New York (CNN) 鈥� The website for the Columbia Law Review is no longer accessible following the publication of an article critical of Israel that the publication鈥檚 board said did not go through the proper review process.
At issue is the publication of an article that said Palestinians are living under a 鈥渂rutally sophisticated structure of oppression鈥� by Israel.
The board of directors for the Columbia Law Review said in a statement obtained by CNN that the website has been 鈥渢emporarily suspended鈥� because the 鈥減iece had not been subject to the usual processes of review or selection for article.鈥� The website has been offline since Monday, with a message that it鈥檚 鈥渦nder maintenance鈥� when visited as of Wednesday morning. The was first to report the outage and the board鈥檚 statement.
The Columbia Law Review Association is an independent nonprofit organization with its own board of directors, and it is not governed by Columbia University or its law school.
The board said it asked the student editors on Sunday to open up the review of the article so 鈥渁ll student editors would have an opportunity to read the piece, raise any questions or concerns, and otherwise engage.鈥�
鈥淲e thought that was necessary in fairness to student editors who had not been part of the group working on the piece and were not previously aware of the piece鈥檚 content or even its existence. Whatever your views of this piece, it will clearly be controversial and potentially have an impact on all associated with the Review,鈥� the statement said.
The piece was published Monday, despite the board saying it had asked for a delay in publishing until June 7 pending more review.
鈥淲e also would like to get the website back up as soon as possible, as having it down is now preventing access to the Review鈥檚 scholarship,鈥� it said.
The article that sparked the controversy was written by Rabea Eghbariah, a doctoral candidate at Harvard University. He argues that a new legal concept called is needed to describe more accurately the current condition of Palestinians. It derives from 鈥渁l-Nakba,鈥� which Palestinians have used to refer to the 1948 establishment of Israel, and means 鈥渃atastrophe鈥� in Arabic.
鈥淭he attempt to silence my legal scholarship on the Nakba by shutting down the entire Columbia Law Review website is not only reflective of a pervasive and anti-intellectual Palestine exception to academic freedom but is also a testament to a culture of Nakba denialism,鈥� Eghbariah said in a statement to CNN.
Roughly 700,000 Palestinians聽by armed Jewish groups seeking to establish the state of Israel during Al Nakba. More than 15,000 Palestinians聽聽and 531 towns and villages destroyed during al-Nakba, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, an institute of the Palestinian Authority.
鈥淭he intervention by the CLR Board of Directors exposes, once again, that US academic institutions are, in fact, a very hostile environment for Palestinian voices and thought. What is so scary about Palestinians speaking their truth?鈥�
It鈥檚 the latest flashpoint for Columbia University that has grappled with demonstrations from pro-Palestinian protesters who put up encampments on the school鈥檚 grounds protesting Israel鈥檚 war in Gaza. On Tuesday, it from a Jewish student that said the school failed provide a safe environment.
CNN鈥檚 Matt Egan contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
鈩� & 漏 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
