Also, contrary to the comment made by Khan, Ferguson is correct in stating that the overwhelming majority of anthropologists working in this part of the world support a boycott because they have seen first hand the systematic oppression of Palestinian human rights. The AAA Taskforce only confirmed what these scholars have known intimately.

I have several reasons to oppose this resolution and here they are:

1) While it claims to be about boycotting Israeli universities only, it is in fact a boycott of Individual scholars, e.g., it discourages AAA members from writing reference and tenure review letters for them; 2) Universities do not make or influence government policies; 3) This resolution does not set clear goals for when the boycott might be rescinded; 4) BDS leaders (Barghouty in Palestine; European BDS leaders; Students for Justice in Palestine, the two authors of the AAA boycott resolution) are not really (!) aiming at forcing Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders but wish to destroy Israel as a Jewish state and transform it into an Arab-dominated one (ruled most likely by Hamas and or Fatah), where Jews will inevitably become a discriminated minority, just as they are right now in most of the Middle Eastern states; for that reason most of the prominent BDS activists are not at all interested in any form of dialogue with Israeli moderates; 5) The AAA Task Force report is incredibly one-sided and says nothing about Israel’s legitimate security concerns; 5) For most AAA members who never visited Israel or done research there, voting in favor of this resolution is an easy /”feel good” gesture with no serious consequences for their own careers; 6) However, this action will undoubtedly negatively affect important archaeological and bio. anthropological as well as some ethnological research in Israel/Palestine, since it would be close to impossible to conduct it without some degree of cooperation with Israeli universities and/or Israeli government.

If the resolution passes, I intend to cancel my membership in the AAA.
A boycott of my Israeli colleagues and their universities = a boycott of myself.
If it comes to that, “Je suis an Israeli anthropologist” too….