Despite widespread international condemnation for its policy of violent repression against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories, the Israeli government appears impervious to moral appeals from world leaders. It is clear that while the Palestinians are rightly requested to rein in their extremists, the Israelis have elected their extremists to power. The slow, dehumanising and relentless colonisation of the West Bank and Gaza, that has been continuing unabated in recent years, has now taken an ugly, murderous turn of immense proportions. How long are we, the citizens of a Western democracy, going to accept the silence of our government in the face of the rampages of the Israeli army in the West Bank? How long are we going to look passively at the Israeli crimes of war perpetrated daily and systematically, not as something anomalous, but as a matter of national policy? In the face of our government's unwillingness or inability to act, civil society must step in to exert pressure against the continuation of this savagely anachronistic act of colonisation. In a globalised world, our passivity as citizens of the world in the face of such inhumanity will stain all of us.
Academics and intellectuals as always can play an important role in fostering the growth of such a non-violent movement within civil society. It is in this spirit that we call for a boycott of research and cultural links with Israel. We urge our colleagues not to attend conferences in Israel; to pressure our universities to suspend any existing exchange or linkage arrangements; and to refuse to distribute scholarship and academic position information. We note that while some academics and intellectuals in Israel oppose the government and some also are involved in cooperative Israeli/Palestinian research projects, the vast majority have either supported the Israeli Army onslaught on the Palestinians, or failed to voice any significant protest against it. The boycott we propose will inevitably also adversely affect those who don't deserve it, and we regret that this has to happen. We ask our Israeli colleagues and friends to bear with us in solidarity. They know as well as we do that what they will endure because of these boycotts is minimal compared to what the Palestinian people and their academics continue to endure. As with boycotts against apartheid South Africa, urgent international action is now required to stop the massacres perpetrated against the Palestinian people.
Signatories to Boycott Israel Letter (please note that all signatories are signing in a personal capacity; institutional affiliations are given only for identification purposes).
Ghassan Hage, University of Sydney
John Docker, Australian National University
Stephen Muecke, University of Technology, Sydney
Craig Reynolds, Australian National University
Ann Curthoys, Australian National University
Eva Sallis, University of Adelaide
Ray Jureidini, Monash University (currently American Univ. of Beirut)
Ian Watson, University of Sydney
Ien Ang, University of Western Sydney
Jill Julius Matthews, Australian National University
George Morgan, University of Western Sydney
Neil Maclean, University of Sydney
Debjani Ganguly, Australian National University
Graeme Nyberg, LaTrobe University
David Carter, University of Queensland
P.N. (Raja) Junankar, University of Western Sydney
Robyn Moroney, University of Western Sydney
David Wright, University of Western Sydney
Nectarios Costadopoulos, University of Western Sydney
Frances de Groen, University of Western Sydney
Therese Davis, University of Newcastle
Phil Andrews, Monash University
Glenn McConell, Monash University
Stuart Bunt, UWA
Felicity Jensz, Universtiy of Melbourne
Mike Clear, University of Western Sydney
A.G. Khan, University of Western Sydney
Livio Dobrez, Australian National University
Jeannie Martin, University of Technology, Sydney
Glenn Moloney, University of Melbourne
Ray Markey, University of Wollongong
Jock Collins, University of Technology, Sydney
Sebastian Job, University of Sydney
Carol Reid, University of Western Sydney
Taimor Hazou, University of Melbourne
Ned Curthoys, Australian National University
Liz Reed, Monash University
Brett Neilson, University of Western Sydney
Georgine Clarsen, Australian National University
Marsha Rosengarten, University of New South Wales
Marta Romer, University of New South Wales
Helen Macallan, University of Newcastle
Paula Gonzalez, University of Sydney
Bronwen Phillips, University of New South Wales
Meaghan MorrisLingnan, University, Hong Kong
Jane Lydon, LaTrobe University
Glenn Humphreys, University of Western Sydney
Ali Farhat, University of Sydney
Roger Markwick, University of Newcastle
Christopher Forth, Australian National University
Frances Parker, University of Western Sydney
Ibtisam Abu-Duhou, University of Melbourne
Peter Johnston, RMIT
Desley Deacon, Australian National University
Richard Baker, Australian National University
Noel McEwan, LaTrobe university
Lesley Sayer, LaTrobe University
Gerry Gill, LaTrobe University
Lyndall Ryan, University of Newcastle
Sue Gillett, LaTrobe University
Anna Haebich, Griffith University
Subhash Jaireth, Independent Scholar, Canberra
Edward Scheer, University of New South Wales
Michael Mawal, RMIT
John Castles, Independent Scholar, Canberra
Ian Maxwell, University of Sydney
Sara Wills, University of Melbourne
Karen Gai, Dean University of Ballarat
Christine Maher, LaTrobe University
J.L.Harland, RMIT
Bill Deller, LaTrobe University
Bashir Sumar, University of Western Sydney
Paul Tabar, Notre Dame University, Beirut & UWS
Rosemary Webb, University of Canberra
Laleen Jayamanne, University of Sydney
James McArdle, LaTrobe University
Terry Irving, University of Sydney
Ann Genovese, University of Technology, Sydney
Erik Eklund, University of Newcastle
Jeremy Smith, University of Ballarat
Anne Rutherford, University of Western Sydney
George Kouvaros, University of NSW
Stephanie Tarbin, Australian National University
Charles Livingstone, LaTrobe University
Lew Zipin, University of Canberra
Hana Adra, University Of Western Sydney
Trevor Batrouney, RMIT
Bill Adra, University of Western Sydney
Scott Poynting, University of Western Sydney
Jeremy Beckett, Sydney University
David Lemmings, University of Newcastle
Parviz Doulai, University of Wollongong
Peter Vial, University of Wollongong
Caroline Alcorso, University of Sydney
