A conference on Israel and international law that was banned by the University of Southampton is to be held next year at University College Cork.
“International Law & the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism” will take place between 31 March and 2 April 2017 at University College Cork, a constituent university of the National University of Ireland.
In a statement issued by organisers, the conference is described as “the first of its kind” and “a ground-breaking historical event on the road towards justice and enduring peace in historic Palestine.”
“It is unique,” they say, because “while most attention today is directed at Israel’s actions in the 1967 Occupied Territories, the conference seeks to expand the debate surrounding the nature of the State of Israel and the legal and political reality within it.”
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According to the organisers, “recent developments in some countries – particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom – have evidenced a chilling repression of academic freedom when it comes to critique of Israeli state policy. This renders it all the more crucial to provide forums for such debate.”
The statement continues: “The history of this conference reflects these developments. Originally, it was planned to hold the conference at the University of Southampton, but growing pressure on academic freedom in the United Kingdom forced a decision to move the conference to Ireland.”
“We look forward to productive and constructive academic engagement in Cork with the vital themes and questions raised by the conference.”