Israeli Academic Rachel Giora writes in support of a boycott of Israel

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Written by Rachel Giora via Jewish Peace News Rachel Giora via Jewish Peace News

Published: 22 June 2009 22 June 2009

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    Subject:    Suggested entry: Rachel Giora calls for boycott
    Date:   June 20, 2009 9:58:12 AM MST
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Rachel Giora, a prominent Israeli feminist and a Professor of Linguistics at 
Tel Aviv University, calls for boycott against Israel
Her message includes recounting of some of the successes of the boycott
movement to date, after which she proceeds to explain why an academic
boycott is justified.

Racheli Gai.



http://www.bricup.org.uk/documents/israel_unis/Giora.pdf
A message to BRICUP’s pre UCU Congress 2009 meeting from Rachel Giora,
Professor of Linguistics at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv
20.5.2009
 
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to express my support of your actions toward helping the boycott
movement become engulfing and effective. By responding to the Palestinian call
to boycott Israel, you emerged as the pioneers of the boycott movement against
Israel and I hope you will be able to witness its impact on redressing injustices
and on changing the face of the world.
 
Thanks to you, the boycott movement against Israel is now gaining force.
Examples abound: Dock workers in South Africa refused to offload a ship
carrying Israeli goods; Western Australian members of the Maritime Union of
Australia have also called for a boycott of all Israeli vessels and all vessels
bearing goods arriving from or going to Israel ; a Turkish company refused to do
business with Israelis “with blood on their hands”;  young individuals in France
cleared Israeli goods off a store’s shelve. The boycott movement is indeed biting.
Israeli goods are losing foreign markets: 21% of Israeli exporters report that
they are facing problems in selling Israeli goods because of an anti-Israel
boycott, mainly from the UK and Scandinavian countries.
 
That business is not as usual as can be gleaned from the EU decision to
freeze a planned upgrade of ties with Israel in order to pressure its government
to abide by the international commitments made towards the welfare of the
Palestinian people. “We expect a stop of all activities undermining our objective
of a two-state solution… citing the expansion of Israeli settlements in the
Palestinian territories … which is continuing on a daily basis.".
 
Israel is also facing cultural isolation: Israel’s sports teams have met with
hostile protests in Sweden, Spain and Turkey. Israeli money donated to help
fund the 2009 film festival in Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) was
returned to the Israeli Embassy.
 
The Academic boycott started in Britain by you and people like you is
perhaps the most solid form of cultural boycott to-date, resonating in universities
and academic institutions all over the world: Cardiff University divested from
Israel; CUPE-Ontario's University Workers Coordinating Committee (OUWCC)
encouraged members “to hold public forums to discuss an academic boycott of
Israeli academic institutions”;  Quebec College Federation  joined the BDS
campaign; Australian scholars called for a boycott of Israeli academic and
cultural institutions; US academics agitated for academic boycott of Israel..
 
But shouldn’t Israeli academic institutions be exempted, some wonder?
After all such institutions focus on academic research with no recourse to the
military or state politics. But in fact Israeli academia is no different from any
other Israeli institution, and in many cases it plays an active if not a vital role in
supporting Israeli apartheid practices against the Palestinians. For example, “the
R&D [Research & Development] Directorate of the Israel Ministry of Defense is
currently funding 55 projects at TAU  [Tel Aviv University]”; “Military R&D in
Israel would not exist without the universities. They carry out all the basic
scientific investigation, which is then developed either by defense industries or
the army”; “People are just not aware of how important university research is in
general and how much TAU contributes to Israel’s security in particular”; “In the
rough and tumble reality of the Middle East, Tel Aviv University is at the front
line of the critical work to maintain Israel’s military and technological edge.”
Israeli universities run special programs for the military. Just recently, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem won the  Defense Ministry Bidding to establish
the Military Medical Program. Tel Aviv University runs an Executive Master's
Program in Diplomacy and Security  at the social sciences faculty, to cite just a
few examples.
 
And in spite of the growing plight of their Palestinians colleagues,
universities’ senates and heads have never spoken up against the Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territory or against the oppression of the
Palestinians; nor have they protested the destructive damage inflicted on
Palestinian academic institutions by the Israeli military; nor have they shown any
concern for or solidarity with their Palestinian colleagues. And when given the
chance to protest “the policy of the Israeli government which is causing
restrictions of freedom of movement, study and instruction, and […] call upon
the government to allow students and lecturers free access to all the campuses
in the Territories, and to allow lecturers and students who hold foreign passports
to teach and study without being threatened with withdrawal of residence visas”,
only very few (407 out of over 5000) faculty have chosen to sign this petition. Is
“academic freedom” only the prerogative of the powerful?
 
These are only shreds of evidence testifying to the complicity of Israeli
academic institutions in the state's apartheid policies against the Palestinians.
In light of Israel’s widely documented disregard for international laws
exercised in our area for so many years, culminating in two recent wars against
civilians in Lebanon and Gaza, it is left for us citizens of the world to attempt to
hold up a mirror to Israel’s real face in the hope that it will give it a chance to
choose justice and peace over occupation.
 
The growing numbers of Israelis who are now supporting cultural and
academic boycotts will rejoice in your achievements.
 
I wish you luck with your conference and actions.
In solidarity,
Rachel Giora

................................................................
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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Judith Norman
Lincoln Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman 
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The unrest in Iran makes me green with envy

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Written by Gideon Levy Gideon Levy

Published: 18 June 2009 18 June 2009

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{josquote}Israel is now at a fateful crossroads, no less than Iran. An opportunity
lies before it that will not be seen again, one that affects the future
of all its people no less than the election results in Iran affect the
Iranians' fate. Missing the opportunity here will be just as decisive as
four more years of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power. But look what is
happening in totalitarian Iran and what is happening here [in Israel], the sole
democracy in the Middle East, blah, blah, blah.{/josquote}

Read more: The unrest in Iran makes me green with envy

NETANYAHU SPEAKS: The Israel-Palestine Ball Remains in Obama's Court

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Written by Phyllis Bennis Phyllis Bennis

Published: 16 June 2009 16 June 2009

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Now the Israeli-Palestinian ball remains squarely in President Obama's court - and the results will be determined largely by his administration's decision on whether or not to use real (i.e., financial or diplomatic) pressure, rather than relying solely on public or private urging, for Israel to comply with U.S. wishes. Without concrete consequences for Tel Aviv's noncompliance -such as withholding all or part of the $3 billion annual U.S. military aid to Israel, or withdrawing the U.S. diplomatic protection that keeps Israel from being held accountable in the UN Security Council - Obama's demands for a settlement freeze or anything else will have little impact.

"Palestinian State"

It was no surprise that Netanyahu acceded to Obama's demand that he utter the words "Palestinian state." Despite outrage among his far-right backers, words are relatively cheap: he never even said the word "Palestine," nor did he refer to a "two-state solution" or two states in any form. Instead, Netanyahu described "two free peoples," each with a flag and an anthem. What's missing is anything remotely resembling equality or justice.

Netanyahu described "a demilitarized Palestinian state side-by-side with the Jewish state." He described a non-sovereign, non-independent, non-contiguous "Palestinian state" that would be forcibly demilitarized by international guarantee rather than any internal choice; a "Palestinian state" with no control of its own airspace; a "Palestinian state" with no control of its own borders; a "Palestinian state" with no right to sign treaties; and a "Palestinian state" without Jerusalem. His putative "Palestinian state" has no known borders, since territory would be determined only in later negotiations. Israeli settlements, as well as the Apartheid Wall, the closed military zones, the checkpoints, the settlers-only roads, bridges, tunnels built on stolen Palestinian land, and continue to divide the West Bank into tiny non-contiguous cantons or Bantustans, all remain in place.

Settlements

Netanyahu completely rejected Obama's call for a settlement freeze. "We have no intention to build new settlements or set aside land for new settlements," Netanyahu said. So all expansion of existing settlements - not only for the so-called "natural growth" which Netanyahu and President Obama openly tussled over - will continue. Palestinian land, therefore, will continue to be "set aside" - a polite euphemism for "stolen" - to expand any or all of the existing Jewish settlements as far as any nationalist or religious extremists (or, for that matter, any of the yuppie settlers who make up the majority of the settler population) may wish to build them.

The fundamental problem of the settlements, of course, is not just the creeping expansion - it's their very existence. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank or Arab East Jerusalem - not only the tiny propaganda-driven "outposts" but the huge city settlements like Ariel or Ma'ale Adumim or the oldest settlements long described as "neighborhoods" of Jerusalem - are illegal. The 4th  Geneva Convention Article 49(6) prohibits the occupying power from transferring any of its own population into the occupied territory - settlers don't become legal just because they live in giant cities of 35,000 or 40,000 people or because they stay for more than 40 years. The existence of the settlements represents a continuing violation - and even if Obama managed to impose a full freeze on all settlement activity, there is no indication yet of what (if anything) he intends to do about the 480,000 illegal Israeli settlers continuing to occupy those (however frozen) Jews-only settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel as the "State of the Jewish people"

This formulation, a version of which Obama used in his Cairo speech, is very dangerous. Netanyahu demanded that the Palestinians not only recognize Israel (a diplomatic action Palestinians have long expressed willingness to do in return for Israeli recognition of an independent sovereign Palestinian state), but that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state. That means recognizing as legitimate Israel's official discrimination against its non-Jewish citizens. Such recognition would also accept Israel's violation of the international laws guaranteeing Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes on the grounds that a large number of returning refugees would change the demographic balance. It might indeed end Israel's permanent Jewish majority, but no government has a "right" to ensure a preferred racial or religious or ethnic majority by expelling, transferring, denying rights, or discriminating against those outside the chosen parameters.

Netanyahu actually admitted he does not believe Israel is bound by international law or treaties. Israel, he said, needs only to "take into account" international considerations. "We have to recognize international agreements," he said, but pay equal attention to "principles important to the State of Israel." Under that theory, agreements Israel had already accepted, such as the 2003 "road map" which required Israel to freeze all settlements including "natural growth," or UN Resolution 273 of 1949 which welcomed Israel into the United Nations on condition that it accept the Palestinians' right of return, are irrelevant and can be violated with impunity if they don't match "principles important to the State of Israel."

