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Israeli professor urges boycott of settlement university

Monday, 14 March 2016 2:20 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 14 March 2016 2:18 PM ]

File photo of Ariel University

An Israeli professor has called on his colleagues to join an internal boycott of an Israeli university in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Uri Ram, head of Israel’s Sociological Society, said on Monday that the group will not cooperate with the institution called Ariel University, as it is operating in the illegal Ariel settlement.

In 2012, the cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conferred university status to the institution, sparking criticism among activists who said the move would entrench Tel Aviv’s hold on the occupied Palestinian lands.

Ram is also a professor of sociology at Ben Gurion University in Negev. His move is anticipated to lead pro-Palestinian academics across the world to boycott the institution.

The Israeli government slammed Ram’s decision that coincided Tel Aviv's diplomatic efforts to end the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that questions the legitimacy of Israel and calls for the boycott of their products.

"Israeli tax-payers fund higher education to the tune of 10 billion shekels ($2.6 billion) a year and we have no intention of allowing boycotts," Education Minister Naftali Bennett said.

In January, 170 scholars from 50 universities and colleges across Italy joined the BDS movement and signed a petition to boycott Israeli universities over their role in Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinians.

The petition said that the Israeli Institute of Technology in the city of Haifa, known as the Technion, “carries out research in a wide range of technologies and weapons used to oppress and attack Palestinians.”

Last December, some 200 South African scholars also announced their support for the academic boycott of Israel. The BDS movement was also welcomed in the UK and US.

The BDS campaign against Israel began in July 2005 by 171 Palestinian organizations, calling for "various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law.”

The movement seeks to end the Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands and respect the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

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