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Boycotts Self-Defeating, Israel Conference Told

(Guardian-UK) Liz Ford - Academic boycotts against Israel were self-defeating and would only damage its existing relationship with the Palestinians, a conference at Bar-Ilan University entitled "Academic Freedom and the Politics of Boycotts" was told this week. Sari Nusseibeh, the president of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, said, "I stand committed to academic cooperation and against boycotts....An international academic boycott of Israel, on pro-Palestinian grounds, is self-defeating: it would only succeed in weakening that strategically important bridge through which the state of war between Israelis and Palestinians could be ended and Palestinian rights could therefore be restored." Harvard law school professor Alan Dershowitz questioned why Israel was chosen for a boycott, when "per capita, the number of lives saved by Israel is greater than any country in the world" through its contributions to biotechnology and medical research. "The best weapon against any boycott is excellence," he added. "Fighting selective boycotts is very important and, in Israel, is not only good for science and research but also good for the peace process." He added: "Make no mistake: those who advocate boycotts and divestment are encouraging terror."
2006-01-27 00:00:00
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