SOUTH AFRICA: More universities check Israel links

Major South African universities began looking into their own ties with Israeli universities after the University of Johannesburg's decision on Wednesday to terminate its links with Ben-Gurion University unless it fulfils, within six months, two conditions UJ has specified, writes David MacFarlane for the Mail & Guardian. The conditions are that Palestinian universities be included in the partnership and that activities with Ben-Gurion should not have military implications.

After the Mail & Guardian's report last week that University of South Africa vice-chancellor Barney Pityana had signed a petition calling on Johannesburg to sever all ties with Ben-Gurion, three more varsity heads added their names: Saleem Badat (Rhodes), Derrick Swartz (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) and Dan Ncayiyana (former vice-chancellor of what is now the Durban University of Technology).

They joined about 250 signatories to the petition, launched last month, including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, poet Antjie Krog, law professor John Dugard, writer Breyten Breytenbach and sociologist Ran Greenstein.
Full report on the Mail & Guardian site