British teachers boycott Israel

[sonz]

Britain’s largest union of college teachers voted to boycott Israeli academics and universities who fail to oppose their government’s “apartheid policies” against the Palestinians, AFP reported.

Members of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) passed the motion on Monday at their annual conference in Blackpool, northern England despite growing pressure from pro-Israeli groups.

The motion, which criticizes Israel’s “apartheid policies”, slams what it describes as the “exclusion wall" between Israel and parts of the Palestinian territories. It also criticizes "discriminatory educational practices" in Israeli higher education.

The motion also urges members to "consider the appropriateness of a boycott of those that do not publicly dissociate themselves from such policies.”

According to the Guardian, NATFHE members highlighted a litany of difficulties that Palestinian students and professors experience under the Israeli occupation, attacking Israel’s frequent bombings of Palestinian schools and colleges.

Israel's ambassador in London, Zvi Heifetz, who sought to defend Israel’s educational institutions, attacked the NATFHE decision, describing it as “an act of blatant discrimination.”

He also warned that the adopted motion would end up isolating British students and college teachers rather than isolating Israeli academics.

The NATFHE vote was also criticized by the British government.

"We believe that such academic boycotts are counterproductive and retrograde," said junior foreign minister Lord David Triesman in a statement issued by the British embassy in Tel Aviv.

* Palestinians killed in Israeli raids

More than seven Palestinians have been killed in overnight clashes with Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, BBC reported.

A helicopter strike near Beit Lahiya, in the Gaza Strip, killed four Palestinians and wounded several civilians.

Reports say the Israeli attack followed fierce fighting between Islamic Jihad fighters and Israeli soldiers across the border.

The Israeli army claimed that the Palestinian fighters were spotted preparing a missile attack on Israel.

In the West Bank, Palestinian residents said a fighter was killed in a gun battle with Israeli forces in Anabta, and another in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus.

And a third Palestinian fighter was killed during an Israeli incursion at Kabatiya.

In a separate development, Israel said it will revoke the East Jerusalem residency of four Palestinian MPs linked to Hamas unless they quit the group or resign their seats, Reuters reported.

"Either resign or else you will not live among us... I sent out the letters today (Monday) and... they have 30 days to make their decisions," Israel’s Interior Minister Ronnie Bar-On said.

The Israeli decision would affect Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Khaled Abu Arafa, and three Hamas lawmakers; Muhammad Abu Teir, Ahmed Abu Atoun and Mahmoud Totach.

Israel boycott the Palestinian government since Hamas came to power earlier this year.

Israel seized Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want it as a capital of a future independent state.

Israeli ID cards grants East Jerusalem residents permanent residency and freedom of movement in Israel, rights that aren’t given to other Palestinians living in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

If the four MPs are expelled, their Israeli identity cards will be revoked and they will lose those rights.