Suddenly, on 9/11/09, Spain informed the AUC team that it had been expelled from the competition. AUC was not expelled for technical or scientific reasons, but solely out of political animosity. The letter from Spanish Minister of Housing, Javier Ramos Guallart, informed AUC that because it is located in the “occupied territories,” its inclusion violated EU positions. Sergio

Vega, project manager of the Solar Decathlon, wrote in a communiqué to the college, “The decision was made by the Spanish government based on the fact that the university is located in occupied territory in the West Bank. The Spanish government is committed to uphold the international agreement under the framework of the European Union and the United Nations regarding this geographical area.”3

But Ariel’s location in the West Bank does not violate any EU policy on cooperative projects. Israel has extensive economic, cultural and scientific programs with the EU. Between 2007 and 2009, there were 428 joint scientific projects, some of which were located over the Green Line, the 1949 Armistice lines.4 Furthermore, under a recent agreement, the EU and Israel “committed themselves to establishing a partnership which provides for close political and mutually beneficial trade and investment relations together with economic, social, financial, civil scientific, technological and cultural cooperation.”5 There was no stipulation about geographic boundaries in this agreement.

Spain clearly knew where AUC was located when it chose AUC as a finalist, and when it cooperated with AUC over the following year, and never mentioned a problem about EU policies precisely because such policies do not exist.

Spain’s sudden decision was caused by the Palestinian academic boycott campaign against Israel. Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine lobbied for AUC’s exclusion as a part of the larger academic boycott against Israel that the BNC—the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign National Committee—has tried to impose for several years.6 BNC’s extremist demands are that boycotts must be imposed until Israel “ends the occupation,” and permits millions of Palestinians refugees the “right of return to their original homes.” 7 The right of return is code for destroying Israel demographically by flooding it with the 4.6 million Palestinians currently on UNRWA’s rolls.8

No other teams were excluded from the Decathlon on any political grounds, including Tianjin University, located in China, perhaps one of the world’s foremost human rights violators, was not disqualified from the Decathlon.

AUC immediately blasted the decision. “We scornfully reject the one-sided announcement we received from the Spanish Housing Ministry. The anti-academic decision harms 10,000 students in the university center, including 500 Arab students who study at the institution, in particular the Jewish and Arab students studying together in the school of architecture.” 9

Several organizations also blasted Spain’s boycott, calling upon Spain to reverse its decision or for the U.S. to withdraw its co-sponsorship of the event, and revoke the Memorandum of Understanding, including StandWithUs which launched an international petition, the ADL,10 Scholars for Peace in the Middle East which represents 28,000 academics from 3500 colleges

and universities, and the ZOA. Other Solar Decathlon finalists also registered their objections to the Spain’s discriminatory decision, including Prof. Pascal Rollet of France’s Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Architecture de Grenoble. She wrote to AUC: “I do not agree with the Spanish decision because the Ariel University’s activities are directed towards academic excellence for peace. Kindly receive my utmost support in this difficult situation.”11

The U.S. DoE is aware of Spain’s decision and of the multiple complaints about that decision, but as of Nov. 16, 2009, had still not made any public statements.

Imposing an academic boycott on Israel in a scientific competition that will benefit the global community should disqualify Spain from hosting the Decathlon. This discrimination violates every standard of academic inquiry and cooperation. Columbia University President Bollinger underscored the anti-intellectual, harmful nature of such boycotts in a statement signed by a number of other University presidents:

“I find this idea utterly antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy, where we will not hold intellectual exchange hostage to the political disagreements of the moment. In seeking to quarantine Israeli universities and scholars this vote threatens every university committed to fostering scholarly and cultural exchanges that lead to enlightenment, empathy, and a much needed international marketplace of ideas…. Boycott us, then, for we gladly stand together with our many colleagues in British, American and Israeli universities against such intellectually shoddy and politically biased attempts to hijack the central mission of higher education.”12

 Spain also has the highest incidence of anti-Semitic attitudes of any country in Europe.13 Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero reportedly delivered “a tirade of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism” at a dinner on Dec. 5, 2006, and wore a kaffiyeh, symbol of the Palestinian terrorism, for a photo with the Socialist Youth Movement.14 The OSCE (Organization for

Security and Co-operation in Europe) should investigate whether Spain’s actions qualify as anti-Semitic according to the OSCE’s 2004 Vienna Declaration. Anti-Semitism includes “the singling out of Israel for discriminatory treatment in the international arena,” according to the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism of 2008.15

 Sign the petition at ShameOnSpain.com You can also send letters from the site.

Thank you in advance for your help!