[The below statement was issued by a group of academic based in the Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia area on 21 May 2021. See below for a full list of signatories and how to add your name if you are an academic working that area.]
We, faculty at 16 colleges and universities across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, are writing to strongly condemn Israel's ongoing attacks on historic Palestine, and to express our solidarity with the Palestinian people in their just struggle for liberation. We condemn all violence against civilians and mourn all loss of life, but we reject the prevalent “two-sides” narrative that ignores differences between one of the most heavily militarized states in the world and a stateless population resisting oppression. The recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas does not change the fundamental facts on the ground: the deadly siege of the Gaza Strip; the forced expulsions in East Jerusalem; the military occupation and settler colonization of the West Bank; and the systemic legal discrimination that renders the Palestinians living in Israel since 1948 second-class citizens. According to reports by the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and all the major human rights organizations in Israel/Palestine, Israel’s governance of all the Palestinians under its control meet the international legal definition of apartheid.
As academics based in the United States, we acknowledge our complicity in Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians, made possible by unconditional U.S. political and material support, continuing with the current administration. We view the Palestinian struggle for liberation as deeply entwined with many struggles for racial and Indigenous justice in our own country, from Ferguson to Standing Rock. In joining our voices to those of the people of Palestine, we reaffirm our commitment to combating bigotry and state violence in all its forms, including anti-Blackness, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Asian racism.
If you are an academic in the DMV area, click here to sign on to this statement.
Signatories
Abigail Francesca Buffington, College of William & Mary
Ahsan Butt, George Mason University
Andi Zimmerman, George Washington University
Andrew Israel Ross, Loyola University Maryland
Anne K. Rasmussen, College of William & Mary
Ashraf S Harahsheh, GWU School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Ayfer Karakaya-Stump, College of William & Mary
Bassam Haddad, George Mason University
Benjamin Gatling George Mason University
Bernadette M Roche, Loyola University Maryland
Billy Friebele, Loyola University Maryland
Carsten Vala, Loyola University Maryland
Catriona Hanley, Loyola University Maryland
Char Roone Miller, George Mason University
Christina Hanhardt, University of Maryland
Daniel Moshenberg, George Washington University
Dara Orenstein, George Washington University
Deborah Lee-Ferrand, College of William & Mary
Elisabeth Anker, George Washington University
Elliott Colla, Georgetown University
Emily Mendenhall, Georgetown University
Erin D. Chapman, George Washington University
Faedah M. Totah, Virginia Commonwealth University
Faraz Sheikh, College of William & Mary
Fawcett Dunstan, Community College of Baltimore County
Fida Adely, Georgetown University
Francis Tanglao Aguas, College of William & Mary
Gayle Wald, George Washington University
Giulia Pacini, College of William & Mary
Giuseppina Iacono Lobo, Loyola University Maryland
Graham Auman Pitts, George Washington University
Gregory Afinogenov, Georgetown University
Gul Ozyegin, College of William & Mary
Heather Harris, Community College of Baltimore County
Heba Shazli, George Mason University
Huseyin Yilmaz, George Mason University
Ilana Feldman, George Washington University
Ingrid Sabio-McLaughlin, Community College of Baltimore County
Jadi Omowale, Community College of Baltimore County
Janet Maher, Professor Emeritus, Loyola University Maryland
Jason Osder, George Washington University
Jennifer Potter, Towson University
Jessica Locke, Loyola University Maryland
Johanna Bockman, George Mason University
John L. Esposito, Georgetown University
Joy Adams, Community College of Baltimore County
Judith E. Tucker, Georgetown University
Julie Lewis, Community College of Baltimore County
Kai Bosworth, Virginia Commonwealth University
Kate Withy, Georgetown University
Kelly Robert DeVries, Loyola University Maryland
Kim Jensen, Community College of Baltimore County
Kimberly Katz, Towson University
Lara Sheehi, George Washington University
Laurie King, Georgetown University
Lena Caesar, Loyola University Maryland
Maria Dakake, George Mason University
Mark Lance, Georgetown University
Marwa Daoudy, Georgetown University
Mary Kambic, Community College of Baltimore County
Matthew Scherer, George Mason University
Maurice Jackson, Georgetown University
Mauro J. Caraccioli, Virginia Tech
Melani McAlister, George Washington University
Melis Hafez, Virginia Commonwealth University
Mohammad Alahmad, Georgetown University
Mona Atia, George Washington University
Mubina Hassanali Kirmani, Towson University
Mustafa Aksakal, Georgetown University
Nada Harik, GWU School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Nancy Murray, Community College of Baltimore County
Natasha Cole-Leonard, Community College of Baltimore County
Nathan Snaza, English, University of Richmond
Nguyen K. Nguyen, Loyola University Maryland
Nidal Abdel-Rahman, George Washington University
Noureddine Jebnoun, Georgetown University
Oludamini Ogunnaike, University of Virginia
P.J. Brendese, Johns Hopkins University
R. B. Ferrão, College of William & Mary
Rachele Lawton, Community College of Baltimore County
Rana Hamdy, GWU School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Rani Mullen, College of William & Mary
Richard Boothby, Loyola University Maryland
Rob Leventhal, College of William & Mary
Robert McRuer, George Washington University
Roberto Jamora, College of William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University
Robin Ellis, College of William & Mary
Robinson Woodward-Burns, Howard University
Rochelle Davis, Georgetown University
Sara Scalenghe, Loyola University Maryland
Shah Mahmoud Hanifi, James Madison University
Shira Robinson, George Washington University
Sibel Zandi-Sayek, College of William & Mary
Stephen Sheehi, College of William & Mary
Sumaiya Hamdani, George Mason University
Sylvia Chong, University of Virginia
Tavia La Follette, Towson University
Theresa P. T. Nguyen, Loyola University Maryland
Thomas A. Guglielmo, George Washington University
Todd Shepard, Johns Hopkins University
William Youmans, George Washington University
Yousef Munayyer, George Mason University