We stand in support of the indigenous Palestinian people in Gaza, who are fighting for their survival against one of the most brutal uses of state power in both this century and the last.
We condemn Israel's recent (December 2008/ January 2009) breaches of international law in the Gaza Strip, which include the bombing of densely populated neighborhoods, illegal deployment of the chemical white phosphorous, and attacks on schools, ambulances, relief agencies, hospitals, universities, and places of worship. We condemn Israel's restriction of access to media and aid workers.
We reject as false Israel's characterization of its military attacks on Gaza as retaliation.
Israel's latest assault on Gaza is part of its longtime racist jurisprudence against its indigenous Palestinian population, during which the Israeli state has systematically dispossessed, starved, tortured, and economically exploited the Palestinian people.
We reject as untrue the Israeli government's claims that the Palestinians use civilians as human shields, and that Hamas is an irredeemable terrorist organization. Without endorsing its platforms or philosophy, we recognize Hamas as a democratically elected ruling party.
We do not endorse the regime of any existing Arab state and call for the upholding of internationally mandated human rights and democratic elections in all Arab states.
We call upon our fellow writers and academics in the United States to question discourses that justify and rationalize injustice, and to address Israeli assaults on civilians in Gaza as one of the most important moral issues of our time.
We call upon institutions of higher education in the U.S. to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions, dissolve study abroad programs in Israel, and divest institutional funds from Israeli companies, using the 1980s boycott against apartheid South Africa as a model.
We call on all people of conscience to join us in boycotting Israeli products and institutions until a just, democratic state for all residents of Palestine/Israel comes into existence.
Steven Salaita
Assistant Professor,
department of English
Virginia TechNahla Abdo
Mohammed Abed
Elmaz Abinader
Diana Abu-Jaber
Ali Abunimah
Opal Palmer Adisa
Dina Al-Kassim
Deborah Al-Najjar
Doug Anderson
Evelyn Azeeza Alsultany
David Baker
Amina Baraka
Amiri Baraka
George Bisharat
Sherwin Bitsui
Breyten Breytenbach
Van Brock
Ellen Cantarow
Hayan Charara
Yvette Christianse
Allison Hedge Coke
Cindy Cruz
Lara Deeb
Vicente Diaz
Ben Ehrenreich
Nava Etshalom
Marilyn Hacker
Mechthild Hart
Sam Hamill
Suheir Hammad
Nathalie Handal
Randa Jarrar
Fady Joudah
Tony Judt
Mohja Kahf
Rima Najjar Kapitan
Persis Karim
J. Kehaulani Kauanui
Haunani Kay-Trask
Marilyn Krysl
David Lloyd
Sunaina Maira
Nur Masalha
Rania Masri
Khaled Mattawa
D.H. Melhem
Imam Mersal
Daniel AbdalHayy Moore
Aileen Moreton-Robinson
Michel Moushabek
Nadine Naber
Marcy Newman
Viet Nguyen
Sana Odeh
Simon J. Ortiz
Vijay Prashad
Adrienne Rich
Steven Salaita
Therese Saliba
Jill Schoolman
Sarita See
Deema Shehabi
Matthew Shenoda
Naomi Shihab Nye
Magid Shihade
Vandana Shiva
Ella Habiba Shohat
Evie Shockley
Noenoe Silva
Andrea Smith
Ahdaf Soueif
Mary Austin Speaker
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Ghada Talhami
Chase Twichell
Daya Varma
Frank X. Walker
Robert Warrior
Ellen Dore Watson
Eleanor Wilner
Abe Louise Young
Rami Zurayk
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Welcome to the US - we Israelis are in full control of the government here, too!
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"We reject as untrue the Israeli government's claims that the Palestinians use civilians as human shields". Hahahahah
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um wow....yeah, I'm sorry, but everyone knows Hamas uses civilians to hide behind. Dunno what rock these people have been hiding behind if they believe that isn't true....
