Academic institutions and Palestinian factions demanded Al Quds University President Dr. Sari Nusseibeh to resign from his position after signing an agreement of cooperation with the Hebrew University.
The institutions said that “while British universities are boycotting Israeli universities for their racist positions, Nusseibeh signs a cooperation agreements wit a Hebrew University”.
Last week, the union of British university lecturers imposed an academic boycott on Haifa and Bar Ilan universities in Israel; the decision came in protest to the continuous Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territories, and “war crimes committed by the occupation”.
The Union said that they decided too boycott Haifa university because it is “oppressing” a lecturer who apposes the occupation, and boycotted Bar Ilan University for supervising a college in Ariel settlement, north of the West Bank.
Dr. Nusseibeh slammed the position of The British Lecturers Union after deciding to boycott Haifa and Bar Ilan universities.
The Israeli government decided recently to transform the Ariel settlement college into a university.
Palestinian National and Islamic factions slammed Nusseibeh for signing the cooperation agreement, and said that this position does not represent the Palestinian position, and “it is widely condemned by the Palestinian people and their institutions”.
Palestinian Universities Tutors Counsel released a statement demanding to remove Nusseibeh from his position, and added that it will conduct protests in Al-Quds University branches.
An editorial published on the site of the Israeli online daily Haaretz considered the boycott as “a collective punishment” and as an “unjust position”.
The editorial argues that such a decision ‘harms people who do not have influence and ability to change the p0olicies of their government.
Haaretz editorial considered this decision is “an intolerable attack on freedom of inquiry and thought, which testifies to flawed liberal values of the boycotters more than those who are boycotted”.
