African Business Review: University of Johannesburg cuts ties with Israel

University of Johannesburg cuts ties with Israel

By Melissa Rudd

African Business Review [26_03_11]

Worldwide campaign to boycott Israeli Universities over treatment towards Palestine backed by Archbishop Tutu

The University of Johannesburg has severed its ties with with Israel's Ben-Gurion University because it believes the institution supports military action and human rights abuses in Palestine.

A petition was signed by 400 South African academics calling for the University to cut its links with the establishment and was also backed by Nobel Prize Winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The 25-year-old relationship began when the University was the whites-only Rand Afrikaans University but tensions reached an all-time high this week after a bus bombing in Jerusalem.

In a recent essay, Archbishop Tutu stated: "Israeli universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice.

"While Palestinians are not able to access universities and schools, Israeli universities produce the research, technology, arguments and leaders for maintaining the occupation."

Links with South African Universities during the apartheid-era were boycotted all over the globe, and now a worldwide campaign to do the same to Israeli Universities has started, with the Johannesburg Uni being the first to do so.

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