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Hitler was elected democratically, too. Being democratically elected does not mean that you are either good, or deserve reverence. What good would US democratic elections do, if our country elected representative was sworn to charter that, for example, China has no right to exist, and we should dedicate our nation to destruction of China, even if the price is sacrifice of every living American. This is how Hamas relates to Israel. And you would be well within reason to admit that indigeneous Palestinians democratically elected this party. It worth mentioning however that Hamas is not handling indigenous Palestinians with power of philosophy. Rather an AK – 47 armed man installed along major roads at certain interval and people get shot when they voice any opposition. Your ignoring the fact that Israel towns were subjected to nearly hundred of rockets per day, which prompted recent Gaza conflict, is a very cheap ploy. The fact that you mistrust facts of Hamas using human shields reported by the very Palestinian people, and that you lend your support based on race, rather then merit... is a testament to you guys being racially motivated. Freedom of speech in America allowed pro – Hitler propaganda back in 1944. So, you are well within your rights to voice support for Hamas. However enmeshing academy into an hot armed conflict does not bring tranquility to the campus. Worse yet it replaces humanitarian cause of education with racially charged tensions.
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whew! you people can continue to be naive and see Hamas just as another harmless political party but get with reality. You say that they are just a normal political organization? last time i checked the democrats werent launching rockets into the Va. suburbs. and if you really want to boycott Israel please shut off your Intel chip laptops running Windows XP (both of which were mainly developed in Israel)And dont even get me started on the "non human shield" issue. There are tons of videos online that plainly show Hamas shooting rockets from dense civilian areas. Im all for a peaceful solution to this issue and i hate to see innocent people caught in the crossfire. But as the former Prime Minster of Israel Golda Meir said "Peace will come to the Middle East when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us."
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WE support Israel! You can't attack FROM a school and not expect to be fought back.
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The perverse bias of this letter is truly striking. It chooses to hide the real facts of this conflict while embracing what is essentially terrorist propaganda. The people who signed this letter are a stain on Virginia Tech and are truly the ones who should be facing an academic boycott. I very much hope that Virginia Tech takes some action so as not be known as an institution that tolerates such extremism.
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As a proud gay Muslim American I agree wth this letter. Israel also abuses gays and lesbians. My ex boyfriend was abused by the israelis in the checkpoint. I was also jailed after our demonstarion and abused by 2 Moldovans. I would like to sign this letter. Please email it to me so i can sign it too. I hope Allah will help Gaza recover soon.
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Quote from Hamas charter:"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim). Google it and see what kind of organization they sponsor.
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Here are some juicy outtakes from the Hamas Charter for those who are not familiar it. Judge for yourself if there should be any tolerance for this disgusting organization which the "peace loving" Palestinians democratically elected. Pay special attention to the part about killing all the Jews to bring on judgement day. Mein Kampf shows less genocidal intent then the Hamas Charter. "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim). "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."
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Milo I don't believe this . This is a Hammas charter. I am a supporter of Hammas and I can tell you that we Muslims are the mos loving and peaceful. As a recent convert to Islam I can tell you that it is so much better then Christianity.. Mohammed PBU was the most merciful and just prophet. Inshallah you can read the Quaran and see the truth.
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I have a Pope with a big pointy white hat. I just topped whatever "truth" is in your Koran.
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First off this is outrageously biased. Had there been any research to back this up I would have been ok with it. I do not support Israel's handling of gaza, but I do support the Israel and the fact that there needed to be something done about gaza. It is a widely known FACT that Hamas is not a 'peace loving' organization, nor should anyone pretend it to be. Would the US ever stand being bombed from Mexico or Canada for more than 3 years? The US went into Cube with only a threat of such activities. Having visited Israel over this past winter break I can tell you that the only upsets in Israel are the parts that are within firing range of the rockets from gaza. As to 'Yaakub( Yaakov) Sullivan' it may be true that Israelis may heckle gays, but I met no less than two gay soldiers on my trip who were open and proud to be both gay and Israelis, besides, what country doesn't heckle gays? don't ask don't tell? come on! Even as only an assistant professor here at Virginia Tech, I would have expected more from Salaita. Come back to me with VALID reasons to boycoot Israel in ANY way, and then we'll talk.
