On Sunday, 165 Israeli academics issued a petition in which they vow not to take part in academic functions at the Ariel University Center, located in the West Bank. The petition says:
We, academics from a variety of fields and from all the institutions of higher learning in Israel, herein express publicly our opposition to the continued occupation and the establishment of settlements. Ariel was built on occupied land. Only a few kilometers away from flourishing Ariel, Palestinians live in villages and refugee camps under unbearably harsh conditions and without basic human rights. Not only do they not have access to higher education, some do not even have running water. These are two different realities that create a policy of apartheid.
It was established for the sole purpose of preventing the Palestinians from creating an independent state and thus preventing us, citizens of Israel, from having the chance to ever live in peace in this region.
The petition was put forward as the Knesset established a Parliamentary inquiry into left-wing organizations critical of state institutions. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the groups targeted by the inquiry are “aiding terror groups”.
Writing in Haaretz, Gideon Levy argued:
In the Israel of 2011, it's no longer legitimate to belong to the left. It's illegitimate to campaign for human rights or to oppose the occupation or to investigate war crimes. Such actions earn Israelis a mark of shame. A land-stealing settler is a Zionist; a warmongering right-winger is a patriot; an inciting rabbi is a spiritual leader; a racist who expels foreigners is a loyal citizen. Only the leftist is a traitor.
So far the petition has not attracted such a heated reaction. Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar issued a counter-statement in which he criticized “public debates that are based on attempts to boycott and delegitimize".
However, Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman gave a more forceful reaction: he told Israel Radio that he would respond to boycotts with increased construction in the West Bank.