American Studies Association to boycott Israeli universities
An association of US professors with almost 5,000 members has voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, the group announced, making it the largest academic group in the nation to back a growing movement to isolate Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
An association of US professors with almost 5,000 members has voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, the group announced, making it the largest academic group in the nation to back a growing movement to isolate Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
The group, the American Studies Association, said on Monday that its members approved the boycott resolution by a margin of 2-1 in online balloting that ended on Sunday night, with about a quarter of the members voting.
On December 4, the association's national council had voted unanimously in favour of a boycott resolution, before putting the issue to its members.
It was the first time that the association had called for an academic boycott of any nation's universities, said Curtis Marez, the group's president and an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, San Diego.
"The resolution is in solidarity with scholars and students deprived of their academic freedom and it aspires to enlarge that freedom for all, including Palestinians," the association said.
The statement cited "Israel's violations 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 other factors.
The vote came despite a statement by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that his government's stance was to boycott Israeli businesses in the occupied territories, but not in Israel itself.
