Dr. Omar Jabary Salamanca, a postdoc fellow at the Universite libre de Bruxelles, posted a petition on behalf of the steering committee of the International Critical Geographies Group (ICGG). Dated November 11, 2023, the petition was titled “The Palestine Statement. Against Genocide, for Liberation and Return” Jabary Salamanca invited his critical geographers peers to endorse the petition “In light of the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”
The petition states that “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 10,000 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 freedom of movement and vital access to supplies, services and livelihoods. Since the war erupted, 183 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… 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.”
The petition continues with the need to reject the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism. It ends with a plea, “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 criminalization 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 organize in your workplaces through unionizing, direct actions, statements, dialogues, teach-ins, screenings as well as collaborations and support of our Palestinian colleagues until we put an end to the genocide and Palestine is free.”
The petition comprises a long list of 1000 endorsers, including Haim Bresheeh-Zabner, Mona Baker, Nur Masalha, Rashid Khalidi, Ronit Lentin, Siggie Vertommen, Smadar Carmon, Adam Hanieh, and Abraham Zehavi, among others.
According to its website, the ICGG is committed to developing theory and practice for “combating social exploitation and oppression.” Critical Geography demands and fights for “social change aimed at dismantling prevalent systems of capitalist exploitation; oppression on the basis of gender, race and sexual preference; imperialism, national chauvinism, environmental destruction.” Critical means “opposing existing systems of exploitation and oppression… We are international because we are multicultural.”
Some of Jabary Salamanca’s peers in the forum agreed with him. Still, others criticized the petition, including Professor Oren Yiftachel from Ben Gurion University, whom IAM analyzed before as a geographer who adopted the apartheid accusations against Israel in 2002. Yiftachel’s response is harsh as the petition ignores Hamas’s atrocities.
Yiftachel responded, “the statement appears to have a glaring omission which hovers like a dark cloud over the text — namely overlooking the terrorist crimes committed by Hamas (for decades and especially) on October 7. Hamas’s 7.10 invasion wasn’t just ‘another attack’ but the largest day massacre in the history of the century-long conflict, ruthlessly murdering, injuring, burning, looting and torturing thousands of defenseless civilians — children, women, elderly, and young people at a dance party. All within Israel’s borders (not in the occupied Palestinian territories). Surely, the just struggle for Palestinian rights is not a license for committing such crimes. In a sad irony, many of the killed were peace activists. In addition, some 240 people, mostly civilians, were kidnapped and have been held hostage without Hamas disclosing any information, not even to the Red Cross. This is another serious violation of basic rights. All this while Hamas and Islamic Jihad are continuing to shell Israeli civilians daily and causing widespread displacement. These are additional unacceptable ‘blind spots’ in the statement.”
Yiftachel continues, “a statement by this important forum of geographers — committed to social justice, human rights, and humane values – must include a condemnation of these horrific acts. Otherwise, the statement is shrouded in hypocrisy. Needless to say, condemnation of Hamas’s atrocities does not justify in any way the crimes committed by Israel for many decades and during the current war – being the bloodiest attack in Gaza’s history. As a matter of principle, all abuses of human rights — by Jews, Palestinians, and others — should be condemned strongly on their own right. Otherwise, the statement is empirically distorted and morally flawed. How can such abuses not be condemned? How can the anti- human rights nature of Hamas and its declared violent and messianic goals be ignored? As we often claim with respect to the abuse of Palestinians – silence is a form of implied endorsement. Shouldn’t those who correctly complain against the silence regarding crimes against Palestinians be the first to condemn very serious human rights violations by Hamas?”
Yiftachel reiterated, “As intellectuals and critical thinkers who shape the public and academic discourse, I think it is imperative to be factually and morally credible and inclusive. For this, I strongly feel the statement must include a critical reference to the crimes committed by Hamas and a call for the release of the hostages. This would fill the glaring gap in the current text and would make it much more credible, politically and morally. Social justice and human rights are for all!”
He requested his peers to correct the statement before publication.
Yet, even after Yiftachel’s plea, the steering committee of the ICGG did not correct the petition to include any reference to Hamas’s atrocities on October 7. As Yiftachel said, keeping silent is an implied endorsement of Hamas.
