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Aug. 25, 2006
Israel trips cancelled
University administrators pull plug on programs.
REBECA KUROPATWA
A University of Manitoba anthropology research trip to Israel has
been cancelled in the wake of recent violence in the region.
"All of the anthropology students were very disappointed,"
said Dr. Haskel Greenfield of the university's anthropology department.
Greenfield was the initiator and planned leader of the trip, which
was slated to take place from Aug. 9 to Sept. 5 of this year.
"Some students were going earlier and others staying later,"
said Greenfield, "but it was during this time we all would
be working together. Those who had not left yet tried to get the
university to change its mind, but without success. So students
from here won't get to benefit from participating in a Canadian-funded
research project in an international setting – the benefits
cannot be replaced."
In contrast, York University in Toronto, which has a variety of
Canada-Israel study exchange programs, scholarships and grants available
for university studies in Israel, has seen no cancellations.
The decision to cancel the U of M's anthropology trip came after
funding had already been approved, said Greenfield. The focus would
have been on the spread of metallurgy in the Old World, with an
analysis of cut marks on animal bones from Israel. The students
would have worked in the laboratory of the department of life sciences
on the Givat Ram campus of Jerusalem's Hebrew University.
"They would have been looking for and analyzing butchering
marks on ancient animal bones," said Greenfield, "getting
hands-on experience of how to do this kind of research. They'd be
living on campus in a safe and secure environment."
The U of M's Asper School of Business Centre for Entrepreneurship
also has a joint course on entrepreneurship with Israel's Tel-Aviv
University, which has been cancelled.
"Every year, our students go to Israel to take the first half
of their course," said Dr. Gaby Jacoby, associate professor
of finance at the school. "They tour the country and visit
leading Israeli companies. The second half of the course takes place
in Winnipeg."
This year is an exception. "Because of the situation in Israel,"
said Jacoby, "the Israeli students [will] come here to study,
visit local companies and tour, but no U of M students [will] go
to Israel."
"All of the U of M students need the Israel portion of this
course to fulfil the program's requirements," said Prof. Robert
Warren, executive director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, "so
students who had to miss it this year can either take time off of
school and come back and do it next year, or they can take the local
portion [on corporate management] this year and just make up the
Israel portion [on finance] next year."
Of the anthropology trip, Greenfield noted that, "The administration
is terrified that if they release funds for students to participate,
they might open themselves up to lawsuits if a student gets injured
by a missile or terrorist bombing."
Even though the students have signed multiple waivers of responsibility
for the university and Greenfield, the administration has held firm.
"Nobody would have even gone into northern Israel, and all
of the research would have been conducted at the Hebrew University,"
said Greenfield.
Michal Kaye, the regional director of the Israel Program Centre
of the Hagshama department of the World Zionist Organization (WZO)
in Toronto, said none of their Israel programs were cancelled. "All
of our participants went on the Israel trips, and stayed there during
the conflict," said Kaye. "As an extra precaution, we
did move them during those months from Haifa to Jerusalem."
Kaye said there has been an increase of calls from people wanting
to go to Israel and volunteer to help out (through Magen David Adom,
the army and other organizations), but Kaye said there is a lack
of available places for them to stay. "In Eilat," she
noted, "there is no room – not in the hotels, and not
on the beaches. There are more than 50,000 people in that city."
As things stand, the university has funded Greenfield for the trip,
and he can hire people who are already in Israel, but no U of M
students can go. "They will benefit from the experience, but
U of M students will not," said Greenfield. On Aug. 11, he
left for Israel with his wife and three small children, expecting
to return on Sept. 5.
Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.
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