The Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization
http://www.sciencem ag.org/cgi/ content/short/ 315/5808/ 39b
On the occasion of the November 2006 annual meeting of the Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization (IPSO), we, the members of IPSO’s International Scientific Council, noted with considerable satisfaction the receipt of 71 proposals for joint scientific research between Palestinian and Israeli scientists, engineers, health professionals, and scholars who wish to work together.
In addition to its goal of promoting and funding joint research, IPSO encourages and supports quality education of Palestinian students and researchers- -an essential element in securing a stable and economically viable society. Because of its desire to create a science-based bridge of good will, cooperation, and dialogue, IPSO joins Israeli university rectors and professors in opposing the ban that prohibits residents from the Palestinian Authority (PA) areas from entering Israel to study or to reach educational institutions in PA areas. We also call on the Israeli security authorities to allow, on an individual basis, academically qualified students to study in Israel.
IPSO endorses the 31 October 2006 statement by the Council of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities that calls on the Israeli government to “refrain from instituting any policy that hinders any group of scientists or academics, whether Palestinian or otherwise, from properly discharging their academic responsibilities. “
Lastly, we urge the international scientific and scholarly community to support IPSO’s goals of promoting high-quality research, advancing training in all areas of science and learning, and forthrightly opposing obstructions to academic freedom worldwide, including boycotts, moratoria, and arbitrary or sweeping access restrictions on students and academics to universities and research institutions. We must actively promote favorable conditions for all to meet and work together in a safe, equitable, and productive environment.
Torsten Wiesel*
President Emeritus
Rockefeller University
New York, NY, USA
*Chair, IPSO
Peter Agre
Duke University
Durham, NC 27710, USA
Kenneth J. Arrow
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Michael Atiyah
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland EH9 3JZ, UK
Edouard Brézin
École Normale Supérieure
F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
Faouzia Farida Charfi
Institut Préparatoire aux Études Scientifiques et Techniques
Tunis, Tunisia
Claude Cohen-Tanoudji
Collége de France
75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
Abdallah Daar
University of Toronto, Toronto
ON M5G 1L7, Canada
Francois Jacob
Institut Pasteur
75724 Paris CX 15, France
Daniel Kahneman
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Yuan Tseh Lee
Academia Sinica, Taipei
Taiwan (Chinese Taipei)
Ida Nicolaisen
Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
DK-2300 Copenhagen, Denmark
Sari Nusseibeh**
Al-Quds University
Beit Hanina
Jerusalem, Israel
**Deputy Chairs, IPSO
Harald Reuter
University of Bern
CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland
Yoav Shoham
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94304, USA
John Sulston
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton
Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
Michael Walzer
Institute for Advanced Study
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
Menahem Yaari**
Jerusalem, Israel
**Deputy Chairs, IPSO
