Nour Rida

James Wolfenson, the former President of the World Bank will be honored by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Sunday, only a few days after his participation in the American University of Beirut graduation ceremony was cancelled.

He is one of ten people who will receive honorary degrees from the Hebrew University, said the Jewish Chronicle. The University statement said: "Wolfensohn is a loyal friend and energetic supporter of "Israel", whose concern is reflected in his resolute commitment to bringing peace to "Israel" and its neighbors.

According to sources, in 2005, Wolfensohn was appointed the Quartet's special envoy (the post which Tony Blair occupies now) for the Gaza disengagement, noting that the same concern for "Israel" and its future finds expression in his involvement with the Hebrew University, where he has established student scholarships in honor of his late father, Hyman Wolfensohn.

Also, Trevor Pears, the chairman of the UK-based Pears Foundation, will be honored "in recognition of his outstanding commitment to social justice and in tribute to his profound friendship for "Israel" and the Hebrew University."

Mr Pears is one of Britain's most prominent funders of Jewish and "Israel'-related causes. He was made CMG (Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George) for services to the community and UK/"Israel" relations at the beginning of 2011.

"Not in Our Name"... was the title of the petition 90 Professors along with other students from the American University of Beirut (AUB) signed, as they rejected that President of the World Bank James Wolfensohn give a speech and receive an honorary award due to his ties with "Israel" and support to it. Australian-born Sir James Wolfensohn, was due to speak at the AUB graduation ceremony on June 25 and be awarded an honorary doctorate.

"We believe that honoring Mr. Wolfensohn - a former president of the World Bank, standing member of the international advisory council of the "Israel" Democracy Institute, and investor in a company (Better Place) that among other activities intends to build infrastructure to serve "Israeli" settlers in the West Bank- symbolically undermines AUB's legacy in the struggle for social justice and its historical connection to Beirut, to Palestine and beyond," said the petition statement.

Former World Bank president and Middle East Quartet envoy James D. Wolfensohn is an investor in an "Israeli" company that is developing transport infrastructure for Jewish-only settlements built in the occupied West Bank in violation of international law, an investigation by The Electronic Intifada revealed in May 2010.

Wolfensohn provided some of the start-up capital for Better Place, a company founded by "Israeli" entrepreneur Shai Agassi. The company owns and operates Better Place "Israel" (BPI), a division which is establishing a system of charging stations for electric vehicles throughout "Israel" and for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, the investigation added.

In a statement on Friday, the university administration said that Sir James had decided not to attend the ceremony "out of concern that his presence at the June commencement ceremony would distract from the celebratory nature of the event."

On Saturday, AUB president Peter Dorman had issued another detailed statement in which he called the media's coverage of the petition unfair, saying that most of the information published on the issue was "highly selective" and based on the "wording" of the petition rather than what he claimed as "Wolfensohn's long and devoted record of work on behalf of the Arab World."

In response, a statement from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of "Israel" (PACBI) on Monday condemned Dorman's letter in which he defended Wolfensohn.

The PACBI, which was founded in Ramallah in 2004 and encourages a comprehensive boycott of all "Israeli" academic and cultural institutions, called on Dorman and the AUB administration "to retract its apologetic statements in defense of Wolfensohn."

PACBI's statement took issue with this characterization of Wolfensohn's career, arguing that "Dorman's patronizing defense ignores the fact that it does not matter if Wolfensohn has other records ... what matters is his relation with "Israeli" institutions, economics, activities and otherwise, that are in active violation of international law and human rights."

The group also rejected Dorman's presentation of Wolfensohn as a friend of the "Arabs," arguing that Wolfensohn's record showed only that he had "dealings with tyrannical Arab regimes, which are the same regimes that overwhelming majorities in the Arab world are courageously struggling to topple."