Norwegian university to mull academic boycott of Israel

Israel institutes rewrite Palestinian history: profs
Mona Moussly

AlArabiya, November 3, 2009

A group of professors in Norway have called for a boycott of Israeli academics because of "systematic" discrimination against Palestinian students and for altering history to develop the Zionist ideology, the professors said in their proposal sent to Al Arabiya on Tuesday.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where the professors work, is set to decide next week whether to boycott Israel after it received the proposal from 30 of its professors who said their aim was to put "pressure" on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian land.

"We, who have signed this letter, believe that it is time that academic institutions contributed to an international pressure against Israel so that real negotiations between Israel, democratically elected Palestinian authorities and the international society can begin," the open letter said.

The group accused Israeli universities and institutions of higher education of playing "a key role in the policy of oppression" and said "historians and archaeologists are important in the development of the Zionist ideology and renouncement of Palestinian history and identity."

The letter also criticized Israel's 22-day land, air and sea assault of Gaza for inflicting "immense human suffering" that "shocked the world."

Academic freedom

The letter also blasted Israeli institutions for "systematically" discriminating against Palestinian staff and students, which they said showed Israel had no regard for "the ideals of open universities and academic freedom."

The group called for the boycott to "cover the educational, research and culture institutions of the state of Israel and their representatives, regardless of religion or nationality" and said they hoped it would continue "until guarantees are issued that the occupation of Palestinian land will be terminated."

The board of directors at NTNU, Norway's second largest university located in the western town of Trondheim, has agreed to consider the motion, Anne Katherine Dahl, an advisor to the president of NTNU, told Al Arabiya.

"From NTNU there will be no further comment until the board has concluded on November 12th," Dahl said.

The board is composed of 11 members: four representatives of the state, four from the university staff, two student representatives and one from the temporary staff.