Response to Controversy over the Proposed Resolution Critical of Israel
Excerpt from the ad critical of the HAW-backed resolution on Israel
HNN Editor: The Alliance for Academic Freedom (AAF) has been running ads critical of a proposed resolution that disapproves of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. (Click here to read the ad.) The ads have appeared in Perspectives, the magazine of the American Historical Association. The resolution -- backed by Historians Against the War (HAW) -- will be considered by AHA members this weekend at its annual meeting. This is HAW's response to the criticism. It was received by HNN on January 5 and posted within hours. On Sunday HNN published this article by historian Jeffrey Herf: "Why Historians Should Vote Down the Resolution Critical of Israel."
“A SMALL GROUP OF ACTIVISTS” - We are hardly outsiders seeking to manipulate the AHA for our own purposes. A wide range of professional historians, including leaders in our profession, have signed our resolution (see over). Furthermore, the AHA has taken positions on issues relevant to our profession, on the veracity of the Armenian genocide or how the misuse of history facilitated the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Concern for the abridgement of academic freedom by a close military ally of the U.S. is certainly within the AHA’s purview.
“THE HAW RESOLUTION IS A VEHICLE FOR BDS” - This is a red herring. The text of the resolution is the resolution. It is no more and no less than a call to members of the AHA to “Protect the Right to Education in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” That is what we will discuss and that is what people will vote on. To suggest otherwise distorts the real issue: Israeli policies that impede or prevent the right of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories to education. The 126 signers of this resolution hold different views on BDS: some support it, some oppose it, and some support some aspects of it and reject others. What they–and we hope you—do agree on is that Palestinians have a right to education.
“MISSING INFORMATION” - As students of U.S. policy and Israeli politics, we are aware of the importance of access to a wide variety of sources, including those of Israeli journalists, academics and activists, many of whom are critical of the limited nature of U.S. coverage of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In fact, we consulted this variety of sources to document Israel’s ongoing actions that impede the Palestinian right to education, including the free entry of qualified scholars and the freedom of Palestinian students to leave Gaza to pursue higher education, even in the West Bank, as evidenced by our extensive documentation (see QRL below). These punitive actions by the occupying authorities are based on policies often reaffirmed by the Knesset. When the policy restricting the movement of students out of Gaza was discussed in the Knesset in 2008, the then-chair of the education committee, Rabbi Michael Melchior noted: “This policy is not in keeping with international standards or with the moral standards of Jews, who have been subjected to the deprivation of higher education in the past. Even in war, there are rules.” [New York Times, May 30, 2008]
“TROUBLING IMBALANCE” - The AAF’s underlying assumption of parity among equals is false. The West Bank and Gaza remain officially under Israeli occupation, which negates any claims of equality between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. U.S. political, military and financial assistance to Israel has sustained its international status as Occupying Power in the region. We have analyzed and explained the situation of Israel and its rights and duties in a pamphlet entitled International Human Rights Law: Violation by Israel and the Problem of Enforcement (see QRL below). As the internationally recognized Occupying Power, Israel controls all checkpoints to and from Palestinian territories and freedom of movement for all Palestinians. The limiting of educational opportunities for Palestinians has not been matched by any limitation on the educational opportunities for Israeli citizens; Israeli courts or governmental agencies have never revoked the right of an Israeli Jewish citizen to receive a Fulbright, to travel abroad or to Gaza, or to accept a scholarship or teaching position.
“DIVISIVE ISSUES” -The right to education should be neither controversial nor divisive, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territories or anywhere else. The question is whether each of us, as a member of the American Historical Association, does or does not object to well-documented evidence of a close U.S. ally’s pervasive violations of academic freedom and the right to education. The suggestion that we cannot censure violations of human dignity in one country or place unless we simultaneously act against violations of a similar sort everywhere else reminds one of the classic attacks on abolitionists—or those who opposed the Vietnam War—or scholars who censured human rights abuses in the Soviet bloc. It is intellectually lazy, morally obfuscatory, and unworthy of historians.
