Sunday, August 8, 2010

Al-Quds University flouts own academic boycott


(Sari Nusseibeh with Yossi Beilin)

Jillian Kestler-D'Amours, The Electronic Intifada, 6 August 2010

"Al-Quds University is maintaining a joint Israeli-Palestinian master's degree program with Haifa, Hebrew and Tel Aviv universities, despite a decision taken by its own University Council in February 2009 to distance itself from Israeli academic institutions.

"[The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, PACBI] views this joint Palestinian-Israeli academic project as a clear violation of the Palestinian criteria for the academic boycott of Israel, which are widely supported by Palestinian civil society," Omar Barghouti, a founding member of PACBI and the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, told The Electronic Intifada.

"PACBI also believes that the timing of this announcement can only confirm the suspicion that it is intended to relieve Israel's increasing isolation -- after its criminal attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla," Barghouti explained....

Still, in May 2005, Al-Quds University President Sari Nusseibeh continued to ignore the growing call for an academic boycott, as he and Hebrew University of Jerusalem President Menachem Magidor released a joint statement denouncing the British Association of University Teachers' (AUT) decision to boycott Israeli academic institutions....."

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