The Italian Society of Cultural Anthropology (SIAC) calls on members not to have any relations with Ariel University in compliance with international law, with the exception of individual scientific relations that do not constitute public recognition of the institution.

The Italian Society of Cultural Anthropology (SIAC),

noting that Ariel University, recognized as such since 2012, is located in the occupied Palestinian territory in an illegal Israeli settlement in violation of international law and has been officially included among institutions accredited by Israel’s Council of Higher Education since February 2018, through a law (Ariel University Law) that ended the separation between universities inside and outside the territory of the State of Israel, foreshadowing de facto annexation and unilateral legitimation of the settlement,

supporting the call signed by more than two hundred Israeli academics in December 2017 to prevent the accreditation of Ariel University and the mobilizations promoted by academics and numerous international bodies in recent years, alongside other international and national scientific societies, including the Italian National Professional Association of Anthropology (ANPIA), the European Association of Social Anthropologists and the Israeli Anthropological Association,

brings the case to the attention of the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) and invites the Ministry to clarify the nature of future relations that it may intend to maintain with Israel’s Council of Higher Education in light of the Israeli parliament’s recent adoption of the law that includes Ariel University, which is located in the occupied territory of the West Bank, in the list of universities under the direct legal authority of the State of Israel through its Council of Higher Education;

Firstly, we call on MIUR not to accredit or recognize in any way (academic qualifications; framework agreements or specific agreements; inter-university collaborations of any kind) – with the exception of individual scientific relations that do not constitute public recognition of the institution – Ariel University or any other higher education institutions located in illegal Israeli settlements, in line with Italian government and European Union policy of non-recognition of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and with international law;

secondly, given the extension of legal authority over the occupied West Bank-based Ariel University by the State of Israel also through the inclusion of this university in the list of institutions accredited by the Council of Higher Education, we ask if the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research intends to maintain an equal and mutually recognized relationship with an institution, Israel’s Council of Higher Education, which following the recent approval of the law becomes, in fact, an institution that includes universities whose presence in the Palestinian territory is the result of war crimes and repeated violations of international law by the Israeli authorities.

Finally, with this motion, SIAC formally calls on its members not to have any relations with Ariel University in compliance with international law, without prejudice to individual scientific relations that are however not attributable to public recognition of it as an institution.

With the license to disseminate this letter to other national and international scientific societies,

SIAC, the Italian Society of Cultural Anthropology

Source: SIAC