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11 November 2023, International Critical Geographies Group
As geographers, scholars, activists, organisers, artists, workers and communities committed to social justice, we refuse to remain silent in the face of Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people and we stand in unwavering solidarity with Palestine. We condemn the Israeli slaughter, displacement, imprisonment, and dehumanization of Palestinian life, from the river to the sea. This brutal offensive is being carried out with the complicity of governments across the Global North and South, and it is a textbook case of collective punishment and genocide in violation of international conventions on war and human rights.
As the Israeli offensive in Gaza enters its second month, we are horrified by and condemn the more than 11,000 Palestinians murdered and 25,000 others injured and maimed; 1.5 million people displaced; the ruination of half of the total residential homes as well as the destruction of hospitals, universities, schools and places of worship, the destruction of vital infrastructure such as water and energy ahead of winter, and the destruction of farms, livestock, soils and biodiversity, with long-lasting ecological consequences. Equally, we condemn the escalated siege imposed by Israel and Egypt, which cut off Palestinians from water, food, medical supplies, electricity, fuel, and communications in violation of international humanitarian law.
We are deeply concerned about Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel has imposed a lockdown further depriving them of freedom of movement and vital access to supplies, services and livelihoods. Since the war erupted, 176 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army and settler militias. Another two thousand have been arrested and a thousand more have been forcibly displaced from their lands. Daily raids by the Israeli army terrorize the population and destroy critical infrastructures in cities and refugee camps across the West Bank. Palestinians in Jerusalem and those who are citizens of Israel are being arrested, dismissed from their jobs, legally prosecuted and threatened for expressing solidarity with their kin. Israel is also holding more than ten thousand Palestinian political prisoners in appalling conditions who, as documented by several human rights groups, are suffering from beatings, tortures, medicine withdrawals and death in custody.
Despite the unprecedented intensity and scale of the current violence and devastation, these Israeli attacks are in no way new. Before October 7th, 179 Palestinians had been killed and 683 injured by Israelis in 2023 alone, making it the deadliest year in two decades. This latest Israeli attack is the 6th large scale assault on Gaza since Israel imposed a siege in 2006. There is a long history of Palestinian dispossession at play here. For more than a century, Palestinians have endured the criminal violence of imperialism, settler colonialism, and apartheid. This has been thoroughly and painstakingly documented in scholarship, civil society reports and UN resolutions, Palestinians do not exist in a vacuum.
All life is sacred. We also recognize that the violence of the oppressed is a response to the condition of their oppression. However as indicated by the International Court of Justice in 2004, Israel’s right to self-defense is not applicable in the context of their colonial occupation. Equally, according to UN Resolution 2625, Palestinians have a legitimate right to resist colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means, within the boundaries of international law.
We reject any and all conflation of criticism of the Israeli state or Zionism with anti-Semitism. The accusation of antisemitism, particularly the new definition by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), has proven to be an effective means to silence and punish critics of Israel. False charges of antisemitism have been levied against academics and civil rights activists calling attention to the plight of Palestinians. We recognize anti-Zionism as a legitimate stance against a nationalist, settler colonial and racist political movement and ideology premised on the subjugation, dispossession and erasure of Palestinians. We refuse to be part of a weaponization of antisemitism which tears apart communities and a united front against all forms of racism.
We denounce the increasing governmental, institutional and legislative criminalisation of those who express solidarity with and demand accountability for the violation of Palestinian’s rights in all countries. Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States are leading the charge in sanctioning, silencing, incarcerating and punishing those who speak out against their complicity, and their financial, military and political support of Israel. We warn that this backlash will become a boomerang. The curtailment of the basic rights to protest, organize, associate, speak and think as well as the ongoing deplatforming of scholars, artists, activists and workers is a violation of our basic rights and responsibilities to speak, write and disseminate the historical truth. This repression may have a chilling effect on our individual and collective freedoms to speak and organize for social justice but it will not stop us.
We condemn the unprecedented corporate censorship, alarming levels of disinformation and hate speech across traditional and social media platforms which are dehumanizing, targeting and silencing Palestinian voices through unethical and biased reporting, discriminatory content moderation and shadow banning.
We salute Palestinian parents, frontline health workers, journalists, bakers, fisherfolk, infrastructure maintainers and all workers and carers who are enduring and resisting the everyday horrors of genocide.
We salute the hundreds of thousands taking to the streets across the Global South and North in internationalist solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation. Equally, we stand with all forms of labor organizing, protests and direct actions which are targeting the logistical infrastructures and supply chains that enable the imperial war machine, from the blocking of ships, planes and trains to the disruption of the military industrial complex.
We also see and take inspiration from the courage of migrant, diasporic and exiled communities who are organizing and speaking out against the genocide in Palestine despite the risks of arrest, suspension of resident permits, home raids and deportation.
In heeding the urgent call for solidarity from our Palestinian allies and joining millions globally, we demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that puts an end to the killings, displacements and destruction of Palestinian people, places and homes by the Israeli government.
We demand an end to the genocide against the Palestinian people, from the river to the sea. We call for accountability for the crimes of the State of Israel and its financiers, enablers and allies. Never again means never again, for Palestinians and everyone without exception.
We reject a return to the previous everyday violent status quo and demand an end to settler colonial occupation and apartheid for the implementation of the inalienable Palestinian rights to self-determination and return.
Drawing on the International Critical Geographies Group’ statement of purpose “A World to Win!” and on the 2015 resolution passed in Ramallah during the 7th ICCG, we call on geographers, scholars, activists, artists, organizers, workers and people of conscience to reinvigorate internationalist efforts to implement the Palestinian call to promote boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law.
Finally, we call on colleagues and comrades to mobilize against the criminalisation and censorship of all things Palestinian which have turned our institutions, academic or otherwise, into spaces of intimidation and fear. We call on you to continue speaking up, to organise in your workplaces through unionizing, direct actions, statements, dialogues, teach-ins, screenings as well as collaboration with and support of our Palestinian colleagues until we put an end to the genocide and Palestine is free.
To see the list of the first 1,000 signatories in alphabetical order, including those who have requested to withhold their names for fear of reprisals (16/11/23) please visit our site.
