Decision of the ULB Academic Council Regarding Collaborations with Israeli and Palestinian Partners

This past May, the Academic Council had issued a general emergency decision regarding institutional collaborations that applied across the board to both Israeli and Palestinian universities.

Since then, and with a view to examining this issue in depth and on a case-by-case basis, the ULB’s Committee on Compliance with International Law and Dual-Use Issues has reviewed existing or pending cases concerning institutional collaborations with two Israeli universities and one Palestinian university.

At its session on 21 November 2024, the ULB Academic Council (CoA) decided to follow the Committee’s recommendations to suspend three institutional research projects linking ULB to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) and the project linking it to Tel Aviv University (TAU). This decision does not affect individual academic relationships with colleagues at the universities in question. The Academic Council also decided to authorize bilateral discussions aimed at developing collaboration with Birzeit University.

This decision therefore supersedes the CoA’s general decision of May 27, 2024.

The main arguments underlying the CoA’s decision regarding UHJ and UTA relate to these universities’ direct or indirect contribution to the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, as well as to other violations of international law. The duty of care that these universities should have exercised is all the more important in the current context (particularly in light of the orders issued on January 26, March 28, and May 24, 2024, by the International Court of Justice in the case Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel), in light of the advisory opinion of July 19, 2024, on the Legal Consequences of Israel’s Policies and Practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and having regard to the proceedings before the International Criminal Court, which culminated on November 21, 2024, in the issuance of two arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the context of the war in Gaza),

After reviewing the recommendations of the Committee on Compliance with International Law and Dual Use regarding Birzeit University, the Academic Council found no grounds to oppose the continuation of institutional discussions with that university.

The Academic Council invites any member of the academic community who wishes to launch an institutional project with other Israeli or Palestinian partners to submit it to the aforementioned committee as early as possible.

It instructs the ULB authorities—either on their own or in consultation with other universities in the Council of Rectors of Francophone Universities (CRef) and the Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad (VLIR)—to continue discussions with the European Commission so that it takes into account the obligations arising from international law regarding these issues.