British academic boycott of Israel gathers pace
Andy Beckett and Ewen MacAskill
Thursday December 12, 2002, The Guardian

Evidence is growing that a British boycott of Israeli academics is gathering
pace. British academics have delivered a series of snubs to their Israeli
counterparts since the idea of a boycott first gained ground in the spring.

In interviews with the Guardian, British and Israeli academics listed
various incidents in which visits, research projects and publication of
articles have been blocked.

Colin Blakemore, an Oxford University professor of physiology, who supports
a boycott, said: "I do not know of any British academic who has been to a
conference in Israel in the last six months."

Dr Oren Yiftachel, a left-wing Israeli academic at Ben Gurion University,
complained that an article he had co-authored with a Palestinian was
initially rejected by the respected British journal Political Geography. He
said it was returned to him unopened with a note stating that Political
Geography could not accept a submission from Israel.

Mr Yiftachel said that, after months of negotiation, the article is to be
published but only after he agreed to make substantial revisions, including
making a comparison between his homeland and apartheid South Africa.

The issue of a boycott was highlighted in the spring when two British
academics, Steven and Hilary Rose, had a letter published in the Guardian
supporting the idea. It was signed by 123 other academics.

Professor Paul Zinger, outgoing head of the Israeli Science Foundation,
said: "Every year we send most of our research papers abroad for reference.
We send out about 7,000 papers a year. This year, for the first time, we had
people writing back, about 25 of them, saying 'We refuse to look at these'."

Israeli film board bans Jenin camp documentary

By Michele Gershberg

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Film Ratings Board drew an outcry against
censorship Wednesday after it banned a documentary on an Israeli offensive in
Jenin refugee camp for portraying its soldiers as war criminals.

The board said it decided to ban the controversial Jenin, Jenin, by Israeli
Arab actor and director Mohammed Bakri, for a "distorted presentation of
events in the guise of democratic truth which could mislead the public."

"It is a film which strikes deeply at the sensibilities of the public, which
could mistakenly think that Israeli soldiers are perpetrating war crimes
systematically and intentionally," the board said in a statement, calling the
work a "one-sided propaganda film" for a 2-year-old Palestinian uprising.

It was the first time in 15 years that the ratings board had censored a
movie. In 1987 it banned the Japanese film Empire of the Senses for
pornographic content, a board official said.

Bakri's film describes an Israeli offensive in the refugee camp in April
through the eyes of its residents. More than 50 Palestinians, including
civilians and combatants, and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the
prolonged raid, launched after a series of suicide bombings in Israel.

"It is a real shame for me because it shows that democracy in Israel is not
reserved for all of its citizens," Bakri told Reuters. "This is a clear
political game that the (ruling right-wing party) Likud doesn't want people
to see the movie."

The film has been well-received at international screenings but drew hostile
protest at its Israeli premiere last month.    

APPEAL PLANNED

Bakri said he would appeal to Israel's Supreme Court to overturn to ban.
Israeli legal commentators said the court would probably do so as the ratings
board was not authorized to censor a movie on grounds of truthfulness.

Israeli media commentators decried the censorship.

"The ratings board -- and the cable companies which also decided to pull the
plug on the film -- consider the Israeli public ... to be complete idiots
incapable of judging a cinematic work for themselves," media commentator
Raanan Shaked wrote in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

Jenin, Jenin, filmed several weeks after the raid, shows the destruction of
a large swathe of the camp by Israeli bulldozers. It quotes residents saying
soldiers had committed war crimes, including shooting at an elderly man and
burying people alive as their homes were demolished.

Soldiers who served in the campaign accused some of the residents interviewed
of fabricating events, including mention of a mass grave for Palestinians dug
by the Israeli army. No such site was found by human rights groups who
conducted inquiries in the camp after the operation.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have said Israeli soldiers
committed war crimes during the Jenin operation but denied Palestinian claims
that a massacre took place there.

Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants and the measures
it employed, including demolishing homes, were needed to safeguard soldiers
against booby traps.