Scotland AUT motion seen as 'anti-boycott measure'
By YAAKOV LAPPIN (Jerusalem Post)
LONDON, England
The attempt to boycott Israeli universities by Britain's Association of University Teachers (AUT) has been dealt another blow, following a decision by the Scottish AUT to pass a motion calling for dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian trade unionists.
Alistair Hunt, president of Scotland AUT, told The Jerusalem Post that the motion should be seen as an anti-boycott measure, and called into question the manner in which boycotts against the University of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University were passed. "I am pleased that AUT Scotland endorsed the motion by a large majority," said Hunt. "I am personally committed to the route of dialogue and debate instead of boycotts."
Hunt said that the motion was a continuation of a spirit of dialogue, which began at a meeting hosted by Scottish trade unionists last month, during which Histadrut representatives and members of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions pledged to work together.
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Alastair Hunter (n.b., not Hunt) deserves a lot of credit for his courageous handling of this affair.
By the way, I'm pretty sure that the reference to the Birmingham branch of the AUT later in the article is a mistake for the Bristol branch. I would be most surprised (albeit very pleased) if the Birmingham branch, home of the boycott's chief architects, voted to reject the boycott.
I can't find the AUT Scotland statement anywhere on the Web. If anyone has the full text, please send it to me and I'll post it.
Also, I just noticed that the original AUT web page that made the case for the boycott is now inaccessible except to AUT members. I guess that shows how confident the AUT is of the arguments it accepted to institute the boycott. I expected something like this, so I copied much of the relevant material here quite some time ago. I should have followed my instinct and copied all of it.
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