Statement in solidarity with the Palestinian people - Ghent University

(19-10-2023) Ghent, october 10th 2023

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the war crimes committed by the Israeli regime against the civilian population in Gaza. We express our solidarity with the Palestinian population and call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the blockade.

The Israeli regime is responsible for the unfolding of violence. The ongoing Israeli assaults are the most recent evidence of the enduring occupation, which stands as the longest in contemporary times, long before Hamas came to exist. Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid is a Zionist system founded and maintained on ethnic cleansing, land dispossession, illegal annexation, and the denial of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and sovereignty. Statements that now condemn Hamas’ violence exhibit the same selective blindness to the violence perpetrated by Israel and the system that produced Hamas. Framing the Palestinian struggle for liberation as ‘terrorist’ or ‘complex’ is an idle attempt at describing a reality of violent colonial oppression - that historically has (and inevitably will) always lead to colonized peoples’ resistance.

For decades, the West has turned a blind eye to the Israeli government’s numerous human rights violations inflicted on innocent Palestinian civilians. The Belgian prime minister, for example, has expressed his full support for Israel despite the racist and genocidal language used by the Israeli government and their desire to eliminate Palestinian citizens. On Monday, October 9th, 2023, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said, “we are fighting human animals,” referring to Palestinians, and pledged to “act accordingly.” He declared a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, saying there would be “no electricity, no food, no fuel.”IInternational human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and War Child have branded Gaza as ‘the world’s largest open air prison’ under a 16-year-long illegal blockade, as confirmed by the United Nations and International Red Cross.

The Israeli regime’s constant breach of international law has not moved Western institutions to assert their so-called values of human dignity, freedom, democracy, and human rights. In this regard, the UK, USA, France, Italy, and Germany have offered Israel’ steadfast support’ in a joint statement, giving the Israeli regime the green light to commit war crimes and atrocities against the Palestinian population. Therefore, we denounce such a statement from the Quint Leaders and also strongly condemn the European Union’s consistent double standards and lack of political action regarding the genocide and ethnic cleansing committed against the civilian population of Gaza, the ongoing settlement expansion, and settler terrorism in the West Bank, and the apartheid faced by Palestinians in the 1948 territories.

Academia’s silence is deafening. The term “decolonise” has been widely used within academia and mainstream media without pointing out its most obvious example of colonial continuity. Decolonization is not a metaphor, nor is it only a theory to be used for intellectual clout. It is about supporting the right for self-determination of Palestinians to live freely and with dignity.

We offer this statement to the Palestinian people, whose suffering is not forgotten and whose tenacity and fierce resistance in the face of racism and settler colonialism inspire us. We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and commit to working through political, economic, and cultural methods to achieve decolonization and Palestinian liberation. We call on our fellow academics to use this statement to advance solidarity with Palestine and reject the continuous censorship and criminalization of Palestinian support across Europe.

The days ahead will demand a resolute stance against colonial reprisals. We strongly urge the academic community in Belgium and worldwide to mobilize and take action to end the continuous destruction of the Palestinians.

This statement is an initiative of the PhD Community of the Department of Conflict & Development of Ghent University, Belgium. More than 2000 people have signed and supported our collective statement - students, researchers and professors from universities all over the world.

You can find the full list of signatures here.

You can sign and support our statement here.

 

To read the original statement: Click here