ZGram - 12/13/2002 - "British academic boycott of Israel gathers pace"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

December 13, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

I am amazed at the courage of the Guardian.  Please circulate 
information like this one to all and sundry so that the timid gather 
strength.  Tell them there is no longer any need to look over their 
shoulders - that resistance is gathering worldwide against one-sided 
indoctrination that allows only the Jewish or Zionist view.

[START]

British academic boycott of Israel gathers pace

Andy Beckett and Ewen MacAskill

The Guardian | December 12, 2002

Evidence is growing that a British boycott of Israeli academics is gathering
pace. British academics have delivered a series of snubs to their Israeli
counterparts since the idea of a boycott first gained ground in the spring.

In interviews with the Guardian, British and Israeli academics listed
various incidents in which visits, research projects and publication of
articles have been blocked.

Colin Blakemore, an Oxford University professor of physiology, who supports
a boycott, said: "I do not know of any British academic who has been to a
conference in Israel in the last six months."

Dr Oren Yiftachel, a left-wing Israeli academic at Ben Gurion University,
complained that an article he had co-authored with a Palestinian was
initially rejected by the respected British journal Political Geography. He
said it was returned to him unopened with a note stating that Political
Geography could not accept a submission from Israel.

Mr Yiftachel said that, after months of negotiation, the article is to be
published but only after he agreed to make substantial revisions, including
making a comparison between his homeland and apartheid South Africa.

The issue of a boycott was highlighted in the spring when two British
academics, Steven and Hilary Rose, had a letter published in the Guardian
supporting the idea. It was signed by 123 other academics.

Professor Paul Zinger, outgoing head of the Israeli Science Foundation,
said: "Every year we send most of our research papers abroad for reference.
We send out about 7,000 papers a year. This year, for the first time, we had
people writing back, about 25 of them, saying 'We refuse to look at these'."

[END]

                           
(Source:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,858363,00.html )