Summary
The Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization, whose support by UNESCO is the subject of Chapter 9 of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, “Between South Africa and Israel: UNESCO’s Double Standards”, by Omar Barghouti and Jacqueline Sfeir (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, PDF p.140-143).
Details
- UNESCO’s support for IPSO puts it at odds with the Palestinian Council for Higher Education, which has repeatedly rejected “technical and scientific cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli universities”, and with the boycott call endorsed by dozens of unions and organizations including the Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities’ Professors and Employees (PDF p.140-141).
- Joint projects claiming to be “apolitical” are held to be among the most politicized, since they disregard colonial oppression and substitute superficial gestures for the struggle for a just peace; a sincere joint project must at minimum be based on equality and rejection of military occupation and racial discrimination, both “glaringly absent” from IPSO (PDF p.141).
- The chapter calls on UNESCO to withdraw its support for IPSO and similar efforts until Israel complies with international law, failing which is “further proof of UNESCO’s double standards” (PDF p.143).
Related pages
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, UNESCO, Jacqueline Sfeir, PACBI, Academic boycott