HUNDREDS of academics from the majority of British universities pledged yesterday to boycott Israeli academic institutions in protest at Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians.

The 343 lecturers and researchers added their names to “a commitment to the rights of Palestinian people” in a full-page advert printed in the Guardian newspaper.

“We are deeply disturbed by Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, the intolerable human rights violations that it inflicts on all sections of the Palestinian people and its apparent determination to resist any feasible settlement,” the statement reads.

Anglia Ruskin University sociology and politics professor Dr Luke Cooper told the Star that the campaign sought to build “huge public pressure” to delegitimise Israel.

“The campaign is not about being anti-Israeli, it’s about being against what the Israeli state continues to do to Palestinians,” he said.

“The letter is asking for an immediate end to occupation and for Israel to finally comply with decades of UN resolutions calling for it to adhere to international law.”

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign welcomed the academics’ statement, calling it “an important step in increasing pressure for peace and justice.

“It reflects the incredible growth in the movement for solidarity with Palestine.”

Signatories will refuse ­invitations to Israeli educational institutions and ­participation in their conferences until Israel “respects universal principles of human rights.”

But the academics stated that they would support Israeli scholars in “their individual capacities,” as not all Israelis support the oppression of Palestinians.