THE PALESTINE STATEMENT AGAINST GENOCIDE, FOR LIBERATION AND RETURN
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 10,000 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 freedom of movement and vital access to supplies, services and livelihoods. Since the war erupted, 183 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, 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 applaud South Africa and Bolivia for severing all ties with Israel and 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 Palestinian inalienable 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 collaborations and support of our Palestinian colleagues until we put an end to the genocide and Palestine is free.
To add your name to this statement, the Form is accessible here:
thanks again, in fact my reply was to the argument (“if you imply”) more than to you – reading again my reply, I see it wasn’t clear, sorry for that. What I’m trying to argue, and the core of my response to Oren, is that one doesn’t need to condemn Hamas to condemn Israel – while only in the context of Israel’s condemnation can Hamas be condemned. By requesting to linking them, Israeli violence is assessed vis-à-vis a balance (whether it’s a proportional response), while it should be condemned as what causes violence *period*.
Btw, I do condemn Hamas, but that’s a moral statement from my positionality. By condemning Israel, I am doing politics, asking, inter alia, my government to stop fuelling colonisation and apartheid.
It’s not about justifying violence (it’s a pointless exercise), but framing it in context.
And that’s why I do not accept Andrei’s explicit implication that someone here is defending Hamas as the “legitimate violence of the oppressed” – using inverted commas as if someone had said so! That Hamas’ is an expression of the violence of the oppressed is a triviality, that it’s legitimate nobody said. That’s a dishonest implication, which I would expect on the CNN or La Repubblica, not in a forum of critical geographers.
And it’s actually hard discussing honest disagreements (like those with Özge or Oren, which would deserve much more detailed engagement) in the midst of dishonest implications, which is why I shall refrain to comment any further on this thread.
Simone, thanks for your reply. Just to reply very briefly (and then shut up indefinitely) I don’t think I was making a straw man argument. My reply was not only addressed to you (Dear Simone, Dear all), I addressed the email also to you because you replied to Oren’s criticism in defense of the statement. Legitimizing is not supporting or embracing, and I believe no one does that here. But the word Hamas does not appear in the statement at all and the only sentence on the October 7 attack (“We also recognize that the violence of the oppressed is a response to the condition of their oppression”) sounds like textbook legitimization to me precisely because it very undifferentiated, uniform and abstract.
The arguments you make to defend the position of not mentioning the Hamas attack (“In this sense, the condemnation of the genocide in Gaza does not need to be built on the condemnation of Hamas – once again, because the state of Israel has no right to respond to Hamas’ violence, irrespective of how vicious that violence is. Which means, third, that insisting on asking a stance to be taken against the violence of the colonised inevitably creates a proto-justification for Israel”) does not hold because we are not Israel but a group of critical scholars, and condemnation of the Hamas attack DO NOT lead to a proto-justification for Israel. If Israel is a state, it is bound by international law and CANNOT respond to any (violent, terrorist, resistance, etc.) attack by bombing the entire Palestinian population. This is simply the reversed version of the anti-semitism argument – that any criticism and condemnation of Israel’s actions indicate proto-anti-semitism.
Best,
Özge
On Tue, 14 Nov 2023 at 08:16, simone tulumello <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear Özge,
thanks for your reply. But if you’re implying that my argument “accepts or legimitizes” Hamas, that’s another straw man argument. One thing is distinguishing the violence of the colonised from terrorism, another is to give carte blanche to the colonised – even in a context in which the coloniser is given carte blanche!
One thing is to say that the state of Israel has no right to judge Hamas, another is to say that there is no judgement to be made.
And, since I replied to what could implicitly be a straw man, I will reply to Hillary’s explicit one: even Israel calls its colonies colonies, so let us stop bullshitting on whether it’s a colonial frame we need to deploy. What are the boundaries of a Israeli state that can claim to not be colonial is not my or your decision to take. When Israel will retreat to the 1967 border that discussion will definitely be possible. (Unless something of the like Stefano would emerge).
These confusions are what create the space where the coloniser thrive, let us not make that mistake.
