Hundreds of Israeli academics have signed a petition calling on their government to support academic freedom in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by removing blockades and checkpoints impeding access to institutions of higher learning.
“It is clear there can be no real academic freedom in higher education unless it is possible to reach the institutions where one studies, teaches and carries out research,” a letter sent with the petition said.
The petition authors — four faculty at Hebrew and Tel-Aviv universities — point out that academics within the State of Israel enjoy this freedom, but not those in the territories controlled by it.
“There, checkpoints, blockades, walls and fences prevent thousands of students and teachers from leading a normal academic life, and lecturers with non-Palestinian passports, who wish to teach in those institutions, are prevented from staying for long enough to carry out meaningful, continuous teaching,” the authors said. “Academic freedom is not divisible and cannot be selective. The State of Israel and we its citizens are directly responsible for upholding that freedom.”
The petition was sent to all senior faculty members in all institutions of higher education across the state. The petition has so far been signed by 407 Israeli academics.
The petition calls on the government to allow students and lecturers free access to all the campuses in the Occupied Territories, and to allow those with foreign passports to teach and study without the threat of having their visas withdrawn.
“To leave the situation as it is will cause serious harm to freedom of movement, study and instruction — harm to the foundation of academic freedom, to which we are committed,” the petition said.
The authors say the next step is to submit the petition to the government.
“We are well aware that only rarely do petitions cause a change in a political state of affairs,” they wrote in a statement on the petition’s website. “However, we do not doubt that when there are enough people in the Israeli academic community who are prepared to voice their objection to the conditions under which their colleagues in Palestine higher education institutions have to work, and do all they can to ensure that their Palestinian counterparts have the same academic freedom that they enjoy, we shall all benefit — Israeli and Palestinian academics alike.”
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The petition and names of the signatories have been published online at www.academic-access.weebly.com.