CAFMENAletters: "
The Middle East Studies Association appropriately opposed the boycott of Israel's Bar Ilan University arguing that collective punishment and limits on academic freedom are wrong on principle. The boycott has now been withdrawn. Nonetheless, one of the issues that provoked the boycott remains. That issue is the Israeli move to accrediate a university in the illegal settlement of Ariel. The well-reasoned MESA letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is shown in full below. The Fourth Geneva Convention specifically prohibits the colonization of occupied territory not to mention Israel's obligations under the U.S. co-sponsored Road Map. If you share the view that Israel should not proceed in further broadening its violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and should adhere to its undertakings in the Road Map take a few minutes to express your views to the Prime Minister Sharon and to President Bush.
June 14, 2005
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
3 Kaplan Street
Kiryat Ben Gurion
Jerusalem, ISRAEL
By Facsimile: 972 2 651 2631
Dear Prime Minister Sharon:
On behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom, I am writing to express our strong opposition to the May 2, 2005 decision of the Israeli Cabinet to upgrade the status of the College of Judea and Samaria, located on the West Bank settlement of Ariel, to university status. Since that decision is subject to the approval of the Council on Higher Education, we are writing separately to that committee to urge rejection of the decision.
[MESA is...]
Our objection to this decision is based on the fact that Israel’s settlements on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip are in violation of international humanitarian law. Article 49 (6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) specifically forbids an occupying power from transferring and settling its own citizens in occupied territory. Article 55 of the Hague Regulations (1907) prohibits creating permanent changes in an occupied territory that are not intended to benefit the protected persons of that territory—in this case, the Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank. It is manifestly clear that this college, like the settlement of Ariel, is not intended to benefit the area’s Palestinian inhabitants. The College of Judea and Samaria has already increased the traffic of Israeli citizens to the illegal settlement of Ariel. The college’s faculty and students are prime users of the Trans-Samaria Road, a four-lane highway built on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians, including those whose land was confiscated to build this highway, are prohibited from using major portions of that road. West Bank Palestinians, moreover, are absent from the faculty and student body of the college. The establishment of an institution of higher learning in an illegal settlement thus creates an additional obstacle to Israel’s compliance with international law.
Indeed, the college to be upgraded lies in an area where the Israeli government is obliged to freeze all construction work under the “Roadmap” peace plan drafted by the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, endorsed by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1515 (2003), and accepted by your government. Despite your government’s commitments in this regard, you were quoted as saying, in supporting this decision regarding the college, that it is “in keeping with government policy, which views strengthening the settlement blocs as being among its goals.”
MESA’s Committee on Academic Freedom holds that the free exchange of ideas is among the human rights identified by the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This spirit of freedom of inquiry and exchange is the essence of what higher education should embody. It is clear that such exchange cannot occur at an institution of higher learning built on confiscated land and in clear violation of international humanitarian law. Moreover, upgrading the College of Judea and Samaria to the status of university, on a par with Israel’s other universities inside its internationally-recognized borders, would demean the reputation of the latter by giving an illegal institution equal standing with the recognized high standards of Israel’s universities as a whole.
For these reasons, we strongly recommend that your government not proceed to upgrade the College of Judea and Samaria to university status, but rather relocate its facilities to a location inside Israel’s internationally recognized borders in order to provide educational opportunities to its present and prospective students. Israel must respect its obligations under international law and not tie legitimate educational requirements to its illegal settlement drive.
Sincerely,
Ali Banuazizi
President, Middle East Studies Association
Professor, Boston College
Cc:
Minister of Education Limor Livnat, and Chair, Council of Higher Education
United Nations General Secretary General Kofi Annan
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation
Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn of Luxembourg for the European Union Presidency
High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European
Union Javier Solana
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment