ANALYSIS ISRAEL-PALESTINE
Internal criticism over Israeli partners continues to grow
In recent weeks, students of KULStudents4Palestine have been consistently protesting KU Leuven's collaborations with Israeli institutions. Internally, criticism is on the rise as well. Several students and professors have been invited to a rapprochement discussion during the past week.
UPDATE: coming week, several students will start with occupying KU Leuven campuses. Their protest against KU Leuven's partnerships with Israeli universities thus intensifies.
Two weeks ago, biomedical student Hanna de Boe went on a symbolic hunger strike to call on KU Leuven to break its ties with Israeli universities.
Because of these ties, De Boe believes that KU Leuven is complicit in the support provided by its partner universities to the Israeli army. The following week, several demonstrators continued the action. Within the university itself as well, criticism is growing louder.
On May 6, five professors, including anthropologist Nadia Fadil, were invited by rector Luc Sels to talk about the matter. Because of last week's physical protest at the rectorate, three students of the KULStudents4Palestine action group were invited for a discussion as well on May 7.
Pressure from action groups
KULStudents4Palestine organizes most actions on the issue. On May 2, they held a sit-in at the temporary rectorate on Waaistraat. After police intervention, the rector reportedly offered to meet with the students on 7 May. Samier Khaled is one of the initiators of KULstudents4Palestine and has been campaigning since last semester. 'In February, we presented a petition with over 4,000 signatures to hold the university accountable', he says. 'We feel that our campaign is broadly supported. However, we are still not being heard.'
'KU Leuven claims to be open to dialogue, but in reality, that's not the case'
Wim Grevendonk, representative of trade union ABVV KU Leuven
KU Leuven Student Council (Stura) has no opinion on the matter, according to vice-chairman Andreas Vandingenen. 'Our representative structure gathers input from below; however, we haven't received any comments from our faculty student representatives on the matter yet', he says.
Vandingenen does not rule out a future standpoint from Stura, but he believes it important that such a standpoint comes from 'below.' In any case, the Student Council has a seat on the university's high policy bodies and as such, supports the current policy, according to Vandingenen.
Internal criticism
Over the past six months, several protest actions have taken place, and multiple open letters have been written by students, professors and KU Leuven trade union representatives.
As such, trade unions ACV and ABVV submitted a joint memorandum to the KU Leuven Works Council and Committee for Prevention and Protection (CPBW) to discuss the partnerships.
'It's a good thing that the academic community is pointing to KU Leuven's responsibility in the matter'
Thomas Van Oppens, councilor for Student Affairs Leuven
KU Leuven allegedly rejected the memorandum, stating that the matter did not fall within the purview of such councils. 'That is unjustified', says Wim Grevendonk, union representative of ABVV Leuven.
'On the one hand, financial considerations are clearly at play; but on the other, KU Leuven's values also play a role. The university claims to be open to dialogue, but in reality, that's not the case.'
Criticism against the Ethical Committee
The university's ties with Israeli institutions have been under fire since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The main criticism from action groups concerns the lack of transparency in the decision-making process of the Ethical Committee on Dual use, Military use & Misuse of Research (EC DMM).
On April 29, the Faculty of Arts diversity network, a focus group that works on diversity topics and provides policy advice, also published a statement. By doing so, they demand the university to conduct a transparent investigation into 'the involvement of Israeli universities in the violence and the oppression of the Palestinian people'. The faculty allegedly also supports the appeal.
On May 2, rector Luc Sels responded to the increasing criticism on behalf of the committee. He acknowledges Israeli universities' ties with the Israeli military and government, however, he says that the university will not end its current collaborations with Israeli partners. The university will adopt a more 'reserved' approach regarding future cooperation, however.
'The support has helped me enormously to physically and mentally complete this hunger strike'
Hanna De Boe, activist
'For future collaborations, the EC DMM will use the approach that is used for all international collaborations', Sels states in a blog post. 'Specifically, approval or objection is based on a thorough screening of each project, examining the partner institution and the content of the project.'
Since the beginning of the year, three new research projects have been established with Israeli institutions. These projects are largely part of broader research programs sponsored by the European Union.
No faculty has made a call for an academic boycott yet. Vandingenen believes that the deans are confident in the approach of the university's Ethical committee.
Student on hunger strike
Hanna De Boe's protest has already been covered by various media outlets. De Boe could count on a lot of support from the pro-Palestinian side: 'The support has helped me enormously to physically and mentally complete this hunger strike', she told Veto. For example, passing students would hand her warm blankets.
Thomas Van Oppens, Student Affairs Leuven counsellor, showed support for the protest on social media. 'It's very good that actions about Palestine and divestments are taking place', he told Veto.
'As a society, we carry a heavy responsibility: as a city, for example, we do not buy anything from occupied areas', Van Oppens continues. 'It's a good thing that the academic community is pointing to KU Leuven'responsibility in the matter.'
