We, academics from a variety of disciplines and from all the institutions of higher learning in Israel, hereby publicly express our opposition to the continuation of the occupation and the establishment of settlements in the occpied territories.
Therefore, we declare our refusal to participate in any academic activity, of any sort, that takes place in the college operating in the settlement Ariel.
Ariel was established on occupied land. A few kilometers from flourishing Ariel, Palestinians live in hardship in villages and refugee camps, deprived of basic of human rights and life of dignity.
Not only are they denied access to higher education, some of them do not have access to their own lands and means of livelihood, denied of access even to electricity and running water. Two different realities exist in the occupied territories side by side, resulting from a policy that is leading to Apartheid.
Ariel is an illegal settlement, in breach of the international law and the Geneva convention, which Israel has signed.
The establishment of Ariel was aimed at one and only purpose: to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, thereby denying us, citizens of Israel, the chance of ever achieving a peaceful existence in this region.
Ariel is not part of sovereign Israel and we can not be obliged to go there.
Our conscience and our public responsibility compel us to express a clear position, especially at the current time, when there is a real chance for a peace agreement; it is now clearer than ever that the settlements’ purpose is to undermine it.
