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South African Scholars Pledge Academic Boycott of Israel

More than 200 academics from South Africa have followed in the footsteps of hundreds of scholars from the U.K., who declared a similar boycott in October

by
Jonathan Zalman
December 17, 2015
Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images
People hold Palestinian flags and a banner reading 'Palestine Solidarity Campaign' during a protest against Grammy-winning American musician Pharrell Williams near the Grand west Casino where he was holding a concert in Cape Town, South Africa, September 21, 2015. Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images
Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images
People hold Palestinian flags and a banner reading 'Palestine Solidarity Campaign' during a protest against Grammy-winning American musician Pharrell Williams near the Grand west Casino where he was holding a concert in Cape Town, South Africa, September 21, 2015. Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images

A month and a half after hundreds of academics in the United Kingdom pledged to boycott Israeli universities, 200 scholars in South Africa—who are “deeply disturbed by Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, the intolerable human rights violations that it inflicts on all sections of the Palestinian people, and its apparent determination to resist any feasible settlement”—have done the same. This declaration echoes the same language of the statement penned by the boycotting UK academics.

“We will maintain this position until the State of Israel complies with international law, and respects universal principles of human rights,” their statement reads. “The scholars,” reported the JTA, “said they would not accept invitations to visit Israeli academic institutions and would not participate in conferences organized or funded by them. They will, however, continue to work with Israeli colleagues individually, if they share a commitment to the Palestinians as outlined in the declaration.”

Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.