Historians Decline to Take Up Resolutions Criticizing Israel

The American Historical Association sidestepped a political landmine here on Sunday, when a last-minute effort to debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the group’s annual business meeting failed. Members voted, 144 to 51, not to consider resolutions criticizing Israel for its treatment of Palestinian scholars and students.

Other scholarly associations, including the Modern Language Association and the American Studies Association, have been drawn into acrimonious debates over whether to take a stand on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This time, procedure trumped politics. The resolutions that came up at the historians’ meeting, pushed by the activist group Historians Against the War, were introduced after the official deadline. To debate them, the association’s members would have had to vote to suspend the usual rules. They declined.

The session was closed to nonmembers, including reporters. Claire Potter, a professor of history at the New School for Public Engagement who tweets as @TenuredRadical, put a blow-by-blow account on her Twitter feed.

In interviews afterward, participants described the proceedings as more civil than contentious. Van E. Gosse, an associate professor of history at Franklin & Marshall College who helped lead the push for the resolutions, said the association had handled the proceedings “with great fairness and professionalism.”

James Grossman, the AHA’s executive director, described the session as “an active and thoughtful discussion.”

Jeffrey Herf, a professor of history at the University of Maryland at College Park, helped rally opposition to the resolutions. He called the outcome “a defeat for an effort to politicize the association.”

But Mr. Gosse indicated that his group wasn’t going to let the issue drop—and that it would be keeping a close eye on future deadlines.

The historians’ annual meeting continues here through Monday.

Jennifer Howard writes about research in the humanities, publishing, and other topics. Follow her on Twitter @JenHoward, or email her at jennifer.howard@chronicle.com.