South African university severs ties with Israel

South Africa's University of Johannesburg has severed ties with Israel's Ben-Gurion University, claiming the institution supports military action and human rights abuses in Palestine.

Description: South Africa's University of Johannesburg has severed ties with Israel's Ben-Gurion University, claiming the institution supports military action and human rights abuses in Palestine.

Desmond Tutu supports the decision by the University of Johannesburg to severe ties Photo: PA

By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg 4:18PM GMT 24 Mar 2011

The move, backed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, came as tensions between Israel and Palestine rose over this week's bus bombing in Jerusalem.

It followed a petition signed by 400 South African academics calling for the University to end the 25-year-old relationship, forged during the apartheid period when it was the whites-only Rand Afrikaans University.

"Israeli universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice," Archbishop Tutu wrote in a recent essay. "While Palestinians are not able to access universities and schools, Israeli universities produce the research, technology, arguments and leaders for maintaining the occupation."

The global campaign for a boycott of Israeli universities was inspired by the academic boycott of apartheid-era South African universities.

As such, UJ's decision by to be the first in the world to sever ties is seen as hugely symbolic and has generated heated debate.

Sixty per cent of the university's senate voted in favour of severing ties in a secret ballot on Wednesday evening.

Professor Adrian Habib, Deputy Vice Chancellor, said Palestinian universities had refused to partner with it because of its Israeli links.

"They said that Israeli universities talk of academic freedom but their staff cannot get permits to work there, they cannot get chemicals for their laboratories and Israeli universities stay silent and don't raise the issue with their government," he said.

He acknowledged the decision was controversial. "I have received all kinds of emails which range from polite disagreement to people who think I should be taken out," he said.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel group, a coalition of Palestinian non-governmental organisations, praised UJ's "landmark" decision." "This has set a worldwide precedent and must start a domino boycott effect," it said.

Ben-Gurion University, though, said the decision would bring an end to joint research projects on biotechnology and water purification "The only losers in this decision are the people of South Africa," said Rivka Carmi, its president.

South Africa's Jewish Board of Deputies also described the move as "narrow-minded".

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