned Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture festival attempted to hold an event at the tent as part of a year of celebration of Arab culture.

The police began beating the crowd, most of whom consisted of male residents of the neighborhood as they were praying outside of the tent. At this time, at least seven people, including three female community residents and the two solidarity activists, were dragged off and put into police cars.

Israeli Authorities have banned the festival from taking place in occupied East Jerusalem, which started on the 21st of March. At least 20 organizers have been arrested for attempting to celebrate Arab culture in the city of Jerusalem over the past two days.