Press Release from the European Platform for the Academic and Cultural
Boycott of Israel (EPACBI)
Monday 8th November 2010 – for immediate release
Today marks the establishment of a European co-ordinating organisation for
promoting the academic and cultural boycott of Israel, following a founding
meeting in Paris on 25-26 September. EPACBI currently includes representatives
from organisations in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands,
Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
BRICUP (The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine) and AURDIP
(Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en
Palestine) are issuing special newsletters simultaneously to announce
the agreed founding Declaration of EPACBI.
EPACBI will co-ordinate the campaign across Europe in order to respond more
effectively to the call of Palestinian civil society for a comprehensive
academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Priority areas for campaigning
will include the EU funding of Israeli academic research.
Professor Ahmed Abbes of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique(CNRS),
the Secretary of AURDIP, said: “European decision-makers find it convenient to
forget that Israel practices systematic discrimination against its Palestinian
citizens. Europeans who participate in academic exchanges with Israel can
expect to suffer harassment or worse if they happen to have Middle-Eastern or
Islamic-sounding names. Integrating Israel into the European research
environment amounts to importing Israel’s discriminatory policies back into
Europe. For me that’s unacceptable.”
[ ends ]
Notes for Editors
1. For further details see the attached BRICUP (English) and AURDIP
(French) newsletters, which include the text of the Paris declaration in
their respective languages.
2. Contact details:
France (AURDIP):
Professor Michael Harris
Université Paris Diderot Paris 7
Tel +33 6 43191062 [email protected] <mailto:aurdip%40aurdip.fr> http://www.aurdip.fr
UK (BRICUP):
Prof. Jonathan Rosenhead
Tel +44 (0)7969 961775 [email protected] <mailto:info%40bricup.org.uk>
www.bricup.org.uk.
3. The new EPACBI website is at: www.epacbi.eu
There are further contact links for all 9 participating countries
on this site.
