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Israeli academics to boycott settlement college
At least 165 Israeli professors have declared a boycott against a contentious Israeli college in the West Bank, organizers said Sunday, deepening an internal rift in Israel over the expansion of West Bank settlements.
The academics signed a petition stating they are unwilling to partake in any activities at Ariel University Center. They said Ariel is an "illegal settlement" intended to prevent Palestinians from establishing an independent state.
Ariel, a settlement of 19,000 people, lies deep inside the West Bank. Palestinians claim all of the West Bank, which Israel seized in 1967, as part of a future independent state.
"Ariel is not part of the sovereign territory of Israel, and we therefore cannot be required to go there," the petition reads.
The continued growth of Jewish settlements is at the heart of the current impasse in Mideast peace efforts.