Peaceful collaborations deserve support.

THE FORMER RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY, now University of Johannesburg, has acted against its own and the South African national interest by terminating the 25-year-old collaboration with the Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Around the World item “End to partnership with Israeli university,” News of the Week, 1 April, p. 19). Boycotts of Israeli scientists, science institutions, and worse, research cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis [e.g., (1)] are counterproductive—they deprive those less fortunate of a chance for improvement in education, and they promote confrontation and tension between Arab and Israeli societies. Because of the political pressure they face, collaborative programs are dwindling. We should show strong support for the excellent examples of peaceful collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian scientists [e.g., (2–4)] as well as with scientists of other nations [e.g., (5, 6)].