| [Fredsgruppen ved Tel Aviv Universitet] 27/5 2002 |
We are forwarding Rela Mazali's message concerning Ilan Pappe and the general issue of silencing in Academia. We must raise our voices!!!
Dr. Pappe has played a central role in identifying and publicizing unknown sections of the history of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict. He has long been a brave and outspoken critic of mainstream Zionist history and mainstream Zionist views. Haifa University is now attempting to discredit and silence Dr. Pappe.
The present climate in Israel is one of growing and increasingly heavy-handed repression of dissent. The hugely important work of journalists Amira Hass and Gideon Levy has been called into question under readers' pressure. The Minister of Education is calling for a police investigation of university faculty who openly support resistance to military service. A state employee of my acquaintance was threatened with dismissal from his job due to his refusal to serve reserve military duty in the Occupied Territories. A friend has been instructed to appear before the management of her workplace to explain her left-wing political views. Singer Yaffa Yarkoni was severely sanctioned by the performers' association, for publicly supporting refusers. And this is just a random selection.
The successful silencing of each of these people means the successful silencing of our collective dissent. The struggle of each and every one of them is our own personal struggle.
signed Rela Mazali
Please write urgent letters of protest to:
- the Rector of Haifa University, Prof Aharon Ben Zeev, <benzeev@research.haifa.ac.il>
- the Dean of Humanities at Haifa University
- the Israeli Minister of Education, Limor Livnat
- international academic bodies
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The KATZ AFFAIR
Thou Shall Not Inquire About the Nakba
Monthly journal Between the Lines, January 2001
After two days of hearings in the Tel Aviv District Court (December 13-14, 2000) the libel suit initiated by former fighters of the Alexandroni Brigade against historian Teddy Katz has come to a halt.Katz, in an M.A. thesis written under the auspices of the University of Haifa, presented evidence of a large-scale massacre committed by members of the Brigade in the Palestinian coastal village of Tantura in May 1948. The following is the final conclusion of the thesis which appeared in the press in January 2000 and which caused the libel suit:
"On the night of 22 May 1948 and during the following morning, Battalion 33 of the Alexandroni division attacked the village of Tantura. The village was occupied after several hours of skirmishes, some of which were quite fierce. However by early morning the IDF had total control of the village. According to testimonies of 20 of Tantura survivors and some of the division soldiers, the troops then hunted down the village's men for several hours and killed them. First, they shot them in daylight in houses, open yards and even in the streets, and then concentrated their efforts in the village cemetery."
On December 19th, Katz, under tremendous pressure, in deteriorating health (fearful of a relapse of the stroke he suffered a year ago when the story of the massacre first hit the press), and behind the back of three of his lawyers, signed a compromise agreement with members of the Brigade in which he denied that a massacre had taken place. Almost immediately upon signing the agreement Katz regretted his action, which was taken without consultation with his defense lawyers Avigdor Feldman, Hasan Jabarin and Orna Cohen of Adalah. His decision for retraction was largely based upon consultation from family lawyers who pushed him to end the case. When the court hearings resumed on December 21st, Katz informed the court that the agreement he had signed did not represent his true opinions. He said he had been under pressure from his family to reach a quick agreement because the legal proceedings were proving bad for his health. He added that he was upset that he signed the agreements, saying that he had done so in a moment of weakness. He requested the court to cancel the agreement.
In her ruling of the same day, Judge Drora Pilpel rejected Katz's request, granted the compromise agreement the status of a judicial ruling, and thus brought the trial to a close. The legal arguments employed equated the agreement between Katz and the Alexandroni veterans with that of a commercial agreement in which regret is not a sufficient reason for annulment.
However, as Dr. Ilan Pappe emphasizes (ALEF website, 24/12), the important thing is that only a few hours after signing the agreement Katz regretted his decision and realized that he was manipulated by his family lawyers. Pappe added that "Only in the legal world is retraction a problem. In any other personal sphere of interaction, second thoughts are less important than the final decision. Judge Pilpel wanted to close the case as soon as possible and Katz gave her a chance. There is nothing there [in the whole story of Katz's retraction] about the Nakba, Tantura, or even Katz's ability as a scholar." However, as Prof. Baruch Kimmerling warned (Ha'aretz 26/12), the court decision has quickly become a second judgment of the Professor who gave Katz a grade of 97% on his thesis. According to Dr. Ilan Pappe (open letter, ALEF website 1/1/2001), the University of Haifa is seriously considering re-examining the thesis and maybe even taking Katz's degree away - as is now demanded from the Alexandroni Brigade lawyer to the university. He adds: "I have listened to 60 hours of tapes [of personal testimony on the massacres] which I have and which are available to anyone who wishes to listen to them. [...] I can say to those who are interested in my opinion that the above paragraph [Teddy Katz conclusion as appeared in the press] stands valid and unchanged after one listen to the tapes. Dr. Ilan Pappe concludes: "There is no reason in the world why the University of Haifa would even consider reexamining the work or retracting Katz's degree. It should stick to its shameful policy of non-interference in the case of Teddy Katz. I hope some of you [readers of this open letter on this list serve] agree with me. We need your support. Do not fear: this is not a dictatorship. It is the bastion of free speech in Israel." Katz is currently considering appealing the ruling.
(Information compiled from The Committee for the Teddy Katz report, Ha'aretz daily and the ALEF site)