quote:

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If the far-left academics driving this boycott actually cared about Palestinians they would call on every British university to accept 20 Palestinian students on full scholarships to help them with what they need most — building the skills to run a modern state and economy. And they would call on every British university to dispatch visiting professors to every Palestinian university to help upgrade their academic offerings. And they would challenge every Israeli university that already offers Ph.D.’s to Israeli Arabs to do even more. And they would challenge every Arab university the same way.

That’s what people who actually care about Palestinians would do. But just singling out Israeli universities for a boycott, in the face of all the other madness in the Middle East — that’s what anti-Semites would do.

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http://tinyurl.com/22ltd7

[ 25 June 2007: Message edited by: 500_Apples ]

The purpose of boycotts, in general, is to put pressure on a regime like the Israeli one where all other methods of persuasion have failed. Training Palestinians to run their own prisons and Bantustans, which is all that Israel is giving them, won't put any pressure at all on Israel to end its current ethnic cleansing and the practices that have created those Bantustans to begin with.

What do I think?

Anti-semitic? No. Misguided? Yes.

I think his point on scholarships is also very valid. They`d do a lot more by helping palestinians than by hurting israel. Hence that`s the section I chose to quote. Does anyone have a new york times subscription that they could read the whole thing? He started his article by talking of all the palestinians and israeli arabs who study in israeli universities, and why boycotting israeli universities also means boycotting palestinian learning.

Ohara here is the University of Montreal statement from its President:

[ 28 June 2007: Message edited by: Petsy ]U of Montreal statement

[ 28 June 2007: Message edited by: Petsy ]