For more information and documentation: http://historiansagainstwar.org/aha16/
SIGNERS OF THE 2016 RESOLUTION
Paul Adams, Shippensburg
Univ
Kevan Aguilar, Univ
of CA - SD
David R. Applebaum, Rowan
Univ
Guy Aronoff, Humboldt
St Univ
Silvia Marina Arrom, Brandeis
Univ
Jeanie Attie, Long
Is Univ
Aaron Bae, Arizona
St Univ
Marc Becker, Truman
St Univ
Jonathan Beecher, Univ
of CA-SC
Joel Beinin, Stanford
Univ
Saliha Belmessous, Univ
of NSW
Norman Bennett, Boston
Univ
Jade Bettine, Univ
of IL - UC
Cyrus Bina, Univ
of MN
Elizabeth Bishop, Texas
St Univ
Allison Blakely, Boston
Univ
Renate Bridenthal, Brkln
Coll, CUNY
Kaye Briegel, CA
St Uni Long Beach
John Buchanan, Cambridge
Univ
Michelle Campos, Univ
of Florida
Alejandro Cañeque, Univ
of MD
Juan Carona Zabala, UCSD
Clayborne Carson, Stanford
Univ
Erin D. Chapman, George
Wash Univ
Amy Chazkel, Queens
Coll, CUNY
Bruce Cohen, Worcester
St Univ
Deborah Cohen,
Univ MO, St. Louis
Juan Cole, Univ
of MI
Sandi Cooper, Coll
of Staten Is, CUNY
Paul Croce, Stetson
Univ
Kenneth Cuno, Univ
of IL - UC
Daniel Czitrom, Mount
Holyoke Coll
James D'Emilo, Univ
of South FL
Leena Dallasheh, Humboldt
St Univ
Natalie Davis, Princeton
Univ
Jennifer Derr, Univ
of CA, Santa Cruz
Dennis Deslippe, F
& Marshall Coll
Sandra Deutsch, Univ
of TX, El Paso
Alan Dillingham, Spring
Hills Coll
Justus Doenecke, New
Coll of FL
Beshara Doumani, Brown
Univ
Thomas Dublin, SUNY,
Binghamton
Carolyn Eisenberg, Hofstra
Univ
Geoff Eley, Univ
of MI
Mark Elliot, Univ
of NC, Greensboro
Francis Feeley, The
Univ of Grenoble
Marjorie Feld, Babson
Coll
Thomas Field, Embry-Riddle
Univ
Eileen Findlay, American
Univ
Jerise Fogel, Montclair
St Univ
Tami J. Friedman, Brock
Univ
Nancy Gallagher, UCSB
S.M. Ghazanfar, Univ
of Idaho
Warren Goldstein, Univ
of Hartford
Stephen S. Gosch, Univ
WI-Eau Claire
Van Gosse, Franklin
& Marshall Coll
Marc Goulding, Univ
of Central OK
Karen Graubart, Univ
of Notre Dame
Anthony Gronowicz, Borough
of Manhattan Community Coll, CUNY
Lisbeth Haas, Univ
of CA, Santa Cruz
Martin Halpern, Henderson
St Univ
Gildas Hamel, Univ
of CA-SC
Elizabeth Heineman, Univ
of Iowa
Kelly Herold, Univ
of NE at Kearney
Luis Herran Avila, New
Sch for Social Research
Gerald Horne, Univ
of Houston
David Hostetter, PHS
Paul Hyams, Cornell
Univ
Pilar Iracheta, El
Colegio Mexiquense, AC
Temma Kaplan, Rutgers
Univ
Rebecca Karl, NY
Univ
Mary Kelley, Univ
of MI
Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie, Howard
Univ
Dina Khoury, George
Wash Univ
Peter Kirstein, St.
Xavier Univ
Thomas Klubock,
Univ of Virginia
Troy Kokinis, Univ
of CA, San Diego
Dennis Kortheuer, CA
State Univ-LB
Scott Laderman, Univ
of MN, Duluth
Jesse Lemisch, John
Jay Coll of Criminal Justice, CUNY
Deborah T. Levenson, Boston
Coll
Zachary Lockman, NY
Univ
Henry Maar, Univ
of CA-SB
Andrae Marak, Governors
St Univ
MJ Maynes, Univ
of MN
Teresa Meade, Union
Coll
Stephen J. Miller, Uni
AL, Birmingham
Shane Minkin, Univ
of the South
Marissa J. Moorman, Governors
St Univ
Regina Morantz-Sanchez, Univ
of MI
Ruth Mostern, Univ
of CA, Merced
John Munro, St
Mary's Univ, Halifax
Pamela Murray, Un
AL, Birmingham
Melanie J. Newton, Univ
of Toronto
Mary Nolan, NY
Univ
Enrique Ochoa, CA
State U - LA
Melina Pappademos, Univ
of CT
Prasannan Parthasarathi, Boston
Coll
Roger Peace, Tallahassee
Comm Coll
Samuel Pearson, Southern
IL Univ at Edwardsville
Lewis Perry, St.
Louis Univ
Jeffrey B. Perry, Indep
Scholar
Margaret Power, IL
Inst of Technol
Jean H. Quataert, Binghamton
Univ
Michael Reagan, Univ
of Wash
Thomas Ricks
Alfred Rieber, Central
European Univand Univ of PA
Shira Robinson, George
Wash Univ
Sonya Rose, Univ
of MI
Karin Rosemblatt, Univ
of MD
Ellen Ross, Ramapo
Univ
Doug Rossinow, Metrop
St Univ
Adam Sabra, UCSB
Sara Scalenghe, Loyola
Univ MD
Johanna Schoen, Rutgers
Univ
Ellen Schrecker, Yeshiva
Univ
Kirsten Schultz, Seton
Hall Univ
Joan Scott, Inst
for Advanced Study
Paul Seaver, Stanford
Univ
Sherene Seikaly, Univ
of CA-SB
Robert Shaffer, Shippensburg
Univ
Martin J. Sherwin, George
Mason U
Daniel Sidorick, Rutgers
Univ
Robyn Spencer, Lehman
Coll
Paul Spickard, Uni
of CA-SB
Ted Steinberg, Case
Western Univ
David Suisman, Univ
of Delaware
James Swarts, SUNY
at Geneseo
Dennis Sweeney, Univ
of Alberta
Carol Symes, Univ
of IL
Lynn Thomas, Univ
of Wash
Judith Tucker, Georgetown
Univ
Daniel Walkowitz, NY
Univ
Frank A. Warren, Queens
Coll
Barbara Weinstein, NY
Univ
Robert Whealey, Ohio
Univ
Leigh Ann Wheeler, Binghamton
U
Jon Wiener, Univ
of CA, Irvine
Carol Williams, Univ
of Lethbridge
Rhonda Y. Williams, CWR
Univ
Lawrence Wittner, Univ
of Albany
Marilyn B. Young, NY
Univ
James Young, Montgomery
CtyComm Coll
Kim Young-Hyun, UCSD
Neici M. Zeller, Wm
Patterson Univ
Andrew Zimmerman, George
Wash Univ