British academia voted yesterday to boycott cooperation with universities in Israel in protest of Israel's presence in the Occupied Territories. Though the vote at the first meeting of the University and College Union passed by a majority of 158 to 99, several prominent members were opposed to the decision. General Secretary to the Union, Sally Hunt, said, "I do not believe a boycott is supported by a majority of UCU members, nor do I believe that members see it as a priority for the union." The UCU vote coincides with similar pressures from within Israel, as four Israeli academics called yesterday for the government to lift bans on Palestinian students. In a letter to the defence minister, the presidents of Ben-Gurion, Hebrew, Haifa and Technion universities, wrote, "Blocking access to higher education for Palestinian students from Gaza who choose to study in the West Bank casts a dark shadow over Israel's image as a state which respects and supports the principle of academic freedom
