Normalization by the Mediterranean Universities Union

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The Europeans never stop their attempts to drag Arabs in general, and Palestinians in particular, into normalization with the Zionist entity, and they use the money and various services they can offer to bring this normalization about. They continually try to fund various activities in diverse fields in order to bring Zionist Jews together with Arabs, and to create an atmosphere of mixing between the two sides that ultimately leads to normalization. We know how several European states have funded student, youth, scientific, and academic activities that brought Arabs together with Israeli Zionists. The Europeans even, in many cases, make funding conditional on Israeli participation, and if the Arab side refuses, the funding stops. We have witnessed such things at numerous scientific conferences in Arab countries and beyond, the closest example being conferences held in Jordan, such as the Dead Sea conference, where Israelis are invited as honored, respected guests.

The Europeans have played a prominent role in dragging the Arabs toward negotiations with Israel, and they took to classifying whoever accepted negotiation as “moderate” and whoever refused as “extremist,” and worked to support those labeled moderate while squeezing those labeled extremist. Nor did the Europeans hesitate to play with terminology in order to achieve normalization and secure Arab acceptance of the Zionist entity, and so they invented the “Mediterranean” and “Middle Eastern” partnerships. For the Europeans, Israel is one of the Mediterranean basin states, and one of the states of what is called the Middle East, and so, should the Arabs agree to cooperate within the Middle East, or within the Mediterranean, Israel would be part of the group.

The Europeans came up with the idea of a Mediterranean Universities Union, with the aim of drawing Arab universities, their administrations, and their academics toward cooperation with Zionist universities. It seems they have succeeded in this act of normalization, as they have succeeded in others, because the participating Arab universities are numerous, and come from many Arab countries.

(The original document is damaged at the start of this sentence.) …take part in this union, states such as France, Italy, Finland, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus, Spain, and Portugal, along with three Israeli universities, namely:

Tel Aviv University

Ben-Gurion University

The Hebrew University

The following Palestinian universities also take part:

Al-Azhar University

Birzeit University

Bethlehem University

An-Najah National University

From Syria, Al-Baath University, Damascus University, and Tishreen University take part;

From Jordan, Al al-Bayt University, The Hashemite University, and the University of Jordan take part;

From Lebanon, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik and the Lebanese University take part;

From Egypt, Alexandria University, Cairo University, and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport take part.

Universities from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey also take part.

There is an awareness that the political level is the greatest normalizer of all, practicing the most dangerous kind of normalization, because it paves the way for opening the doors to the Zionists in every field. But this must not tempt academics. Academics are the guardians of the nation, or ought to be, because they are its minds and its thinkers, and together with school teachers they carry a heavy trust without which the nation cannot be set right. For this reason, it is important for the Palestinian and Arab universities participating in this union to reconsider the matter. There is room for Palestinian and Arab universities to make their participation conditional on the expulsion of the Zionist universities, and there is room for withdrawal. In any case, it is essential that Palestinian and Arab universities not serve as a model for normalization, which is rejected by the great majority of Arab publics, and by some political regimes as well.

Europe offers Palestinians assistance in various forms, including money and dedicated scholarships, but they do so in exchange for a political price. We must always ask ourselves: shall we trade their kindnesses for political positions bearing on the national rights of the Palestinian people? It is important to remember that there are European academics, especially in Britain, who boycott Zionist universities and refuse to normalize with them — shall we be less devoted to our cause than they are?

It is also essential that Syria and Lebanon look into this matter, and answer the question raised by this conduct on the part of Syrian and Lebanese universities.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “تطبيع اتحاد الجامعات المتوسطية” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.