At this time of escalating colonial repression, reads an open letter to NATFHE (National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education) from Palestinian Academics Under Israeli Occupation, coupled with a particularly inhumane and illegal siege, Palestinians will be eagerly following the deliberations of the Council when it convenes on May 27, and are heartened by the growing movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions.

“We believe that this is a courageous initiative, it comes at a time when it is becoming increasingly clear that the international community, as represented by the centers and institutions of global power, is incapable of delivering justice to the Palestinian people. The only hope today rests with initiatives from international activists for justice in Palestine to put pressure on Israel to end its oppression of the Palestinian people,” according to the letter.

It added that Israeli academic institutions are implicated in the various forms of oppression exercised against the Palestinians. Israeli research institutes, think tanks, and academic departments have historically granted legitimacy to the work of academics who advocate ethnic cleansing, apartheid, denial of refugee rights, and other discriminatory policies against the Palestinians, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), inside Israel, or in exile.

The Palestinian call for boycott of Israeli academic institutions is endorsed by the most important federations and associations of academics and professionals and is supported by dozens of civil society institutions in Palestine, it asserts.

Like the Palestinian civil society’s widely endorsed call for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), it is based on the same moral principle embodied in the international civil society campaign against the apartheid regime in South Africa: that people of conscience must take a stand against oppression and must use all the means of civil resistance

“We hope that NATFHE members will join the growing international movement by showing that no business as usual can be conducted with the Israeli academy until it takes a clear and unequivocal stand against the forms of oppression practiced by the Israeli state,” the letter concludes.

Last week, Professor Richard Seaford, from the University of Exeter in England, refused a request to write an article for an academic journal funded by Israeli universities, as part of his academic boycott against Israel, Israeli daily Haaretz said Thursday.