Introduction
This blogpost provides a general international law analysis concerning issues of academic boycott and relevant legal obligations of States and of universities concerning the dire situation of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt), due to measures taken by Israeli authorities[see also Gentian Zyberi, World’s higher education institutions need to react to the mass atrocities committed by the IDF in Gaza, 5 May 2024]. First, I provide some context about the escalation of the armed conflict in Gaza since October 2023 and more generally the HEIs situation in the oPt. Then, the focus turns to analyzing academic freedom and the academic boycott of Israeli HEIs from an international human rights law perspective. This legal analysis is set against both a background of systematic and widespread oppression of Palestinian HEIs more generally by Israeli authorities and the obliteration of HEIs in Gaza more specifically, as well as serious violations of international human rights obligations, including the right to education, by consecutive Israeli governments. An institutional academic boycott of Israeli HEIs is considered as the adequate way to respond to the restrictive and other discriminatory measures taken by the Israeli authorities against Palestinian HEIs, scholars, and students. Some final remarks emphasize issues of State responsibility and the responsibility of universities as public institutions to respond to the continued systematic and institutional oppression of Palestinian HEIs, scholars, and students by the Israeli authorities.
Concerns about the armed conflict and the dire humanitarian situation, especially after the 7 October 2023 escalation
Many senior officials of international organizations and of States have repeatedly expressed their concern about the dire situation in Gaza and the oPt more generally due to various restrictions imposed by the Israeli government and indiscriminate military operations by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) since at least 11 October 2023. Thus, the UN Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Heads of several UN agencies, including UNRWA, WHO, WFP, etc. have expressed grave concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation. First, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution on 26 October 2023 (A/ES-10/L.25), given the Security Council was deadlocked, requesting an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities. Then, it adopted another resolution along similar lines on 20 December 2023 (A/ES-10/L.27). The UN Security Council adopted its first resolution 2712(2023) on the protection of children on 15 November 2023 and on humanitarian aid and the appointment of a Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator on 22 December 2023 (S/RES/2720 (2023)). The last UNSC resolution 2728(2024) on Gaza, requesting a temporary ceasefire that would lead to a lasting one, was adopted on 25 March 2024.
Since the escalation of the conflict in October 2023, many UN human rights experts, part of the UN Human Rights Council Special Procedures, have expressed concern about serious human rights violations and the need to prevent genocide, as well as the ongoing ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza. On 3 June 2024, a group of these UN experts said that all States must follow the example of 146 UN member States and recognize the State of Palestine and use all political and diplomatic resources at their disposal to bring about an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. By analyzing the patterns of violence and Israel’s policies in its onslaught on Gaza, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine has concluded in her late March 2024 report to the UN Human Rights Council that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met.
The extent of destruction of Gaza, as seen from satellite images (El Pais, 10 April 2024) and information from various UN agencies (OCHA, oPt) is astounding. As of 31 May 2024, more than 60% of residential buildings in Gaza are reported destroyed or damaged and the critical infrastructure damage as of January 2024 is estimated by the World Bank at 18,5 billion USD (WB, March 2024 Report). About 1,7 million of a population of about 2,3 million in Gaza are forcibly internally displaced. More than 5% of the population of Gaza, about 120 thousand persons, have been killed or injured in the last 8 months. There are 625 thousand students with no access to education in Gaza, their right to education and to live without fear denied to them because of IDF’s military operations. As of 28 May 2024, about 6,650 students and about 334 academic staff have been killed. About 85% of schools in Gaza have sustained some level of damage and most of the schools and university buildings lie in ruin, many destroyed in bombings and several university complexes destroyed by the IDF through controlled demolitions.
Overall repression of Palestinian HEIs and scholasticide by Israeli State authorities
Palestinian HEIs, scholars, and students are subject to serious interference by Israeli authorities which negatively affect their mission and daily work. While this interference has been ongoing for decades, it has intensified in more recent years. A November 2023 report by Scholars at Risk noted that a new law is under consideration in Israel that would deny recognition of degrees earned in Palestinian universities, thereby undermining the academic freedom of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, among others, to choose to study at Palestinian universities. The government of Israel has long imposed on Palestinian scholars and students an array of policies that restrict their movement. These include long-standing restrictions, such as checkpoints and travel permits, imposed on all Palestinians, not just scholars, as well as targeted pressures that impact the global academic community.
