The recent assault on Gaza, with the bombing of universities and schools, has seen an attack on the Palestinian educational system. Almost 800 people are dead. About 250 of those are children. The rest, including more than 3,000 injured, have been starved of the basic necessities of life. That is why members of the CUPE Ontario university workers committee are considering a peaceful boycott of Israeli academic institutions that builds on our existing policy aimed at bringing about Israel's withdrawal from the occupied territories and a negotiated peace in the region.
As our members examine academic boycott initiatives by other organizations around the world, and similar actions that helped end apartheid in South Africa, it has become clear that the focus is not on banning individuals but rather on refusing to collaborate with or support academic institutions in Israel. That will also be our approach.
This is not an action any of us undertake lightly. However, as we helplessly watch the destruction of people, their homes, their educational and other infrastructure – and have learned from recent history in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world that military responses aimed at beating an entire people into submission do not work – we feel compelled to act.The bombings by Hamas are wrong, but Israel's response is not going to bring a negotiated peace. The occupation started 40 years ago, not last month. If support by CUPE Ontario for a non-violent boycott will add to the pressure from millions of voices around the world for Israel to accept Palestinian self-determination and stop the violations of human rights, then we will continue to move forward.
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