Israel, the Arab world and Iran

Netanyahu echoed Obama's call for normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab states. Netanyahu's vision of that "reconciliation" is clearly tied to his effort to establish, with U.S. backing, an Israeli-Arab alliance against Iran, describing his effort "to forge an international alliance to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons." The recent Iranian elections certainly helped Netanyahu. He will use a confirmed victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the disputed elections, or even continued uncertainty, protests, and instability in Iran, as evidence for his claim that Iran remains a direct and immediate threat to Israel. Netanyahu described the Iranian election itself as demonstrating that threat and said the "greatest danger confronting Israel, the Middle East, the entire world, and human race, is the nexus between radical Islam and nuclear weapons." His audience at that moment was not only hard-line voters at home, but Israel's supporters in Congress and elsewhere in the United States, using the "Iranian threat" to counter any U.S. unease regarding his rejection of Palestinian self-determination.

It remains uncertain how far Obama is prepared to go in building such a regional anti-Iran alliance. In his speech in Cairo two weeks ago, Obama urged Arab governments to implement only those parts of the 2002 Arab peace initiative calling for normalization with Israel, while ignoring the critical Israeli actions the plan recognizes are needed before such normalization could take place. The Arab plan, endorsed by the 22 nations of the Arab League, did offer normalization with Israel, but only in exchange for complete Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, sharing of Jerusalem, a just solution to the Palestinian refugee crisis based on international law, and more. Netanyahu followed Obama's lead in ignoring the Israeli obligations, and in demanding that Arab governments immediately establish peace treaties, full diplomatic relations, trade, tourism - in essence, full normal relations - with Israel, getting nothing in return.

The danger is that such state-to-state normalization between Israel and any or all Arab governments, if carried out with Israel's occupation and apartheid policies intact, undermines Palestinian claims, weakens the Palestinian position in the region and internationally, and legitimizes Israeli violations of international law. The call for such one-sided normalization may also be linked to an effort by the Obama administration to push Israel towards new negotiations with Syria - separating that process from the Palestinian track. Such negotiations could lead to some important movement towards ending the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights. But such a move could simultaneously endanger the central component of Israel's occupation of Palestine. Israel would try to convince the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress that any withdrawal from the Golan would be so traumatic for Israel that the United States cannot press for any motion on ending occupation in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, let alone for ending Israel's lethal siege of Gaza. Just such an impact occurred after Israel withdrew from the Egyptian Sinai in the context of the 1979 Camp David Accord. Israel won support for its position that the return of the sparsely populated Sinai peninsula to Egypt was sufficient to fulfill any requirement in UN Resolution 242 (or anywhere else) that Israel withdraw from the territories it had occupied in the 1967 war.

The outcome of the disputed Iranian elections remains uncertain. Civil engagement, protest, and mobilization is occurring at a level not seen at least since the student uprisings of 1999; some observers say not since the Islamic revolution of 1979. But the results remain unclear. It's important that Obama has remained careful and respectful in his response, raising concerns about government suppression and the street violence but making clear that "it is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be, that we respect Iranian sovereignty." Crucially, he said the United States "will continue to pursue a tough, direct dialogue between our two countries." Public pressure must be maintained to insure that Israeli threats of military force against Iran are not backed up by the United States.

Now, in Obama's court...

Questions remain.

• Will Obama accept Netanyahu's rhetorical use of the words "Palestinian state" as a major concession, sufficient to demand new concessions from the Palestinians?
• If Netanyahu moves one step further and calls for some kind of settlement freeze (whether or not it is actually imposed on the ground), will that be greeted as an important new concession with no response to the continuing illegality of the existing settlements?
• Will the Obama administration's regional strategy focus on building an Israeli-Arab alliance against Iran despite Obama's stated commitment to new negotiations with Iran "without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect"?
• How will Obama respond if there are a few more rhetorical concessions from Netanyahu, even if there is no actual motion on the ground on Palestinian rights?

Or, looking forward…

• Will Obama send his envoy, former Senator George Mitchell, to inform the Israeli government that Washington's next step will be the withholding of this year's $3 billion in U.S. military aid to Israel until there is evidence on the ground, not only in words, of a complete halt in building, selling, recruiting residents, or any other activity in any of the settlements?
• Will Obama announce that continuing to sponsor bilateral Palestinian-Israeli talks is futile when the disparity of power remains so profound, and that instead the new U.S. policy will be to support regional negotiations based solely on international law and all relevant UN resolutions as the basis for ending occupation and establishing a just and comprehensive peace in the region?

Okay. Maybe that last one is still a ways down the line. But stay tuned.

Phyllis Bennis is the author of Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer. She is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and works with the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation.  Join the Campaign's challenge to U.S. military aid to Israel.

Carter decries destruction in Gaza

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Written by CNN's Shira Medding contributed to this report. CNN's Shira Medding contributed to this report.

Published: 16 June 2009 16 June 2009

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