Historical Vote to boycott Israel by the American Anthropological Association
American Anthropological Association to boycott Israel
American Anthropological Association logo credit/wikipedia
“DENVER, Nov. 20 — In a historic vote Friday night, the American Anthropological Association at its annual business meeting resoundingly approved a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions by a vote of 1040-136. The resolution will now be forwarded to the full membership for a final vote by electronic ballot in the coming months.”
The anthropologists against the resolution issued today the following statement after the vote was published by the organization they insist that it is injustice to boycott Israel when Palestine is not even a state.
“We, the undersigned anthropologists, oppose the recent call by some of our colleagues to boycott Israeli academic institutions. Today, there is a state of Israel but not yet a Palestinian state: this injustice should be rectified as soon as possible. ”
From all the movement of solidarity with Palestine today historical vote put Palestine at the at the level of Israel as a state.
Now is not only Prof Ilan Pappe the Israeli scholar telling the world that Israel is ethnic cleansing the indigenous population of Palestine, the AAA now can vouch that claim as well.
Since 2012 the issue of Palestine/Israel conflict was on the conversation in the organization and finally on 2014 the AAA sent a team of Anthropologists research team to Palestine and the Occupied Territories (Israel) to find facts of claims made by writers, journalists, activists and Palestinians regarding the situation. A report was issue on October 1, of the findings and today in their annual meeting the members of the AAA gave their scientific opinion and vote to boycott Israel.
Principles and Recommendations for Potential Action:The American Anthropological Association is a scholarly society with commitmentsto academic freedom and to protecting the personal welfare of professional anthropologists and other academics all over the world.We find that the policies and practices of the Israeli government placesignificant limitations on academic freedom and have led to substantial deprivations in the health and welfare of Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, as well as within Israel itself.
The resolution enjoins the Association not to enter into any formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions. Individual Israeli scholars may continue to participate in AAA conferences and publications. Moreover, individual AAA members will remain free to determine for themselves whether and how to apply the boycott in their own professional practice.
As heirs to a long tradition of scholarship on colonialism, anthropologists affirm, through this resolution, that the core problem is Israel’s maintenance of a settler colonial regime based on Jewish supremacy and Palestinian dispossession. By supporting the boycott, anthropologists are taking a stand for justice through action in solidarity with Palestinians.
Today’s historic result is due to over three years of organizing within the Association to educate and mobilize members to stand against Israel’s widespread, systematic, and ongoing violations of Palestinian rights, as well as to protest the complicity of Israeli academic institutions in these abuses. The vote was also a powerful act of protest against U.S. support for Israel’s actions.
Read the report here
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