February 3, 2014

President Wim Wiewel

RE:  Objections to your statement on the ASA boycott of Israeli institutions

Dear President Wiewel,

As members of Portland State University’s Oregon community we are deeply disturbed by your recent statement on January 14th against the American Studies Association's boycott of Israeli academic institutions.   We oppose a number of declarations made in your statement.

First, the ASA resolution does nothing to curb academic freedom or the free exchange of ideas because it is not directed at individual Israeli academics but at institutions complicit in Israel's denial of fundamental human rights to Palestinians living in Israel, under occupation in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, and in the diaspora. Israeli academics are free to attend ASA-sponsored conferences as long as they are not being paid to attend by Israeli institutions. Your letter misrepresents the ASA's position and willfully ignores Israel's ongoing denial of academic freedom to Palestinians.

Under its military occupation, Israel has routinely closed Palestinian schools and universities, sometimes for as long as two years. It has now made it virtually impossible for students in Gaza to attend universities in the West Bank or vice versa. Israel is notorious for delaying or denying visas that are necessary for Palestinian students to study abroad. Israel maintains a de facto segregated school system, which the government has never attempted to integrate even though 20 percent of Israel's population is Palestinian. Two recent studies have shown that Israel spends three times more on Jewish schools than on Palestinian schools. Ariel University, built in an illegal West Bank settlement on Palestinian land, refuses admission to West Bank Palestinians. Israeli academics work to destroy the international legal framework protecting civilians in times of war and Israeli academic institutions have been complicit in condoning war crimes against Palestinians. During Operation Cast Lead in December 2007, more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed, mostly civilians and including more than 300 children, in an act that the United Nations Human Rights Council characterized as a collective punishment and therefore a war crime. Yet Haifa University administrators called in riot police to suppress nonviolent student protests against the offensive and took out media advertisements and issued statements supporting Operation Cast Lead.

Second, we reject your biased claim that “the totality of the practices and beliefs of the country does not even come close to meriting a boycott.”  Your statement has no basis in fact. Israeli human rights violations are well documented by numerous human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, National Lawyers Guild, World Health Organization, International Committee of the Red Cross, Israeli groups like B’tselem, and the United Nations.  They include violations of U.N. resolutions, the Fourth Geneva conventions protecting civilians, and at times have risen to the level of “crimes against humanity” like those, which according to the Goldstone report, “shock the conscience.”  The fact Israel has not been held to account is primarily because of Israel’s governmental and institutional support from the United States.  A guided visit to the West Bank or Gaza for a few days is generally enough to “shock the conscience.”  We could arrange one for you.

Boycott is a time honored non-violent tactic to put pressure on the powerful in the service of justice.  From the boycotts in the Jim Crow segregated South to the boycotts against apartheid South Africa, civil society has come together to insist on justice against institutions and governments dedicated to protecting the privilege of the powerful.  Israel systematically and daily denies the rights of Palestinians to live as equals and forcefully denies their right to self-determination.  Unfortunately, institutional leaders such as yourself insist on preserving and protecting this grotesque inequity.

Palestinian civil society has the right and indeed has called upon people of conscience to non-violently oppose Israel’s actions through boycott, divestment, and sanctions and civil society is responding around the world. South African academics have studied Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and have found it meets the international legal definition of apartheid.  Nelson Mandela himself understood the injustices faced by Palestinians and noted “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Third, we stand opposed to efforts to make Oregonians even more complicit in Israel’s injustices as expressed by your desire to “strengthen my pursuit of academic exchanges between Portland State University and Israeli institutions.”  Such alliances only serve to normalize and perpetuate Israel’s status quo.

Numerous Israeli scholars have called for a campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against their own government because of its continued colonization of Palestinian land and denial of fundamental human rights to Palestinians. Yet you, who occupy a position of authority paid for by our taxes, have said and done nothing on behalf of Palestinian academic freedom or for Palestinian human rights.

Dr. Martin Luther King was speaking to you, President Wiewel, when he said “I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate . .  who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom . . .”

We urge you, President Wiewel, to open your eyes to the suffering of Palestinians and the systematic nature of Israel’s system of oppression.   We call upon Oregonians of conscience to reject your statements, support the ASA boycott, and oppose your efforts to make Portland State University and all Oregonians ever more complicit with Israel’s systematic human rights violations.

We would be happy to meet with you to discuss our concerns at your convenience.

Sincerely,

 
Peter Miller
President
Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
PO Box 14901
Portland, OR 97293
 
Co-Signers,

Jewish Voice for Peace - Portland Chapter (JVP – PDX)
Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (AUPHR), Portland
Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER), Portland State University
Americans for Peace and Liberty in the Middle East (APALME), Newport
Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land (LJHL) - Central Lutheran Church, Portland
Portland Peaceful Response Coalition (PPRC), Portland
Interfaith Community for Peace and Justice (ICPJ), Newport
Friends of Sabeel, Portland Action Group

 

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