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While I don’t condone a lot of Israeli actions – they are prone to overreaction and heavy-handedness – this letter is laughable. It’s written as if the innocent Hamas leadership were sitting in Gaza, minding their own business, when – all of a sudden – the Eee-villle Zionists started bombing Gaza from one to the other, going out of their way to identify civilian targets. Check it out. If you establish weapons caches or launch attacks from a mosque, it is no longer a place of worship. If you establish weapons caches or launch attacks from a school, it is no longer a place of learning. It is a legitimate military target under international law. If you use an ambulance to ferry fighters around the battlefield or transport weapons, it is no longer an ambulance. It is a legitimate military target under international law. If you launch attacks from a house or apartment full of civilians, you are using the occupants as human shields. This mess will never get straightened out until both sides recognize that the other has legitimate gripes and that its own side is also in the wrong on some issues. The whole “we good, they bad” approach ensures this conflict will continue.
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I stand in support of Israel, a country that constantly has to defend itself from terroristic attacks from its barbarous neighbors. I condemn Hama's consistent breaches of cease-fire agreements. Instead of standing by their agreement, this group of thugs has made it clear both in its words and deeds that it has no desire for peace and is willing to use its own population as shields and propaganda weapons. Hamas’s latest attacks are a continuation of a racist agenda from the Islamist world which seeks to eradicate the only Jewish state in the entire world. I recognize Hamas as a democratically elected party in the same vein as Hitler’s Third Reich. Just as the German people suffered for their choice in evil leadership, I acknowledge that the Gaza population has chosen a similar path and will probably suffer similarly. I call on the Gazans’ fellow Muslim neighbors to devote more of their trillions in oil money to improving the infrastructure of the Palestinian people. I believe that would be a better use of that money instead of providing guns, rockets and bombs to the terrorists. I understand that improving the Palestinians lives would deprive the Islamist world with a major propaganda pawn; however, it would show the world that they actually want peace. I call on Virginia Tech to take a hard look at their English department and ask themselves why this group seems to be a breading ground for terrorist sympathizers and terrorist gunmen.
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I also stand in support of Israel. I agree with "Badger Fans" in all his/her comments and am likewise astonished that certain leaders in the English department would propose to support cowardly terrorist extremists. Hamas desires to destroy Israel and all Jews at ANY cost, and therefore, Israel deserves the right to defend itself against such terrorism. Likewise, I call on the remaining peaceful Muslim community to speak out against the crimes of Hamas. The world community should be outraged at such cowardly terrorist acts by an organization that hides their guns and missiles in schools and hospitals.
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Video of Ali Abunimah at Binghamton University 11/6/07: http://essentialdissent.blogspot.com/search?q=ali+abunimah
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"Fighting over religion is like fighting over who has the best imaginary friend."
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This op-ed lost any legitimacy that it might have had once it called Hamas a "democratically elected ruling party." Sure Hamas was democratically elected in the West Bank, but it CEASED control of Gaza in a civil war. Also, to say that Hamas did not use human shields is ridiculous. There is plenty of documented evidence towards that fact. Hamas was using schools and civilian neighborhoods as launching pads for christs sake... there are videos of it! Also... to dissolve study abroad programs in Israel would be a great injustice to students; especially of the Jewish community. Regardless of your personal feelings on Israel, the fact remains that Israel remains a cultural beacon of hope for millions of Jews around the world, and that allowing Jewish students to travel and study in Israel is a way to connect to a culture that we often feel disconnected with in a highly assimilated society. Also... before you boycott Israel, you might want to take a look on what that would actually entail... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saeky9I5T9c Israel has been a beacon for technological innovation, breakthrough medical treatments, the adoption of the Kimberly process (which ensures that diamonds sold to the public aren't blood diamonds), and numerous charitable and aid organizations.
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This is ridiculously biased. Boycotting the best institutions in the world would only be a disservice to ours.
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