Boycot Israel 70

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Far from being a moral authority or even a consistent defender of equal rights and international law, former Israeli minister Yossi Sarid here accurately diagnoses the historic role of Israel's Labor Party as doing "the dirty work" of the Zionist project, while always keeping an appearance of moderation, liberalism, peace-loving, etc.

Of course Barak may shoot back reminding Sarid that when he himself was part of the governing coalition, he and his Zionist "left" party, Meretz (and its predecessors), played along the evil being done right under their noses. In fact, Barak would be very justified in saying that, as Sarid and his colleagues, whenever in government, consistently and duly provided an even "greener" fig leaf to the ongoing Israeli apartheid, occupation and colonization than the pale green Labor had on offer. Sarid's contribution to just peace, history will judge, was as significant as that of Israel's notorious war criminals from the "left" to the fanatic right: Peres, Rabin, Begin, Netanyahu, Sharon and even Lieberman. But he maintained a "far left" reputation by attacking Israel's religious parties and insisting on a modicum of secularism that proved to be far too much for the general Jewish-Israeli public. The rest of Meretz's decline into near oblivion is history.

Still, when someone from the core of the Zionist establishment, like Sarid, reaches the conclusion that Labor is legitimizing Israel's evil, it is worth noting. Perhaps it may help convince Labor's allies around the world to reconsider their partnerships with this misnomer of a party. But, then again, why would one expect its British counterpart, for instance, to do the right thing?

Interesting how scared the establishment is now of the boycott in the air!

Omar Barghouti

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144110.html

Haaretz 21/01/2010

Barak legitimizes the evils of Israeli occupation

By Yossi Sarid The settlers and their allies should be thanking their God for their good fortune. Ehud Barak, of all people, was appointed defense minister and is doing their dirty work. Anyone else - Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, or even Avigdor Lieberman wouldn't have been able to pull it off. They wouldn't have dared. But Labor's chairman - the moderate, balanced man in the cabinet - has no inhibitions about what people will say. Everything, it seems, has already been said about him and his flip-flops and deceit. His skin has grown so tough that arrows of criticism slip off his oily complacency. What difference would another arrow, more or less, make? Barak is following in the footsteps of Golda, Galili, Dayan and Peres. Begin and Sharon found the work had been done. Labor has always been the great legitimizer of the occupation's evils. This is the historical mission it has taken on, and no other party could have done it better. Now Labor is legitimizing another evil. Having once served as chairman of the Council for Higher Education, I can assert: There is no academic justification for recognizing Ariel College as a university. Nor as a "university center" - a smart-aleck term trying to bypass the rules. Barak always believes he can build a new career with tricks and ruses but ends up tripping himself with his ploys. This college, soon to become a university, has not scored any impressive achievement. It is far inferior to other Israeli colleges. Had it not established itself in occupied territory, it wouldn't have had the slightest chance of upgrading its status. The defense minister's decision is evidently political. It is taking advantage of a breach in the law. Instead of having the issue examined and determined by an academic authority, as is customary, the military commander of the occupied territory is making the decision. After receiving instructions from the politician in charge of him. Barak will be remembered - among other things - for his unique contribution to degrading higher education in Israel. Thanks to him, we will have the only university in the free world whose founders and owners are uniformed officers. Now those boycotting Israeli universities have a case - proof of the tightening knot between the occupation, military administration and academe. No doubt, Barak's move will raise more calls to boycott Israeli universities and academics. We can only hope the Council for Higher Education will not cooperate with this outrageous move. Otherwise, it would betray the public's trust and do irreparable damage to all the universities and colleges under its charge.