As reported in the Scholars at Risk 2023 “Free to Think” report, against broad and worldwide international criticism, the Israeli authorities issued “Procedures for Entry and Residency of Foreigners in Judea and Samaria Region”. These procedures, issued in March 2023 and effective as of May 2023, restrict the academic freedom of Palestinian educational institutions. Israel has long denied foreigners the visas necessary to legally work or study in the West Bank; the new rules make it even more difficult limiting the categories of people who can obtain an entry permit for the West Bank and requiring academics and students to apply for an entry permit from abroad, while previously it had been possible to obtain an entry permit at the border. Through these procedures, Israeli authorities control, inter alia, the entry of foreign nationals, including academic faculty and students, who wish to enter the West Bank to serve or participate in activities in Palestinian academic institutions. The procedures openly restrict this to researchers or academics who teach in fields that the Israeli government considers essential. The procedures stipulate that entry will be permitted “after they have proven to our satisfaction that the lecturer will make a significant contribution to academic education, to the regional economy, or to the promotion of regional cooperation and peace.” Additionally, an annual quota of 100 lectures and researchers is allowed into Palestinian academic institutions all over the West Bank. The procedures also limit the number of international students who visit Palestinian academic institutions to 150 per year. According to these procedures, only COGAT (the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) gets to approve the entry of international scholars to the West Bank.
The Scholars at Risk has emphasized that for Palestinian scholars and students in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, checkpoints, roadblocks, the separation wall, and the opaque and lengthy processing of travel permits continue to restrict their travel within the oPt, into Israel, and abroad, constricting their ability to study, teach, research, and exchange ideas with colleagues within and outside Palestine. Israel’s border restrictions also impede the import of equipment, books, and school materials that quality higher education requires. Moreover, Palestinian academics and students are also routinely arrested by Israeli forces and frequently held for prolonged periods of time without charge or trial, a procedure known as “administrative detention”. The use of torture on Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons is well documented, and according to Amnesty International, this practice has intensified since October 2023. I have witnessed first-hand obstructions to academic freedom by the Israeli authorities in a project I lead, with Birzeit University as partner, where seven African participants did not get their visas to attend a course in the oPt in May 2023, despite following the procedures and providing the necessary documents to the relevant Israeli authorities.
Academic freedom as a basis for an institutional academic boycott of Israeli HEIs
Often academic freedom is used as a justification against an institutional boycott of Israeli HEIs. The argument goes that academic freedom is sacred and cannot be curtailed and only dialogue with Israeli institutions and colleagues will bring about change in the dire situation of Palestinian academia. This argument is based on emphasizing the freedom of individual academics to pursue academic cooperation with whomever researcher or institution they want. These arguments do not take into account that fundamental international human rights principles like equality and non-discrimination, do-no-harm, and that of not becoming complicit in serious human rights violations require the academic community, both as individuals and as institutions, to act justly. Academic freedom is fully and independently grounded in freedom of opinion and expression, the right to education, and the right to the benefits of science, respectively, and has elements of freedom of association, freedom of movement, and other rights (Scholars at Risk, Academic Freedom and Its Protection Under International Law, 25 October 2023). Legally, academic freedom is grounded in multiple international human rights treaties and related documents and practice, including Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (freedom of opinion and expression), Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) (right to education) and Article 15 (benefits of scientific progress) and various UNESCO documents, including UNESCO’s 1997 Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel and 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education (UNESCO CADE), and 1962 Protocol thereto. Israel, Palestine, and Norway are a party to the ICCPR, the ICESCR, and the UNESCO CADE (Israel in 1961, Palestine in 2018, and Norway in 1963). At a regional level, Article 13 of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights on the freedom of arts and sciences requires that academic freedom should be respected.
How can we approach academic freedom? Academic freedom can be seen as composed of two levels, individual academic freedom and institutional academic freedom. Individual academic freedom is the freedom of scholars and students to develop and pursue areas of research and studies in accordance with their interests, as long as that is compliant with fundamental human rights. Institutional academic freedom is the freedom of HEIs to organize their research and teaching activities in accordance with the interests of their staff and students and in compliance with a legal framework based on fundamental human rights. Complying with the principle of equality and non-discrimination and opposing ingrained Israeli authorities institutional discrimination of Palestinian HEIS and more broadly restrictions in the right to education of Palestinian people is at the basis of an institutional boycott of Israeli HEIs. The principle of prohibition of discrimination is enshrined in core human rights treaties as well as in constitutional provisions across the world. This principle is included in the ICCPR, the ICESCR, and more specifically in the 1960 UNESCO CADE. All three treaties prohibit discrimination on the basis of national origin. Article 1 of the UNESCO CADE prohibits among others discrimination based on national or social origin and various forms of such discrimination, including depriving any person or group of persons of access to education of any type or at any level (Article 1(a)); limiting any person or group of persons to education of an inferior standard (Article 1(b)); or inflicting on any person or group of persons conditions which are in-compatible with the dignity of man (Article 1(d)). On their face, Israeli authorities’ measures over decades and especially since 7 October 2023, have caused serious violations of the right to education vis-à-vis Palestinians not only in the Gaza Strip, but more generally in the occupied Palestinian territory. Article 3 of UNESCO CADE requires member States to abrogate any statutory provisions and any administrative instructions and to discontinue any administrative practices that involve discrimination in education. These international treaties and provisions are not being complied with by the Israeli authorities in their treatment of Palestinian HEIs and Palestinian scholars and students, as reflected in monitoring of the situation in the oPt by various UN human rights mechanisms and specialized NGOs as Scholars at Risk.
