SRRT Resolutions 1990: Resolution on Israeli Censorship

Resolution on Israeli Censorship

Adopted at 1990 Midwinter Meeting

WHEREAS there is ample documentation from Article 19 and other organizations showing massive and stringent Israeli censorship in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and Gaza and within pre-1967 Israel itself, and

WHEREAS this censorship, administered by the Israeli military and justified on grounds of Israel's alleged security needs is in reality aimed at suppressing information about and criticism of Israeli treatment of the Palestinians under occupation, and

WHEREAS this censorship is also aimed at suppressing awareness of Palestinian national and cultural identity and serves to undermine Palestinian academic freedom and education, and

WHEREAS this sweeping and arbitrary censorship is in violation of universally accepted principles of intellectual freedom and human rights, including Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, and

WHEREAS the United States has maintained a special relationship with the State of Israel, which receives upwards of $3 billion annually in American military and financial assistance, while claiming to be the most democratic country in the Middle East,

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Social Responsibilities Round Table Action Council of the American Library Association condemn this massive and stringent Israeli censorship and call upon the State of Israel, to abide by universally recognized norms of intellectual freedom and human rights.

SRRT Newsletter Issue 96, pp. 2-3