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<h1 id="reader-title">Checkpoints on Palestine in Academia</h1>
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<p><span itemprop="datePublished" class="date">September
21, 2016 - Hatem Bazian<br>
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<p><span itemprop="datePublished" class="date"></span>The
“suspension” followed by the “reinstatement” of Ethnic
Studies 198, Palestine, a settler colonial analysis
course by University of California, Berkeley
Administration is paradigmatic of Palestine’s treatment
in academia. Narrating Palestine in academia is subject
to a maze of official and not so official control levers
which regulate how the subject is approached. To a large
extent, academia is a microcosm of the larger society,
which means the treatment of Palestine and Palestinians
(communities of color as whole) parallels the existing
framework present at the national level in the U.S.</p>
<p>More importantly, Israeli narrative, security concerns,
emotional well-being, personhood and land claims are
accepted at face value and is further given
unquestionable support and the measure for expressing
concern regarding development in the region. What is
good for Israel must be good for everyone in America and
for sure must be enforced upon the Palestinians.
Furthermore, what is good for Israel must be what is
good for academia as well.</p>
<p>Narrating Palestine in academia is an uphill trudge and
is reflective of the broader American society. Take the
broader society as an indication were the current
presidential contenders went out of their way to express
support for Israel at AIPAC’s annual convention in DC to
the extent that one might thought they are running of
the Israeli presidency. Adding more insult to injury was
the Platform debate in the Democratic Party, which
refused to include the word occupation in the final text
adopted. The range of differences between the Democratic
and Republican Party Platform on Israel is so narrow
that they are practically interchangeable.</p>
<p>In academia, just like the national political parties,
the acceptable range of engagement is set in accordance
with the local AIPAC and Zionist operatives agenda. When
it come to campus funded programs, institutional
relationships, and academic worldview is agenda is set
in relations to and reflective of Israel’s priorities
and interests. At a certain level, one has to appreciate
the connectedness of campuses far and near to Israel and
Zionism. This is readily documentable in countless study
abroad programs, visiting faculties and students,
academic exchanges of all types and last but not least
the ever constant visits and paid tours by
administrators of American universities to Israeli
campuses, military outposts, settlements, cities and
towns. The connectedness extends to campus police
departments which, likewise, are included in the fully
paid junkets and the mandatory tours so as to develop
awareness of Israel on campus needs and view the
Palestinians through Israel’s lens.</p>
<p>Here, we have academia’s relations to Palestine becomes
identical and reflective of the broader political
landscape and the parameters are set on the same
foundations. Israel’s interest, security and concerns
are centered and Palestinians are included as the
antagonist that constantly intrude to disrupt the
peaceful and normal existence in Palestine and on
college campuses. Palestinians are the “outsiders” to
the dominant Israeli narrative on college campuses. Do
we know Palestinians and how are they introduced into
our collective consciousness? Do we account for
Palestinians well-being on campus or are they only
contacted in response to Zionist fears on campus?</p>
<p>Importantly, since the university administrators and
leadership are politically and epistemically socialized
with the Israeli worldview, it becomes seamless that any
concern about Israel is a call to action to remedy it.
Case in point is the ongoing campus administrators’
responses to the BDS student movement and various
changes in rules and regulations to criminalize, at a
university level, activism related to it. At even deeper
level, the university administrators take the step to
organize and coordinate their actions with
representative of the Israeli government, a foreign
country, against the interest and constitutional rights
of their own students and faculty members.</p>
<p>The DeCal course, Palestine, a settler colonial
analysis, met the institutional Israeli constituted
checkpoints, which were rapidly mobilized to “correct”
the boundaries of academic inquiry. Any academic
inquiry, according to the constituted checkpoint
boundaries, should center Israel and be located within
the set of priorities identified and sanctioned by the
local guardians of the Zionist narrative. Consequently,
academic administrators function almost as if they are
state department officers guarding and governing the
boundaries of engagement of Palestine and anything
outside the accepted framework must be immediately
closed down.</p>
<p>On a national level, the number of courses and
departments that are bold enough to deal with Palestine,
as Palestine, and to center the experience of the
Palestinians can possibly be counted on two hands if one
adds all the courses that has a portion included. The
dearth of treatment accorded Palestine and Palestinians
is representative of the institutional road blocks and
checkpoints set in place to cleanse the curriculum of
Palestine, as a subject matter, and center Israel.</p>
<p>Precisely, the existence of institutional and
administrative checkpoints on Palestine related content
and courses made it possible for a Dean of a tier 1
research institution to “suspend” a student initiated
De-Cal course dealing with Palestine. An external
cluster of 43 ideologically driven and extreme
pro-Israel groups mobilized to pressure a welling
internal guard to move for the cancellation of the
course. The claim of procedure was carried out by
exception since no other course in the DeCal offering
was subject to such a stealth administrative
intervention. Palestine-related courses are subject to
regulations by exceptions, administration and political
intervention that run contrary to the principles of
academic freedom and inquiry. Academic administration
construct intellectual and procedural checkpoints to
restrict Palestinian narrative from being considered on
its own terms.</p>
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