AUB Anti-Normalization Petition
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The American University of Beirut is one of the most important educational institutions in the Middle East and a university in the heart of a city and community devastated repeatedly by Israeli military aggression. Historically, AUB has been a centre of intellectual resistance to Zionisms colonial ambitions in the region.
As members of this academic community, we reject all forms of normalization of relations with Israeli institutions. We support moreover the call of Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel including the academic and cultural boycott as one of the few non-violent strategies to bring to an end Israeli military occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories.
We note regretfully that the name of the University has recently appeared in the volume The Power of Inclusive Exclusion: Anatomy of Israeli Rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territories published by Zone Books (2009), under the auspices of the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem and co-edited by the AUB sociologist Sari Hanafi. We note that beginning the first of March of the year 2010, Dr. Hanafi will be traveling in Europe with Dr. Adi Ophir of Tel Aviv University to promote their edited book at several universities including the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge and the School of Oriental and African Studies. The use of the name of the American University of Beirut lends institutional legitimacy and intellectual authority to these efforts in a manner that sets an alarming precedent. We expect that this association will be used abroad to signal that normal academic exchange between institutions in Lebanon and Israel is now an accepted practice, leaving a distinct impression that we have transcended the conflict and its root causes. It sends a message to our colleagues, our students, our public, and the world at large that there is no real issue between us and that we can enter into a normal relationship of academic collaboration.
Therefore, we the undersigned ask the American University of Beirut, its President and Board of Trustees, its Provost and Deans of the Faculties, to join with us in acknowledging that the University recognizes that normal academic exchange with Israeli academic institutions and their faculty is not an option open to AUB faculty and staff.
Recalling the 2006 Israeli bombing of schools and libraries in Lebanon, the bombing last year of the Islamic University in Gaza, and the much longer history of isolation and closures of the West Bank universities as part of the destruction of cultural and academic resources and leadership in Palestine, we call on the AUB administration to issue a statement clarifying the rules to be respected by its members with regard to collaborative work with Israeli academic institutions.
As members of this academic community, we reject all forms of normalization of relations with Israeli institutions. We support moreover the call of Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel including the academic and cultural boycott as one of the few non-violent strategies to bring to an end Israeli military occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories.
We note regretfully that the name of the University has recently appeared in the volume The Power of Inclusive Exclusion: Anatomy of Israeli Rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territories published by Zone Books (2009), under the auspices of the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem and co-edited by the AUB sociologist Sari Hanafi. We note that beginning the first of March of the year 2010, Dr. Hanafi will be traveling in Europe with Dr. Adi Ophir of Tel Aviv University to promote their edited book at several universities including the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge and the School of Oriental and African Studies. The use of the name of the American University of Beirut lends institutional legitimacy and intellectual authority to these efforts in a manner that sets an alarming precedent. We expect that this association will be used abroad to signal that normal academic exchange between institutions in Lebanon and Israel is now an accepted practice, leaving a distinct impression that we have transcended the conflict and its root causes. It sends a message to our colleagues, our students, our public, and the world at large that there is no real issue between us and that we can enter into a normal relationship of academic collaboration.
Therefore, we the undersigned ask the American University of Beirut, its President and Board of Trustees, its Provost and Deans of the Faculties, to join with us in acknowledging that the University recognizes that normal academic exchange with Israeli academic institutions and their faculty is not an option open to AUB faculty and staff.
Recalling the 2006 Israeli bombing of schools and libraries in Lebanon, the bombing last year of the Islamic University in Gaza, and the much longer history of isolation and closures of the West Bank universities as part of the destruction of cultural and academic resources and leadership in Palestine, we call on the AUB administration to issue a statement clarifying the rules to be respected by its members with regard to collaborative work with Israeli academic institutions.
339 Signatures
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Tarif Khalidi
- Affiliation to AUB
- Shaykh Zayid Professor of Arabic & Islamic Studies
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Rami Zurayk
- Affiliation to AUB
- Professor
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Rabih Sultan
- Affiliation to AUB
- Professor, Chemistry Department
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khalil Issa
- Affiliation to AUB
- Graduate Student
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Gabrielle Magro
- Affiliation to AUB
- Graduate Student
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Lama Ghanem
- Affiliation to AUB
- Student
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Mayssun Succarie
- Affiliation to AUB
- Visiting
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Nisrine Makkouk
- Affiliation to AUB
- Graduate Student
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Nate George
- Affiliation to AUB
- Graduate Student
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Maher Jarrar
- Affiliation to AUB
- Faculty
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Aida A. Arasoghli
- Affiliation to AUB
- Faculty
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Jacqueline M. Andres
- Affiliation to AUB
- Visiting Student
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Bassam Haddad
- Affiliation to AUB
- Visiting Professor
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Natalie Harake
- Affiliation to AUB
- student
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Tamara Keblaoui
- Affiliation to AUB
- Alumna
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Karim-Philipp Eid-Sabbagh
- Affiliation to AUB
- Alumni
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Michelle Obeid
- Affiliation to AUB
- Alumni
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maha houssami
- Affiliation to AUB
- alumna
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Daniel Drennan
- Affiliation to AUB
- Professor
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Nora Seoudi
- Affiliation to AUB
- nothing
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Tarek Kishawi
- Affiliation to AUB
- student
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Farah Hassan
- Affiliation to AUB
- undergraduate student
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Mazen Abdallah
- Affiliation to AUB
- Alumni
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Faisal Amin
- Affiliation to AUB
- student
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jana nakhal
- Affiliation to AUB
- student
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Sana Kassem
- Affiliation to AUB
- Alumna
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John Hayden
- Affiliation to AUB
- Graduate Student
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Mohammed Merhi
- Affiliation to AUB
- Student
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Noel Ignatiev
- Affiliation to AUB
- Visiting Professor
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Sara Ajlyakin
- Affiliation to AUB
- Student
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Hiba Ali
- Affiliation to AUB
- Student
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Manal Atwi
- Affiliation to AUB
- Student
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Lara Khouri
- Affiliation to AUB
- AUB is part of my family
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VICTOR KHOURI
- Affiliation to AUB
- BBA 1967
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Asad AbuKhalil
- Affiliation to AUB
- Alumni
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Soraya Helen D.
- Affiliation to AUB
- Alumni
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ghazala
- Affiliation to AUB
- alumni
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Mohammad Shalhoub
- Affiliation to AUB
- Student
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Ioanna
- Affiliation to AUB
- ioanna_b_r@yahoo.gr
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Amal
- Affiliation to AUB
- graduate
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Fawwaz Traboulsi
- Affiliation to AUB
- alumnus and visiting professor
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Jamil Assaad
- Affiliation to AUB
- alumni 07
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Bahaa AlKayyali
- Affiliation to AUB
- student
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Zeena
- Affiliation to AUB
- AUB Alumnai
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ghassan maasri
- Affiliation to AUB
- part-time tutor
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Hanadi Samhan
- Affiliation to AUB
- alumni
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Batoul Atwi
- Affiliation to AUB
- Student
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Jennifer Mogannam
- Affiliation to AUB
- Graduate Student
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Zaynah Hindi
- Affiliation to AUB
- graduate student
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Riyad Sadek
- Affiliation to AUB
- Assistant Professor
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339
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