In June, 2016 a group of six MLA members traveled together to the West Bank and Israel to find out what it was like for Palestinian academics and students trying to study, teach, and research at universities in the occupied territories and within Israel itself.  In addition to learning about academic conditions under occupation,  the group al…[Read more]

” I urge all colleagues to endorse this reasonable and well formulated resolution and make clear their refusal to remain silent in the face of escalating brutality directed at a desperate population of civilians living under alien military occupation.” Ian Balfour

Check out the MLA Members for Justice in Palestine website for recent statements on…[Read more]

Even an opponent of boycotts agrees that:

“This is frivolous litigation designed for the sole purpose of getting the government to suppress the freedom of speech of a private organization. It should be condemned by everyone on all sides of the BDS issue, and anyone who believes in liberty….
This is a demand by conservatives for government…[Read more]

In recent months, Israel and its supporters have been ramping up their campaign to suppress BDS activism globally, having failed to prevent this non-violent civil society movement from disseminating information about Israel’s discriminatory regime, continuing acts of dispossession, and unrelenting violations of human rights and international law.…[Read more]

In this review, Conor McCarthy reviews four recent books discussing the pros and cons of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.  As he concludes, “these four books contain a wealth of ideas and information and a range of opinion that will enlighten anyone with even a passing interest in the matters of academic freedom and the politics of…[Read more]

This past December, a conference was held in Ramallah, entitled: “Walter Benjamin in Palestine: On the Place and Non-Place of Radical Thought”. David Lloyd reports here on that conference, which was organized to honor the Palestinian call to boycott Israeli academic institutions and as an alternative to a Benjamin conference being held in the same…[Read more]

W.J.T. Mitchell writes on the Critical Inquiry blog of the 2016 convention’s discussion of the boycott resolution and the question of Palestine: “It seemed clear to me that the discussion has now moved beyond a simple “for or against” rhetoric into a more nuanced debate over the internal struggles of BDS to refine its tactics and reach out to form…[Read more]

This account of the French government’s criminalization of BDS, by French scholars publicly opposing it, comes with an appeal to academics internationally to protest this startling restriction of freedom of speech in the land that claims to have invented rights of free speech.  Once again, the Israeli exception seems to hold sway with the usual…[Read more]

David Lloyd’s response to the debates at MLA 2016, from Jadaliyya:

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/23598/racism-in-the-defense-of-a-racist-state_some-refle

“The vast majority of Palestinians have, through their organizations, voiced their call to us to side with them and to rectify the vast imbalance of power between them and the Israeli…[Read more]

on January 11, the Israeli army once again invaded Birzeit:

http://www.birzeit.edu/news/birzeit-university-condemns-israeli%E2%80%99s-constant-violations-right-education

From the statement by Birzeit University:

More than fifteen military Israeli vehicles raided Birzeit University at 2:50 in the morning breaking through the entrance to the…[Read more]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/birzeit-university-rises-israel-arrests-160106083537743.html

From the article:

“Nineteen-year-old Jureen Omar Qadah, who majors in media studies, was arrested on October 28 when Israeli forces raided her home in Shukba. Her sister, Sabrin, recalled the night of the arrest. “They took her at around two…[Read more]

This Los Angeles Times op ed by Saree Makdisi is a short version of his paper for the debate panel on the academic boycott, Thursday January 7, at MLA 2016.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-makdisi-why-support-the-academic-boycott-of-israel-20160108-story.html

These are the panels that include papers relevant to Palestine and the academic boycott resolution at MLA 2016.  Please do your utmost to attend the two panels on Thursday afternoon at which the boycott resolution will be debated (Panels 119 and 148):

Thursday

Boycotting Israeli Academic Institutions

Thursday, 7 January, 3:30–4:45 p.m., Lo…[Read more]

This essay discusses the report of a task force established by the American Anthropological Association to investigate conditions for academics and students in Palestine under Israeli Occupation;

Engaged Anthropology: The AAA’s Task Force Report on Israel/Palestine

The report itself can be found…[Read more]

A document discussing many myths disseminated about the boycott and its consequences can be found on our Documents tab;

Facts and Myths about the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions