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• Issue 1

A motion calling for a boycott of Israeli Academic institutions has been approved by the University and College Union (UCU). The motion, proposed by the Universities of Brighton and East London collected 158 votes in favour and 99 against. "It was a very civil debate", said Sue Blackwell, one of the motion's promoters. The UCU is the largest post-school union in Britain and represents more than 120,000 members across the UK. It was formed by the amalgamation of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education. "We have been, as AUT, the first union to propose such a boycott and now increasingly more associations are taking the same action," says Ms Blackwell.

In the last months similar initiatives have been taken by the British National Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and a justice group of British architects - including Richard Rogers, one of the most influential British architects.

The motion, which was presented today to the UCU's inaugural Congress meeting in Bournemouth, stated: "The congress notes that Israel's 40-year occupation has seriously damaged the fabric of Palestinian society through annexation, illegal settlement, collective punishment and restriction of movement [and] deplores the denial of educational rights for Palestinians by invasions, closures, checkpoints, arrests." It also added: "The congress condemns the complicity of Israeli academia in the occupation, which has provoked a call from Palestinian trade unions for a comprehensive and consistent international boycott of all Israeli academic institutions."

The NUJ initiative called for "a boycott of Israeli goods similar to those boycotts in the struggles against apartheid in South Africa." The UCU's motion was also set up in the hope to create a similar effect to the boycott carried out in the eighties on South Africa. However, that boycott was clearly endorsed by the United Nations which condemned the apartheid policies and asked member states to "break off diplomatic relations with the Government of the Republic of South Africa or refrain from establishing such relations; to close their ports to all vessels flying the South African flag; to boycott all South African goods and refraining from exporting goods, including all arms."

However, the initiatives taken by UCU and others are more grassroot, according to Kamel Hawwash, a British Palestinian Academic and one of the delegates to the UCU
Congress from the University of Birmingham. "Until the British and United States government fully support Israeli policies, UN resolutions will have little effect," he said.

A Department for Education and Skills spokesperson said:"The UK Government fully supports academic freedom and is firmly against any academic boycotts of Israel or Israeli academics."