http://m.jpost.com/#article=6017NjNDMTE1QjM0MjQyQTVDODE1MjJFRTVGNTY1RTY5OEM=
A group of over 1,000 Israeli sociologists announced on Monday that they will sever all academic ties to Ariel University "since it is not located in Israeli territory."
http://israeli-academics-for-peace.org.il/en/the-truth-about-the-ariel-university/
Ariel University is located in an Israeli settlement built in the occupied Palestinian territories (occupied by Israel since 1967). It is built on land confiscated from the local Palestinian residents [1], using military directives.
Israel applies a military rule over the local Palestinian inhabitants, including military court, for 47 years.
These occupied territories have never been annexed to Israel, as recently reiterated by the Israeli Supreme Court decision regarding Ariel University [2]. Ariel is NOT inside the state of Israel. The United Nations designation of this territory is Occupied Palestinian territories (OPT or oPt).
Thereby, Ariel University is not under the jurisdiction of the Council of Higher Education of Israel, and its university status was formally awarded to it by the army general in charge of the area.
The Israeli settlements in general, and Ariel University in particular, are deemed by most accepted interpretations to be in violation of international treaties such as the Geneva convention, which forbids the transfer of population from the conquering state into the occupied territory, and are therefore widely considered to be illegal.
The settlement of Ariel, and Ariel University, were built to advance the political agenda of the right-wing parties in Israel who wish to make the Israeli occupation permanent [3], thereby removing the possibility of the Palestinians having an independent state, free of Israeli occupation. Therefore, the academic staff in Ariel has to agree with this political agenda to a large extent, which makes it an academic institution with a clear political bias, unlike any other in Israel or in any other democratic country.