I did not want to write this email, as we are trapped in a hellish environment that is turning into a witch hunt here in Germany and the situation takes all our emotional and intellectual energy. However, I had an uneasiness that did not leave me after reading the discussion.
To make things clear, I am writing this as a person who just joined a Gaza demo on Saturday in Berlin, who shouted slogans like “Stop the Genocide”. I also have a history of signing petitions like the Academics for Peace petition “We will not be a party to this crime” (I stood on trial for “supporting terrorism” and became an “at-risk scholar” as a result). I recently signed the petition of critical scholars in Germany which could be dismissed as a “compromise” by many scholars here. Still, I think it was an important reaction considering the situation in Germany.
Ok, what I want to say is that terrorism is indeed a vague term that is defined only in reference to the use of a type of violence. Also, everyone defines terrorism from their own (political, ideological, confessional, ethnonationalist, etc.) angle – while the PKK is a terrorist organization for Erdogan for instance, Hamas is not. Even though I agree with Oren’s points in general, the use of the “terrorist frame” to condemn the Hamas attack on October 7 is not so crucial for me. What is crucial is that we do not legitimize it in the name of the anti-colonial struggle. If Hamas is the “violence of the colonized” it is a deeply reactionary articulation of it. As an Alevi whose people were murdered (in Maraş, in Çorum, in Sivas) in ways similar to those described by Oren in his email by our own Islamo-fascists, who now embrace Hamas as “mujahids”, I know what it looks like.
We have a tradition. We have other (leftist, egalitarian, anarchist, emancipatory, etc.) examples that have shown us that the violence of the oppressed is not a uniform and abstract violence, that it can be articulated differently (think about the IRA, who called in advance before their bombs exploded, think about the Kurdish movement, the Zapatistas and many other indigenous struggles). Anticolonial struggles and movements are not exempt from the ethics of warfare. And we do not have to – and should not – accept or legitimize Hamas in the name of the anti-colonial struggle.
Warm regards,
Özge
On Mon, 13 Nov 2023 at 20:22, dorit garfunkel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
On Mon, Nov 13, 2023 at 7:31 PM Oren Yiftachel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello all, I understand there has been some confusion between the lists of (critical) geographers, so I am resending my letter from 11.11, which was sent in response to a draft sent by Omar Jabary Salamanca’s, and request for quick responses. Apologies if you have already seen it. Oren Yiftachel
Dear all,
I am glad critical geographers’ network is releasing a statement on Palestine in the wake of the current war, although I have serious reservations as detailed below. Let me start by noting that the rights of Palestinians have been overlooked and abused by Israel and other states for too long.
As people on this list know, I have been a staunch supporter of Palestinian rights — in research and decades of on the ground activism — and an arch critic of Israeli colonialism, occupation and injustices. Hence, I concur with many aspects of the statement, which highlight the continuing unacceptable, spatial and legal violence against the Palestinians, particularly those residing in Gaza under illegal siege and repeated attacks.
However, the statement appears to have a glaring omission which hovers like a dark cloud over the text — namely overlooking the terrorist crimes committed by Hamas (for decades and especially) on October 7. Hamas’s 7.10 invasion wasn’t just ‘another attack’ but the largest day massacre in the history of the century-long conflict, ruthlessly murdering, injuring, burning, looting and torturing thousands of defenseless civilians — children, women, elderly, and young people at a dance party. All within Israel’s borders (not in the occupied Palestinian territories). Surely, the just struggle for Palestinian rights is not a license for committing such crimes. In a sad irony, many of the killed were peace activists.
In addition, some 240 people, mostly civilians, were kidnapped and have been held hostage without Hamas disclosing any information, not even to the Red Cross. This is another serious violation of basic rights. All this while Hamas and Islamic Jihad are continuing to shell Israeli civilians daily and causing widespread displacement. These are additional unacceptable ‘blind spots’ in the statement.
As Mohamad Barakeh, head of the highest political body of Palestinians in Israel, commented in a joint meeting recently: “even the Nakba and 56 years of cruel occupation, cannot justify Hamas’s horrific deeds on October 7. Hence, in my eyes a statement by this important forum of geographers — committed to social justice, human rights, and humane values – must include a condemnation of these horrific acts. Otherwise, the statement is shrouded in hypocrisy. Needless to say, condemnation of Hamas’s atrocities does not justify in any way the crimes committed by Israel for many decades and during the current war – being the bloodiest attack in Gaza’s history.
