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The legal challenge put forward by the organisers will focus both on the university’s
capitulation to the pro-Israel lobby, and on the false pretext of
“health and safety” concerns. PSC is supporting the organisers and issued a strong statement against the cancellation.

The University has also received a number of letters from academics protesting their decision, including a number of letters from professors at Southampton. The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) has called the cancellation “unprecedented”. Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, chair of BRICUP, said “in living memory no academic conference at a UK university has been cancelled due to external political pressure.” He added: “Southampton’s decision sets an atrocious precedent that must be reversed. If not it deserves to be treated as a pariah by the rest of the academic community.” Academics have noted that this is a demonstration of how “free speech” has strict limits when it comes to Israel.

Suleiman Sharkh, one of the organisers and a Palestinian who grew up in Gaza, explained his personal connection to the conference and why it remains a significant academic topic: “International law was responsible for our misery,” Sharkh explains. “It was used to legalize the theft of our homes and it continues to be used to legalize the ongoing oppression of my people by the State of Israel. The questions asked by the conference are therefore questions that I have been asking all my life. They are important questions that need to be answered.

Sign the petition calling for the University to allow the conference to proceed:

The President of NUT, Philippa Harvey also spoke of her recent visits to Palestine, and East London teacher Kiri Tunks, and representative of Action for Palestinian Children shared with the meeting the ongoing human rights breaches against Palestinian children at the hands of the Israeli army and settlers in the occupied territories.

Bernard Regan, member of the national executive committee of PSC, spoke of the current situation and the need for actions, notably to target complicit companies in the occupation and war crimes like Hewlett Packard – www.palestinecampaign.org/case-hewlett-packard/

The meeting, expertly chaired by Dave Harvey, Chair of the NUT International Committee, drew to a close with a contribution by Nadim Makhalfa, International Officer of the GUPT (by Skype), reminding us that we need to continue to work and campaign against the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.

For photos, see our Flickr page.