UN monitoring and systematic violations of the right to education within Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
The UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies have raised their concerns with Israel about its actions in the oPt. Thus, the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR Committee) in November 2019 (4th periodic Report) raised its concerns about the right to education of Bedouin and Arab students in Israel (paras. 62-63) and the restricted access of students to education in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and other measures which hindered Palestinians’ right to education (paras. 64-67). Among the measures recommended to Israeli authorities were to endorse the 2015 Safe Schools Declaration and take concrete measures to deter the military use of schools, including by integrating the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict into domestic military policies and operational frameworks (para. 65(d)); take effective measures to ensure the unhindered and safe access of students and teachers to schools without harassment or threats, investigate and punish acts of harassment and intimidation by Israeli settlers and security forces, and prosecute those responsible (para. 65(c)); lifting the blanket ban on education in the West Bank imposed since 2014 on students from the Gaza Strip and allowing the entry into Gaza of the materials and equipment necessary for educating students in the fields of science and engineering (para. 66).
In January 2020 (combined 17th to 19th reports), the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD Committee), raised among others the issue of segregation between Jewish and non-Jewish communities, including in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, about two systems of education with unequal conditions (para. 21); concerns about high drop-out rates for Bedouin students and quality of education provided to Arab students within Israel (paras. 38(a)-39(a)); and the long-standing blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel, recommending adequate measures including reviewing its blockade policy so as to ensure access to a range of rights, including the right to education (paras. 44-45).
In May 2022 (fifth periodic report), the UN Human Rights Committee emphasized the applicability of the ICCPR to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (paras. 6-7). To counter discrimination, the Committee reiterated the recommendations made by the CERD Committee and the CESCR Committee that Israel review and amend the Basic Law: Israel – The Nation-State of the Jewish People with a view to eliminating its discriminatory effect on non-Jewish people and ensuring the equal treatment of all persons within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, in conformity with the Covenant (para. 11). Among others, the Committee raised concerns about continued serious violations due to the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements (paras. 14-15) and settler violence (paras. 24-25); accountability for past violations, including military operations in the Gaza Strip in 2008–2009, 2012 and 2014 (paras. 22-23); and, ending the widespread practice of arbitrary arrest and detention, including administrative detention, of Palestinians, in particular children (paras. 34-35). Various relevant concerns about the right to education have been raised by other UN treaty bodies in their concluding observations, including the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in July 2013 (second to fourth periodic reports of Israel), the UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in November 2017 (sixth periodic report of Israel), and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the initial report submitted by Israel in November 2023.
In the period 2004-2024, only 8 UN Human Rights Council thematic Special Rapporteurs have been allowed to visit the country and there have been no such visits to Israel since 2016. The UN Special Rapporteur on education request for a country visit in Israel in 2009 was not granted. Annual reports on the situation in the oPt have been prepared by the Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967, who is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to follow and report on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. As mentioned above, in her late March 2024 report to the UN Human Rights Council she concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met.
In the last about 20 years, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a main organ of the UN and its principal judicial organ, has been seized with five cases concerning Palestine. In its advisory opinion of July 2004, the ICJ considered the wall and associated regime in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as being in violation of international law and asked Israel to dismantle it. In the case brought by South Africa against Israel in December 2023, the ICJ found that Palestinians in Gaza were at risk of genocide and ordered provisional measures to protect them. On 20 May 2024, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) brought charges on war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, and the Minister of Defence, Gallant (Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine, 20 May 2024) and against three Hamas leaders, namely Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh.
