After a hectic week of graduation preparations – more on which shall follow anon. – I am once more in my rightful place, clattering at the keyboard, and ready to catch up on the issues that have languished in my inbox.

First up is the following petition created by the leading British academic, Professor Abd al-Fattah El-Awaisi, and circulated by The Association of the Palestinian Community in the United Kingdom.

Having at last wrestled the sceptre of power from the death-vice grip of former prime minister and political jousting buddy, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown has lurched from one political and/or economic catastrophe to another.

Rather like a bedraggled drunk meandering his way home, his inebriated sing-song of denial persistently falls on a rapidly disillusioned British populace.

Addressing a special event at a Finchley Synagogue on 8 May 2008 in London, Brown dropped another blooper, stating that “the creation of the state of Israel was one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century”.

Little suprise then, that quips such as these flutter from his gaping mouth in an attempt to drum up support, yet ultimately receive a less than enthused welcome.

Professor El-Awaisi is the Founding Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Al-Maktoum Institute in Dundee, Scotland, and has been studying, teaching and researching the Study of Islam and Muslims at both Arab and British universities for more than 30 years.

In the aftermath of Brown’s verbal faux pas, El-Awaisi issued the following statement:

While you are celebrating 60 years of the establishment of Israel I am mourning 60 years of the Palestinian catastrophe Nakhbah. Indeed, your statement has offended me personally as a British Arab. Accordingly, I am resigning my membership from the Labour Party with immediate effect.

For El-Awaisi, the petition is but the pinnacle of a change that is necessitated not only in British politics, but in academia, and the wider Arab world:

We as Arabs have to stop playing the role of a victim and start creating actions instead of reactions. There is no single course in the Arab or Muslim universities that discusses the history of Islamicjerusalem. Now after 60 years of occupation it is time to reclaim our history. [source]

To find out more about the petition, or to join the 1,880 (and counting) individuals involved, visit the website here.

[Image via: World Economic Forum]