Scholars Call for an End to the Violence in Israel and Palestine

We write as scholars and educators in the social sciences, the humanities, and the arts to call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, for the immediate lifting of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, and for the immediate release of all hostages. This war must end now!

As we write, nearly 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza, thousands of whom are children. More than 1.8 million people have been displaced, including to areas in southern Gaza subject to further bombardment. Even purported “safe zones” lack water, food, sanitation, fuel, electricity and basic health care. Disease is already spreading. Schools, cultural sites, and universities have also been destroyed or damaged by Israeli bombardments. Scholars, journalists, teachers, and students have been killed. As university professionals, these attacks are of special concern to us. In the West Bank, settler violence in the form of murder, physical assaults, and property destruction is also escalating. The sheer scale of human suffering necessitates an immediate end to the conflict on all sides and the pursuit of nonmilitary solutions to longstanding conflicts in the region.

We continue to condemn the assault led by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The murder and kidnapping of Israeli civilians and migrant workers, as well as the use of sexual and gender-based violence as a war weapon, are unacceptable. The October 7 massacre has triggered traumatic memories of historical Jewish persecution and legitimate concerns about rising, global anti-Semitism. 

At the same time, we condemn the ongoing Israeli response in Gaza, which amounts to the collective punishment of Gaza’s population. Its ferocity and scope, targeting of civilian infrastructure, and reckless assault on civilian life vastly exceeds any justifiable claim of “self-defense” or “proportionate response.” Each day of continued fighting adds to the unconscionable toll of human suffering. It also risks a larger conflict, possibly involving Lebanon, Iran, and even the United States.  

As Israel’s longtime patron and ally, the United States bears enormous responsibility for this crisis. The Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel at the United Nations has made any Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire impossible. Most nations, and peoples of the world, back this demand. U.S. ordnance has already been used by Israel in likely violation of international law. We categorically oppose the transfer of additional weapons or other military aid to Israel. We call on the Biden administration and other U.S. political leaders to engage with the international community and do everything in their power to secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the greater provision of humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages, the ability of displaced Gazans to return home, and the meaningful restart of a just and lasting peace process that will provide for Palestinian dignity, self-determination, and coexistence.

We condemn all forms of racial and religious discrimination. We also reject the automatic conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism,* as well as the blanket condemnation of those with sympathies for Israel as apologists for the Israeli state’s current conduct. We write in the conviction that the educational institutions of which we are part have a responsibility to preserve conditions for open and informed dialogue and must uphold the rights of all students, faculty and staff to freely assemble and express their views on this conflict — however divergent and contentious they may be. 

The violence did not begin on October 7. A truthful reckoning with the past is a crucial part of the process required to create the conditions for political equality amongst all of the people who live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. We may differ on how that process should proceed. This is precisely why we wish to defend a space for open dialogue. The differences among us do not prevent agreement on the urgent need for a ceasefire and life-saving aid. 

*The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism is  an excellent moral and rational alternative to the IHRA definition of what does, and does not constitute anti-Semitism in speech about the Israel-Palestinian conflict.  

Signatories

Image credit: Black abstract art | Cg_loser / Shutterstock