Legal basis and systematic and widespread violations of the right to education of Palestinian people
The reason for advocating in favor of taking the radical step of a general institutional boycott of Israeli HEIs is the fact that the Israeli authorities have systematically repressed Palestinian HEIs, scholars and students for decades, in clear violation of their international legal obligations, as demonstrated by concerns raised repeatedly by main UN human rights mechanisms with the Israeli authorities. There is no likelihood that Israeli State authorities’ discriminatory measures against Palestinian HEIs and scholars and students are going to change, without strong pressure from abroad. Hence, an institutional boycott of Israeli HEIs sends a strong message to the Israeli government that Palestinian HEIs and more generally the right to education of Palestinians in the oPt and Palestinian Arabs in Israel are equally important as the right of Israeli citizens to enjoy academic freedom and mobility. Not taking action in the name of neutrality and broad or absolute interpretation of academic freedom, normalizes the repression of Palestinian HEIs and our Palestinian colleagues.
An institutional boycott does not affect the academic freedom of scholars to continue academic cooperation with parts of Israeli academia that are not complicit in the oppressive system put in place by the Israeli government. This means that individual cooperation is not affected and Israeli colleagues can be invited to participate in various academic events. Hence, the position taken by the students at UiO and other universities around the world retains academic freedom, while taking a clear stance for as long as the repression of our Palestinian colleagues persists. Universities are independent actors that need to take a stance especially in the face of decades-long repression of the right to education and academic freedom of Palestinian colleagues.
States have a primary obligation to ensure academic freedom and to protect it and such an obligation arguably has an extraterritorial aspect. This extraterritorial aspect would require all States to engage in ensuring that the systematic repression of Palestinian HEIs, scholars and students by Israeli authorities is brought to an immediate stop. The 2015 Safe Schools Declaration is aimed at protecting the right to education in the context of armed conflict by avoiding military use of schools and strengthening the protection of children and education in conflict. Israel has violated the core of this declaration, which albeit Israel has not endorsed, is binding for Israel under legal obligations flowing from international humanitarian law. As noted by the ICJ in July 2004, all States parties to 1949 Geneva Convention IV on the protection of civilians have in addition the obligation while respecting the United Nations Charter and international law, to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law as embodied in that Convention.
Concluding remarks
HEIs across the world need to take a principled stand on their engagement with Israeli and Palestinian HEIs. There are several international, regional, and national human rights obligations that should guide the activity of HEIs, including not rendering support to the illegal decades-long military occupation of Palestine by Israel and the serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law that this occupation entails. The decision to impose an institutional boycott on Israeli HEIs, can be based on the following inter-related grounds, namely:
- requesting compliance by Israel with the core UN human rights treaties, as well as the 1960 UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education;
- stopping the deliberate targeting of Palestinian scholars and students and the large-scale destruction of Palestinian HEIs and schools in Gaza and intrusions in other parts of the oPt, which has escalated after 7 October 2023;
- stopping the serious and unlawful institutional restrictions which are imposed not only on Palestinian HEIs, scholars, and students by the Israeli authorities, but also on international scholars and institutions, which adversely affect cooperation by world’s HEIs with Palestinian HEIs;
- ending the almost 57 years long Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories (Gaza, West Bank, and East Jerusalem), by far the longest in recent history, and the systematic denial of the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination.
In view of the ongoing serious violations by Israeli authorities of international human rights and humanitarian law to which Israel is a party, including the right to education, the principled stand HEIs around the world need to take is at a minimum the freezing of any institutional cooperation with Israeli HEIs and divesting from companies complicit in maintaining the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. At the same time, all HEIs need to do their best to enhance institutional cooperation with Palestinian HEIs and scholars. This principled stand needs to be upheld until the Israeli authorities recognize the Palestinian peoples’ right to self-determination, and remove all legal and administrative restrictions imposed on the academic freedom and enjoyment of the right to education for Palestinian scholars and students. This will send a clear and unambiguous message to the Israeli authorities that after almost 57 years of occupation of Palestinian territories, and 76 years of denial of Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and discriminatory laws and practices imposed on Palestinian HEIs, scholars, and students, Palestinian people must be treated as equals. Failure to take a stand cannot continue to be shrugged off by HEIs around the world as normal and part of a policy of neutrality. Israeli authorities’ oppressive policies vis-à-vis our Palestinian colleagues should come with a price, the freezing of institutional relations with Israeli HEIs, until the Israeli authorities’ destruction and oppression of Palestinian HEIs, scholars and students ceases. HEIs as institutions, and we as scholars and students, and as an academic community, cannot continue to be a bystander to the decimation of our Palestinian colleagues and the institutional denial of their most basic human rights, including the right to education. Even less so in the name of academic freedom.
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