British academics cancel boycott of Israeli academics!

September 29, 2007 12:15 by IMEMC News news at imemc dot org

The Israeli daily Haaretz on Saturday reported that the British academic Union has cancelled a plan to boycott Israeli academics on Friday.

The original boycott idea was championed in May, when Britain's University and College Union (UCU) promoted a boycott of Israeli academic institutions and universities, accusing Israeli academia of "involvement" in the occupation, and of the denial of educational rights for Palestinians by "invasions, closures, checkpoints, curfews, shootings and arrests of teachers, lecturers and students."

The call for the boycott was denounced by many Israeli figures and condemned as both illegal and outside of the UCU objectives. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni praised the decision to halt the boycott, stating that" the decision viewed that bounding the freedom of academia is mistaken" The call for the academic boycott was taken once in 2003, when the UCU began to cut all ties with Israeli academia, a decision that was halted later.

Two years later, the UCU's predecessor voted to boycott two Israeli universities, another decision that was suspended a month later. The Israeli embassy in London on Friday welcomed the UCU's statement.

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