Faculty for Palestine expresses our unwavering support for and solidarity with the Palestinian people. We heed the call from our colleagues at Birzeit University on international academic institutions to intervene immediately to stop the genocide being waged against the Palestinian people. We mourn losses from all sides, and affirm that all human life has equal value. As scholars, we recognize that the current situation finds its roots in the 75-year Israeli occupation of Palestine accomplished through a settler colonial apartheid regime.
We condemn the major powers of the world for actively supporting Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza. Israel has cut off the passage of food, water, electricity, medicine, and fuel to Gaza. UN aid agencies are faced with reducing their operations. Journalists, medics, hospitals, and educational institutions are systematically being targeted. Israel’s bombardment has struck approximately 185 educational facilities, including UNRWA schools and the Islamic University, which has been partially destroyed. As we write, over 7000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza; among the dead, 3000 children and entire families have been wiped out. 1.1 million people have been forced to evacuate their homes, towns and cities in northern Gaza as uninterrupted bombing has destroyed many areas, including over 60,000 residential units. Telecommunication towers and cables have been destroyed further disabling an already collapsed health care system. The communication blackout has cut off Gazan’s from the outside world.
As an organization of academic workers located in the settler state known as Canada, we condemn the Canadian government’s refusal to demand an end to the genocide by supporting an immediate ceasefire being called for by governments, diplomats, human rights organizations, trade unions, the UN, and civil society across the world. In fact, Canada is complicit in the oppression of Palestinians as it has a history of selling military technology to Israel, $21 million in 2022 alone, and maintains extensive economic ties with this occupying power. We refuse to remain silent as we watch a systematic genocide underway supported by major western powers.