As a matter of principle, all abuses of human rights — by Jews, Palestinians, and others — should be condemned strongly on their own right. Otherwise, the statement is empirically distorted and morally flawed. How can such abuses not be condemned? How can the anti- human rights nature of Hamas and its declared violent and messianic goals be ignored? As we often claim with respect to the abuse of Palestinians – silence is a form of implied endorsement. Shouldn’t those who correctly complain against the silence regarding crimes against Palestinians be the first to condemn very serious human rights violations by Hamas?
In addition, conceptually presenting the Palestinians as only passive recipients of Israeli abuse, denies their important agency in the (deeply asymmetric) dialectics that shape the political geography of our country. As intellectuals and critical thinkers who shape the public and academic discourse, I think it is imperative to be factually and morally credible and inclusive.
For this, I strongly feel the statement must includea critical reference to the crimes committed by Hamas and a call for the release of the hostages. This would fill the glaring gap in the current text and would make it much more credible, politically and morally. Social justice and human rights are for all!
I hope in future struggles we can oppose and resist all abuses of power, without losing the overall map of colonial and other powers. This is the right and credible way to mobilize the struggle for justice that is so needed in Palestine and elsewhere.
I hope this helps people on this list make up their mind about signing or correcting this statement before publication.
With regards,
Prof. Oren Yiftachel, Critical Geographer 11.11.2023
——————————————————— Prof. Oren Yiftachel אורן יפתחאל اورن يفتحئل Lloyd Hurst Family Chair of Urban Studies
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel 84105
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of George Holmes Sent: Monday, November 13, 2023 13:51 To:[log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Palestine Statement · International Critical Geographies Group
I think it is because “from the river to the sea” has been used to mean many things. As you point out, it can be used as a call against oppression across the region, and I presume that this is the intent behind the writing of the letter. However, in some other instances, it has very explicitly been used as a call for the complete removal of Israel, and the ethnic cleansing Jewish people, from Palestine. Bear in mind that around 50% of the Jewish population of Israel are Mizrahi Jews, and whilst some of them (or their families) were living in the land that now constitutes Israel prior to 1948, the majority were living elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa. Many arrived in Israel as refugees in very large numbers following the ethnic cleansing of around a million Mizrahi Jews in the 1950s from across the region. So, it is a phrase that sometimes refers explicitly to the continuation of this process.
George
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Stefano Portelli Sent: 13 November 2023 11:39 To:[log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Palestine Statement · International Critical Geographies Group
I also still don’t see how the idea of invoking the end of a genocide “from the river to the sea” – and I would add, from sea to sea all over the world – can be considered as something different than it is: a call for freedom from oppression and violence, everywhere. Anybody can identify in this call, regardless of their religion or cultural affiliation, except those that perpetrate and defend genocidal and colonial policies.
Please, let’s keep words for what they are, without projecting our fears and traumas over them. Let’s avoid polarization and overcomplexification, especially as scholars; this are often the tools of the powerful. The only enemies of a free world are the forces that keep extracting profit from conflicts over land and among people, regardless of the damage they inflict to both.
stefano
On Mon, Nov 13, 2023 at 12:27 PM ISABEL ARCE ZELADA <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I wasn’t going to comment on Daniel and Sebastian’s email as I feel that if you have been following the casualties, not just of October 7th, but of everyday since and everyday before you would already understand the powerplays involved in the genocide being enacted on Palestinians and this moral high horse of “both sides have a point” would be unveiled as what it is: a complicit stance in the colonial and genocidal agenda of the US-UK-Israeli alliance that deems Palestinian lives as disposable when stealing their land and extracting their resources.
If you can dismiss the thousands of Palestinian lives annihilated since the 7th as a proportional response, if you can dismiss the selling of Gaza to other nations as an oil rich site and if you truly believe that the British and UN handing Palestine to the Zionist means that we have to respect the genocide being perpetuated by the nation-state of Israel, then I have nothing left to say.
