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NEW YORK. — The American Studies Association on Wednesday decided to boycott Israeli academic institutions, handing the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement another victory in its struggle against Israel.
Decrying “the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the expansion of illegal settlements and the Wall in violation of international law” and “the systematic discrimination against Palestinians,” the organisation resolved to “honour the call of Palestinian civil society for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.”
The “boycott is the best way to protect and expand academic freedom and access to education,” ASA president Curtis Marez said in a press release.
In the resolution passed unanimously by the association’s national council, the group justifies its decision with the assertions that Palestinian students and scholars enjoy “no effective or substantive academic freedom” under Israeli rule and that “Israeli institutions of higher learning are a party to Israeli state policies that violate human rights and negatively impact the working conditions of Palestinian scholars and students.”
However, the organisation clarified that the resolution does “not apply to individual Israeli scholars engaged in ordinary forms of academic exchange, including conference presentations, public lectures at campuses, or collaboration on research and publication.”
The ASA’s leadership recognised that individual members will “act according to their convictions” regarding interactions with Israeli academia, the group stated.
Founded in 1951 and now counting about 5 000 members, the Washington, DC-based ASA is America’s oldest and largest association devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture and history, according to its website.
The association “voted for an academic boycott of Israeli institutions as an ethical stance, a form of material and symbolic action,” the group stated .
An overwhelming majority of speakers were in favour of its adoption, but no determinative vote was taken. — The Times of Israel.
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