[OPE-L:7158] Trial of Ilan Pappe

From: Asfilho@aol.com
Date: Mon May 13 2002 - 12:18:05 EDT


Dear all,

I have received this message today. I have no means to verify its 
authenticity, but given the gravity of the matter I have decided to fwd it to 
the list.

alfredo.


> 
> > >
> > > Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 10:13:06 +0100
> > > From: Ilan Pappe
> > > Subject: The expulsion of Pappe
> > >
> > > Dear Friends,
> > >
> > > I have received today an invitation to stand for a
> > > trial in my university,
> > > the university of Haifa. The prosecution,
> > > represented by Haifa Deanıs of
> > > humanities demands my expulsion from the university
> > > due to the positions I
> > > have taken on the Katz affair. It calls upon the
> > > court to judge Dr. Pappe
> > > on the offences he has committed and to use to the
> > > full the courtıs legal
> > > authority to expel him from the university². These
> > > offences are in a
> > > nutshell my past critique of the universityıs
> > > conduct in the Katz affair,
> > > the MA student who discovered the Tantura massacre
> > > in 1948 and was
> > > disqualified for that. The reason the university
> > > waited so long is that now
> > > the time is ripe in Israel for any act of silencing
> > > academic freedom. My
> > > intent to teach a course on the Nakbah next year and
> > > my support for boycott
> > > on Israel has led the university to the conclusion
> > > that I can only be
> > > stopped by expulsion.
> > >
> > > Judging by past procedures this is not a request,
> > > but already a verdict,
> > > given the position of the person in question in the
> > > university and the way
> > > things had been done in the past. The ostensible
> > > procedure of a Ofair trialı
> > > does not exist and hence I do not even intend to
> > > participate in a
> > > McCarthyist charade.
> > >
> > >
> > > I do not appeal to you for my own sake. I ask you at
> > > this stage before a
> > > final decision has been taken to voice your opinion
> > > in whatever form you can
> > > and to whatever stage you have access to, not in
> > > order to prevent my
> > > expulsion (in many ways in the present atmosphere in
> > > Israel it will come
> > > now, and if not now later on, as the Israeli
> > > academia has deiced almost
> > > unanimously to support the government and to help
> > > silence any criticism). I
> > > ask those who are willing to do so, to take this
> > > case as part of your
> > > overall appreciation of, and attitude to, the preset
> > > situation in Israel.
> > > This should shed light also on the debate whether or
> > > not to boycott Israeli
> > > academia.
> > >
> > > This is not, I stress, and an appeal for personal
> > > help ­ my situation is far
> > > better than that of my colleagues in the occupied
> > > territories living under
> > > the daily harassment and brutal abuses of the
> > > Israeli army. It is an opening
> > > gambit and many of colleagues, especially my
> > > Palestinian Israeli colleagues,
> > > can be next. A testimony to the tragic circumstances
> > > of my own university is
> > > that I know there is no use in distributing this
> > > letter on its internal
> > > web-site, as all of my colleagues in the past when
> > > it came to the crucial
> > > moment - for understandable reasons - felt they
> > > could do very little to help
> > > me, without risking their own position in the
> > > university.
> > >
> > > I know many of you have access to world media and
> > > can help to expose the
> > > already dismal picture and false pretense of Israel
> > > of being the Oonly
> > > democracy in the Middle Eastı.
> > >
> > > Yours
> > > Ilan Pappe
> >
> 



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