International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Feb. 27, 2003

Fearing for the nation's economy and the progress of research, Israeli academics are fighting a one-year boycott that some European and American colleagues have leveled to try to force the Israeli government to make peace with the Palestinians.

The Israelis are calling the boycotters anti-Semitic and they say the stakes are too high to ignore since the movement aims to shut down international academic exchanges, tourism and scientific research, a crucial piece of Israel's economy, worth about $5.4 billion.

The tide appears to be in their favor. Tens of thousands of Europeans and Americans have signed anti-boycott petitions, compared to the several hundred who have signed the pro-boycott petitions. Even so, when a foreign scholar is invited here now and sends regrets, it raises eyebrows.

"They have the fallback of saying it's the violence, but the broad perception here is that they don't want to closely associate themselves with Israel," said Aaron Benavot, a sociologist at Hebrew University.

But he called the boycott "an absolute failure" because no major organizations have joined it.

Israeli academic groups have denounced three French universities as anti-Semitic after the schools endorsed the boycott, causing one of the schools to distance itself from the boycott.

Israeli writers also decried a recent decision by a bookshop in Oxford, England, to boycott an Israeli publisher. And a widespread outcry was leveled at an American college who recently compared Israel's treatment of the Palestinians to Nazi Germany's genocidal policy toward the Jews.

"If they want to not buy our books, that's not a problem," said Elisha Ben-Mordechai, editor of Astrolog Publishers. "But to send me a letter that I am to blame for all that happens to the Arabs, all that happens in the territories - well, I was born in a refugee camp, my wife was born in a refugee camp."

The British-based boycott is gunning specifically for special European Union programs that bring together Israeli and European researchers and scientists.

"I hear concerns about my 'relationship with Israel' all the time, and it sickens me," said David Hansel, a neuroscientist at Universite Rene Descartes, in Paris, and who also works five months a year at Hebrew University. "In France, at least, I feel people are trying to build momentum for this boycott, criticizing Israel and also identifying colleagues who are Jewish or Israeli."

Hansel said he has been up for promotion for several months, but has been told by colleagues it has been blocked because of his affiliation with Hebrew University.

Israeli researchers have an important ally against the boycott - the Palestine Academy for Science and Technology, whose secretary general said he opposes the Europeans' efforts.

"I always thought science brought people closer together, regardless of politics," said Imad Khatib, the secretary general.

Steven Rose, who spearheaded the boycott, described it as an "act of conscience" against "the way the Zionist project is being pursued."

"European Union science research is political in its own right, with its own criteria, own industrial goals and targets, and it's a fair target," Rose said, a biologist at Britain's Open University.