Statement on Gaza
BAFTSS Executive Committee, 10 June 2024
The Israeli armed forces have targeted and killed over 35,000 people (mainly women and children) and injured over 78,000, meaning more than 100,000 civilians have now been killed or injured in Gaza, and increasingly in the West Bank, since the 7 October Hamas attacks.
The BAFTSS Executive Committee would like to draw members' attention to the ongoing ‘educide’ or ‘ scholasticide’ which has targeted and systematically demolished and destroyed the educational infrastructure including more than 392 educational facilities: 281 government schools, 65 UNRWA-run schools and all universities in Gaza, including its two medical schools.
The UK higher education community is in a position to undertake actions to support our Palestinian colleagues. This could include specific funding from UK research agencies and the establishment of UK-Palestinian institutional partnerships. Palestinian higher education, including in the Occupied West Bank, deserves a comprehensive and co-ordinated response by UK higher education institutions.
We also want to underline the importance of defending the rights to academic freedom and the rights to freedom of expression and to protest, and of combatting Islamophobia, antisemitism and other forms of discrimination. We express solidarity with all students and faculty and their supporters who are being harassed, assaulted, disciplined, and arrested on campuses internationally for speaking out about the genocide and scholasticide in Gaza.
The BAFTSS Executive Committee would like to draw members' attention to the ongoing ‘educide’ or ‘ scholasticide’ which has targeted and systematically demolished and destroyed the educational infrastructure including more than 392 educational facilities: 281 government schools, 65 UNRWA-run schools and all universities in Gaza, including its two medical schools.
The UK higher education community is in a position to undertake actions to support our Palestinian colleagues. This could include specific funding from UK research agencies and the establishment of UK-Palestinian institutional partnerships. Palestinian higher education, including in the Occupied West Bank, deserves a comprehensive and co-ordinated response by UK higher education institutions.
We also want to underline the importance of defending the rights to academic freedom and the rights to freedom of expression and to protest, and of combatting Islamophobia, antisemitism and other forms of discrimination. We express solidarity with all students and faculty and their supporters who are being harassed, assaulted, disciplined, and arrested on campuses internationally for speaking out about the genocide and scholasticide in Gaza.
Sources
- Al Jazeera Live Tracker
- Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.org
- Gaza Ministry of Education (WAFA) 2 April 2024
- UN Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- United Nations | OHCHR
- United Nations - OHCHR Press Release
- United Nations | UN News