Dear colleagues:
The free flow of science and information, far more than traditional military methods to preempt conflicts, constitutes in my view a powerful force against war. It is also, far more than the free flow of trade between nations, a powerful tool for equal- opportunity human- development.

Applied to the Israeli- Palestinian situation the above hypothesis would imply that, of all possible bridges to burn as a form of "well- intentioned" political pressure, the boycott of academic cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians should be excluded or avoided. Indeed, the hypothesis implies that such cooperation should be fostered and expanded.

By extension, an international academic boycott of Israel, on pro Palestinian grounds, is self- defeating: it would only succeed in weakening that strategically important bridge through which the state of war between Israelis and Palestinians could be ended, and Palestinian rights could there for be restored. Instead of burning that bridge the international academy should do everything within its power to strengthen it, including, foremost, through its own collaborative intervention.

Needless to say, no self- respecting individual, academic or otherwise, can be blind or indifferent to the universal human principles of freedom and equality. Academic cooperation must therefore be predicted on these principles, besides serving as a means to bringing their realization about. It is in this spirit that I stand committed to academic cooperation, and against academic boycotts. For those who stand for it on pro- Israeli grounds, and those who stand against it on pro- Palestinian grounds, I urge a plea for a balanced support for the combined future of Israelis and Palestinians, based on the principles of freedom and equality.

Sari Nusseibeh
al-Quds University