Middle East Focus-Arabia Deserta: Lebanese Academia and Israel: Freedom or Collaboration or McCarthyism or All……..

Arabia Deserta

Lebanese Academia and Israel: Freedom or Collaboration or McCarthyism or All……..

“In a town hall at the American University of Beirut earlier this month, nearly 300 in the crowd castigated Sari Hanafi, a scholar and Palestinian activist, for his role as co-editor of the book, "The Power of Inclusive Exclusion: Anatomy of Israeli Rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territories." Hanafi worked on the book with two Israeli scholars from Tel Aviv University, Adi Ophir and Michal Givoni, both of whom publicly oppose the Israeli military presence in the West Bank. Lebanese law forbids contact between its nationals and Israel…… “This open collaboration between an Israeli academic and an AUB academic is unprecedented in my 50 years of service at this university," said Tarif Khalidi, professor of Arab and Middle Eastern studies at AUB, who addressed the audience at the March 8 meeting. "I say 'open' because God knows what might be happening under the table. This is especially disturbing in a country like Lebanon, which is still in a state of war with Israel." Some have called the drive against Hanafi a McCarthy-like effort to punish a professor who defied the current Arab world orthodoxy by partnering with the enemy. …… The fight has pitted student against student....…..”
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