Chomsky enters West Bank 'on air'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=126856§ionid=351020202


Denied entry by Israel, renowned US intellectual and linguist Noam Chomsky will hold his scheduled lecture at Birzeit University by video conference.

The American democracy activist had been invited by Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Barghouthi to lecture at the Palestinian Birzeit University on Monday.

But he was held up for hours by Israeli authorities at the Allenby crossing between Jordan and the West Bank on Sunday, and was ultimately denied entry into Palestinian land.

The octogenarian professor has apparently decided not to make another effort to travel through the border crossing, but will instead make his speech through a video conference, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

His lecture will also be broadcast live on al-Jazeera television, the English-language daily added on its website.

The outspoken Israel critic on Monday spoke to Palestinian caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, whom he was supposed to meet in Ramallah.

A statement released by Fayyad's office said he "strongly condemns the decision of the occupation forces to prevent Chomsky from entering Palestinian land."

Israeli officials did not admit the US philosopher because "the government did not like the kinds of things I say and they did not like that I was only talking at Birzeit and not at an Israeli university too," Chomsky told BBC.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman said that the idea that Israel prevents its critics from entering is "ludicrous," and "it's not happening."