More Oxford fantasies

High-profile invitees to Oxford Union debate on Israel walk out

Last update - 13:01 01/11/2007 | Haaretz
By Gilad Halpern

When the Oxford Union scheduled a debate for last week on whether dividing the land into two states is the best solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, everyone seemed to depart from the premise that the general wish was to see the conflict resolved. It was to be an ordinary political debate on whether a Jewish state within the pre-1967 borders is a viable solution or not.

But apparently even the pinnacle of British academia was not immune to the venomous contentions often evoked by the notorious conflict. The controversy that preceded the event could easily rival the Mideast conflict's most acrimonious diplomatic crises.

Originally, two high-profile proponents of an academic boycott of Israel, Dr. Ilan Pappe and Dr. Ghada Karmi of Exeter University, along with Prof. Avi Shlaim of St. Anthonys College, Oxford, were invited to speak in favor of the motion "this house believes that one state is the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

The one-state solution is recognized as disregarding the Jewish desire to maintain a demographic majorty in Israel, as it would include the right of return for Palestinian refugees. This, coupled with faster population growth in Palestinian communities, means in all probability a one-state solution would lead to Jews becoming a minority in Israel.

To argue against the motion, the Union invited the Northern Irish statesman Lord David Trimble, veteran gay-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and the controversial American historian Prof. Norman Finkelstein.

The invitation of Finkelstein, a vocal and prolific critic of Israel and Zionism, was met with strident concerns that the debate would be imbalanced and constitute a platform for the de-legitimization of Israel as a Jewish state. Alan Dershowitz, the prominent pro-Israel attorney, published a mock obituary of the Oxford Union, in which he attacked Finkelstein's invitation, calling him "an anti-Semitic bigot who has compared Israel to Nazi Germany."

Luke Tryl, the Union president, eventually bowed to the pressure and replaced Finkelstein with Paul Usiskin, co-chair of Peace Now U.K. In protest of what they saw as "an infringement of the principle of free speech", all three speakers in favor of the motion pulled out. At a later stage, Lord Trimble and Tatchell followed suit, saying they were "fed-up" with the controversy.

This left Usiskin as the only external speaker who remained in place. All the other panel members were students who filled in for the withdrawing participants. The session went ahead as planned, and ended in a rejection of the motion by a majority of 199 to 60.

Usiskin told Haaretz on Tuesday that he believes Finkelstein was the wrong person to speak in favor of a two-state solution. "There is no evidence of Finkelstein's support of a two-state solution," he said, adding that his would-be opponents thought they had ensured their victory in the debate by having an ally in the opposition's camp.

Usiskin also said that Finkelsteins invitation to speak against, instead of in favor of the motion was a genuine mistake on the part of the union, and it was Lord Trimble who initially drew their attention to the risk of imbalance.

Despite persistent attempts, Oxford Union was unavailable for comment on the matter.



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