More than 2200 university academics in North America have signed an open letter strongly opposing Israel’s destruction of education in Gaza, which the letter calls scholasticide. The letter begins:
We are academics based at North American institutions who have come together based on a shared sense of collegial obligation and respect for humanity to condemn Israel’s systematic attacks on educational life in Gaza.
It continues with these details:
Israel's indiscriminate bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza following the deplorable Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 have resulted in mass civilian death, injury and widespread devastation for 2.3 million Palestinians. As of this writing, over 32,500 people have been killed, more than 75,000 wounded and over 1.7 million displaced.
According to satellite imagery, more than half of all buildings have been destroyed or damaged, and the UN Food & Agriculture Organization reports damage to about 43% of all cropland in the Strip.
The academics say they have “watched with horror as Israel has systematically and deliberately attacked universities and schools in Gaza.”
Three university presidents have been killed in the Israeli attacks, along with more than 95 university deans and professors. Meanwhile, 88,000 students have been deprived of receiving their university education.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education, 4,327 students have been killed and 7,819 others have been injured during the ongoing attacks, while 231 teachers and administrators have been killed and 756 injured.
“All 12 universities in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged.”
On 11 October 2023, Israeli airstrikes destroyed the Islamic University in Gaza City – one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the besieged Strip. On 17 January 2024, the Israeli military used a controlled explosion to destroy Al-Isra University. Before doing so, Israel had converted the university into military barracks and then a temporary detention center.
The letter also describes the destruction of education for school children:
Nearly 6,000 school-age children have been killed, and another 10,000 have been wounded. Some 964 teachers and school administrators have been killed and 960 injured. As of January 2024, 378 schools in Gaza, accounting for 76% of the school buildings in the Strip, had been damaged or destroyed. All schools run by UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency) have closed, and more than 625,000 students and 23,000 teachers have been affected by school closures.
The letter quotes a statement by the head of UNRWA:
“an entire generation of children is traumatized and will take years to heal. Hundreds of thousands are deprived of education. Their future is in jeopardy, with far-reaching and long-lasting consequences.”
The letter says “protecting and fostering Palestinian education is essential to the continuation of the Palestinian people as a distinct national and cultural group,” and “targeting Palestinian education has long been a central tactic of the occupation.” It quotes the former president of the University of Palestine who has called the war on Gaza “a war on education.”
The letter emphasizes that “the right to education is an internationally protected human right enshrined in multiple human rights instruments to which Israel is a party, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
It asserts “the right to education is binding in all circumstances and is to be protected in all situations, including during crises and emergencies resulting from civil strife and war.”
The Open Letter makes seven calls to action:
1) An immediate and permanent ceasefire and immediate and unconditional release of all hostages;
2) Israel’s compliance with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice;
3) An end to Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and its occupation, so that the educational sector can be rebuilt;
4) Full access of United Nations agencies to the Occupied Palestinian Territories to carry out independent monitoring, investigation, and humanitarian coordination;
5) All States that have suspended funding to UNRWA – the UN agency which runs many of the Strip’s now closed elementary and secondary schools – to immediately resume funding;
6) North American universities, governments, NGOs and individual academics to support the reconstruction of educational institutions in Gaza, through financial and in-kind contributions; and
7) State and individual accountability under domestic and international law mechanisms.
The Open Letter can be seen at this link as well as the names of the signatories and the >300 institutions they represent. It is open for signature by any academic affiliated with a post-secondary institution in North America.
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For further information, see a review of the Open Letter by Juan Cole, a professor at the University of Michigan, in his blog Informed Comment.