[News] A Unified Call for Justice and Freedom in Palestine

Thu Nov 30 09:54:01 EST 2023

birzeit.edu
<https://www.birzeit.edu/en/news/unified-call-justice-and-freedom-palestine>
A Unified Call for Justice and Freedom in Palestine
A call from Palestinian Higher Education institutions Do not be Silent
during Israel’s Unfolding Genocide

<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.birzeit.edu%2Fen%2Fnews%2Funified-call-justice-and-freedom-palestine&title=A%20Unified%20Call%20for%20Justice%20and%20Freedom%20in%20Palestine%20>
29 Nov 2023

   -

------------------------------

We, the undersigned Palestinian higher education institutions from occupied
Palestine unite in a call for justice, humanity, and an end to 75 years of
Israel’s regime of settler-colonial oppression and apartheid
<https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/20931.html>. We stand resolute, determined
to stop and overcome the relentless brutality that has deeply scarred our
homeland during the ongoing Israeli bombings on Gaza and the
military-settler attacks on our people, our homes, and our institutions
across all of occupied Palestine.

Israel's indiscriminate bombardment of our 2.3 million Palestinian
civilians  in the occupied Gaza Strip, which has been besieged by Israel
for the past 16 years, coupled with its  ban on the entry of water, food,
medicine and fuel, has caused immeasurable suffering, with thousands of
lives lost,
<https://www.aljazeera.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A1-2.pdf>
one third of whom are children.

Israel’s deliberate targeting of entire neighborhoods, hospitals
<https://press.un.org/en/2023/gashc4386.doc.htm>, schools
<https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142432>, UN shelters
<https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-24>,
and universities
<https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20231012162739531>
constitutes a grave violation of international law.

As of 25 October, According to UNOCHA
<https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-19>,
Israeli bombardment has struck 219 educational facilities, including at
least 29 UNRWA schools.

Moreover, under international humanitarian law, ‘civilian objects’ such as
educational sites cannot be targeted for attack. The Islamic University of
Gaza was attacked
<https://www.wsj.com/video/watch-israel-strikes-the-islamic-university-of-gaza/B95C1AD3-C6D8-45CE-B5C7-0AE5B9C31EEF.html>
along
Al-Azhar University
<https://palast.ps/en/news/war-gaza-targeting-civilians-including-school-and-university-students-and-members>
and other Universities
<https://www.mohe.pna.ps/news?p=articles&news=8957&title=439-%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%8B-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B4%D8%B7%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86.aspx>
by Israeli airstrikes.

In view of the continuing and escalating occupation violations in the West
Bank, and due to fear of Israeli settlers’ assaults with more restrictions
to Palestinians movement most Palestinian Universities switched to distance
education starting 9 October. The universities in Gaza Strip, however, have
been totally paralyzed
<https://www.mohe.pna.ps/news?p=articles&news=8957&title=439-%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%8B-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B4%D8%B7%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86.aspx>,
as a result of no electricity, no stable internet connection and the
priority of all staff members and students to care for survival.

The cumulative effect of the bombardment has resulted in massive and
ongoing killing of people many of whom are students, faculty and staff. It
also caused displacement, and destruction, imperiling
<https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-30>,
even the possibility of access to education for generations of Gazan
children and students into the indefinite future.

Israel is waging a genocidal war on our people, as described by leading
Palestinian human rights organizations
<https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/21898.html>, more than 800 international
scholars
<https://twailr.com/public-statement-scholars-warn-of-potential-genocide-in-gaza/>,
the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights
<https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/10/Israels-Unfolding-Crime_ww.pdf>,
Jewish civil society groups
<https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/urgent-tell-congress-to-stop-fueling-violence/>
, Holocaust and genocide studies scholars <https://t.co/uUA0cMXlkG> and
others who have by now warned of an imminent genocide against the
Palestinian population in Gaza.

While the Israeli army is committing several crimes against Palestinians
that fall within the purview of "war crimes
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/damning-evidence-of-war-crimes-as-israeli-attacks-wipe-out-entire-families-in-gaza/>,"
"genocide," "apartheid
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/>”,
to name a few, we reiterate that it is crucial to place these measures
within the wider framework of the occupation of Palestine and blockade on
Gaza. As Palestinian national and political rights are denied, including
the right to exist, resist, return, and most importantly the right to
self-determination.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has explicitly affirmed the
right of Palestinians to resist Israel’s military occupation, in harmony
with international law. This right was affirmed in the context of the right
to self-determination of all peoples under foreign and colonial rule. Some
of the most relevant UN resolutions on this matter include UNGA Resolution
3314 (1974)
<http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/instree/GAres3314.html#:~:text=Aggression%20is%20the%20use%20of,set%20out%20in%20this%20Definition.>
and UNGA Resolution 37/43 (1982
<https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/40572?ln=en>).

We also hold Israeli universities responsible, as they have been
indispensable to the regime of settler colonial oppression and
apartheid, complicit
in grave violations of human rights
<https://bdsmovement.net/files/2011/02/EOO23-24-Web.pdf> including developing
weaponry, military doctrines
<https://bdsmovement.net/news/academia-weapons-and-occupation-how-tel-aviv-university-serves-interests-israeli-military-and>,
and legal justification for the indiscriminate, mass targeting of
Palestinians.

In light of the latest assault on Gaza, we call upon international academic
institutions to take the following concrete actions immediately to end the
genocidal war and Israeli settler colonialism.

   1. Call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, guaranteed by the UN
   2. Urge immediate entry into Gaza of sufficient amounts of life-saving
   humanitarian needs (incl. water, food, fuel, medicine), equitably
   distributed throughout the whole territory of Gaza Strip.
   3. Demand UN protection for the 2.3 million Palestinian civilians
   trapped under siege in Gaza
   4. Issue clear positions rejecting any ethnic cleansing
   5. To support in dismantling the settler colonial and apartheid system
   and to achieve and a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace.

We urge the international academic community to fulfill its intellectual
and academic duty to seek the truth and hold perpetrators of genocide
accountable. Israeli universities, complicit in human rights violations,
should face international isolation.

In unity and with unwavering determination, we declare that justice will
prevail. We will not be silenced; we will resist, remember, and record. The
world must recognize Zionism for what it is: a genocidal settler project
built on false mythology and sustained through perpetual violence against
Indigenous Palestinians.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20231130/22466316/attachment-0001.htm>