If the voices of Palestinians are not enough for you, they are not the only ones identifying the violence of the Zionist state. Indigenous people around the world are siding with Palestine as they recognise what is happening. Jewish people around the world, including in Israel, are criticizing the violence, denouncing it and calling for Palestinian liberation. The fact that Latin American countries and South Africa are siding with Palestine is not a coincidence, it’s astonishing how apartheid already showed how the liberators are portrayed as terrorists and had given us a blueprint to how to deal with a colonising force when searching for liberation and yet we sit here going through the same mechanisms, being told to accept this violence.
I refuse to be condescended in the most colonial way by people who think that the loss of hundreds of Palestinians a day is justified.
Daniel and Sebastien, well said. Both sides have an historical claim to a State in the region, as stated in principle by the United Nations in 1948. The Israelis must recognise the Palestinian right to a safe. secure, prosperous State, and the Palestinians must recognise the Israeli right to a safe., secure, prosperous Srate.
Both sides rejected the actual UN division in 1948, but that does not alter the original principle of a Two State solution. 1948 was a bodge-up with neither side recieving a contiguous territory.
Back to 2023, some parties have suggested some more radical solutions such as a land swap (negotiated by a 3rd Party that both sides agree to trust and respect) of Gaza for an enlarged West Bank. Maybe this idea has some mileage? It might increase security for both Parties. Maybe even Jerusalem could become some kind of ‘International, United Nations city’. Yes these ideas will seem outlandish, even outrageous, to some, but isn’t that our job as scholars to investigate the less well known, the unfamiliar, and see whether a solution might lie there, especially when the well known and familiar seems depressingly devoid of a lasting peaceful solution to this longstanding conflict.
I have travelled many lands and had many men serve me,
I have been adored by many statesmen, politicians too, for they are not the same,
I am always hungry, and yet many strive to feed me, for I am never satisfied, yet many try and study me., but can never know where I go, Nor yet why I come, nor how long Ill stay,
Maidens of the land often say they hate me, yet they love those men who serve me,
As I consume their lands, I take their fields and their food, and hurry on for more,
For too I consume many hearths, yet none will call me home., nor ever house me yet ,
No indeed, for I am always roaming, and my name is War.
On Monday, 13 November 2023 at 10:23:14 GMT, Daniel Mullis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear colleagues,
As students we were part of the group that organised the ICCG in Frankfurt in 2011. Since then we have always felt connected to the international network of critical geographers. We now have read with dismay the “Palestine Statement” issued by the International Critical Geographies Group, and we are saddened to see it signed by so many people whose work and critical ideas we admire.
For at least two reasons, we feel obliged to make this clear: This statement is not in our name.
First, as critical scholars we are trained to see ambiguities, conflicts and shades of grey, and we are trained to accept contradictions, even to highlight and name them. The statement does none of this, it only knows black and white, the guilty and the victims. As critical scholars, we must recognise that this cannot be the whole story.
Secondly, the statement clearly lacks a firm position on the slaughter of innocent lives on 7 October, which can in no way be framed as a progressive path to freedom. There is no “but”, no historical apology for what happened that day. Furthermore, by quoting the slogan “from the river to the sea”, the statement crosses the red line of rightful and legitimate criticism of Israel’s actions in recent weeks and calling for a ceasefire (which we personally believe is necessary), as the slogan consequently denies Israel’s right to exist.
As critical academics, we see our duty in working for peace and social justice for all people, in seeking solutions where there seem to be none, and this is definitely missing from the statement, which therefore leaves us behind perplexed and sad.
Best regards, Daniel Mullis and Sebastian Schipper
Am 11.11.2023 um 18:49 schrieb Omar Jabary Salamanca:
Dear all,
Hope you are keeping well.
In light of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, the steering committee of the International Critical Geographies Group has decided to issue a statement coinciding with armistice day.
IAM objectives: To collect information about Israel which relates to, inter alia, activities, publications and presentations of Israeli academics. To monitor their academic activities and publications. Activities for academic freedom and scientific resonance of institutions of higher learning and to prevent abuse of the academic platform for foreign interests. Activities for academic ethics.
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