University College London, London WC1E 6AU
michael@mbaum.freeserve.co.uk
Tony Blair’s appointment as Middle East peace envoy is intended to invigorate the peace process. Tom Hickey thinks boycotting universities might encourage the Israeli government to reach a settlement, but Michael Baum believes collaboration is a more effective way forward
First of all I should declare a conflict of interest. I am aJew and a Zionist. However, before anyone issues a Fatwa, letme explain. I consider myself a secular Jew who abhors the fanaticismamong West Bank settlers. I support a two state solution. ThePalestinians must have self determination; 60 years of statelessnessafter the British mandate is enough. This position is held byall my Israeli academic friends and colleagues. These academicsare the very constituency the boycotters are targeting and aredisproportionately represented in the peace camp. How can alienatingthis group enhance the peace process?
The Israeli universities and research institutes are no moreagents of Israel than Oxford or Cambridge are of the UnitedKingdom. And they are not responsible for repression of Palestiniansin the Occupied Territories-a policy which is universallyunpopular. Furthermore, it is nonsense to suggest that you cantarget the institution without damaging the individual.
Multicultural society
Let me also dismiss the big lie that Israel is an apartheidstate. Israel is a multicultural mosaic with Jews, Muslims,Christians, and other faiths. Druze, Bahá’í, andArmenian Christians chose to live there after persecution inMuslim countries. Only malign commentators can be blind to theArabs who form 20% of Israeli citizens. They are free to voteand express their views (including the right to campaign againstthe state itself) and serve in the cabinet. Arab judges holdhigh office and Arab newspapers argue the Palestinian cause.Mosques are respected: if only such sensitivity for Jewish valueswas shown by the Palestinian gangs who destroyed all the synagogueswhen Israel withdrew its occupation forces from Gaza.
My first hand experience of Israel started as a young surgeonin 1963-4. I worked in northern Israel in a hospital servingArab villages, kibbutzim, new immigrant townships, and ancientcommunities of Arabs and Jews in Nazareth, Afula, and Tiberias.A fifth of the doctors and nurses were Arabs, trained at theexpense of the Israeli government. Arab and Jewish patientswere treated with the same respect in adjacent beds. This isstill true in all Israeli hospitals. It is also a lie to suggestthat the Israel Medical Association is complicit in the illtreatment of prisoners.1
I would go even further and state that Israel provides moreacademic freedom for Arab scholars than anywhere else in theMiddle East. There are numerous examples of Palestinian andIsraeli collaborations. For example, the Israel Cancer Associationfunds initiatives that benefit both Israeli and Palestinianpatients and their families. These include the Breast Care Centreat the Holy Family Hospital in Nazareth, which holds joint sessionswith Israeli Jewish and Arab women and Palestinians who sharecommon experience as survivors of breast cancer. Hadassah Hospitaland the Hebrew University in Jerusalem provide outreach programmesfor the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Poor children from theterritory get free, state of the art treatment, often supportedby the Peres Foundation. Ben Gurion University of the Negevhas launched the joint Israel-Jordan-Palestine project for improvementof motor skills in children with cerebral palsy and also fundsthe work of Ohad Birk (Israeli Jewish), Izzedelin Abuelaish(Gaza Palestinian), and Khalil Elbedour (Israeli Bedouin), whohave unravelled rare genetic disorders among Negev Bedouin,where consanguineous marriages are not uncommon.
Universities must encourage a spirit of inquiry, where membersjoin in dialogue, with freedom of expression, learning fromeach other’s narratives. As Malcolm Grant, provost of UniversityCollege London put it: the boycott “betrays a misunderstandingof the academic mission which is founded squarely on academicfreedom of inquiry and freedom of speech” Lord Adonis went furtherin the House of Lords2 :
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Not only would a boycott be inconsistent with the spirit ofopenness and tolerance that should inform public life. It wouldalso be counterproductive. Education plays a vital role in developingand aiding understanding between different people. It is thereforeall the more important to keep open channels of communicationwith academic and educational institutions in the Middle Eastduring these difficult times. |
Finally, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this callfor a boycott damages the reputation of British academia inthe eyes of the wider world.3
Balance and cooperation
There are two narratives concerning the tragic history of theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict. Both have verity, yet they arerecounted as if one had the monopoly of truth. To accept oneside only and delegitimise Israel shows either ignorance ormalice. For a balanced account interweaving the competing narrativesI commend City of Oranges, which tries to look at the historyof Jaffa, a microcosm of the wider conflict, from both sides.4
Instead of boycott, might I suggest a more constructive approach,emulating my late brother, David? David died eight years agowhile president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and ChildHealth. His last act was to establish a sick children’s clinicin Gaza. His family continue this legacy through the David BaumInternational Foundation at the college. Like David, I believepassionately that we can all do our bit for peace by buildingbridges between British, Israeli, and Palestinian academicsand physicians. Through this collaboration and dialogue thehealth and welfare of all will improve, leading to increasingmutual respect and trust; sowing seeds for a peaceful solutionahead of any “road map.”
However, if you still support the boycott, remember to stopusing laptops with Pentium processors, and do not transfer filesusing USB hub drives, both of which are the fruits of Israeliacademic inventions.
Competing interests: As stated at the start of this article.
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References
- Blachar Y. Medical ethics, the Israel Medical Association, and the state of the World Medical Association; IMA president’s response to the open letter in the BMA. BMJ 2003;327:1107.[Free Full Text]
- Scholars for Peace in the Middle East..spme.org/cgi-bin/display_petitions.cgi?ID=9
- LeBor A. City of oranges; Arabs and Jews in Jaffa. London: Bloomsbury, 2006