We are a community of social justice scholars and affiliates of the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois Chicago. Every day in our work we wrestle with the meaning of justice. There are always complicated answers, debates, and nuance. But there are moments when injustice is so clear we must speak out together as historians, urban planners, political scientists, anthropologists, ethnic studies scholars, social scientists and humanists in general. We see our scholarship as powerfully relevant in this moment.
We are compelled to speak out against the horrific process of ethnic cleansing that is unfolding before our eyes in the Gaza Strip, in Palestine. This is occurring with the complicity of many world powers, including our own government, and with the silence of others. The events of October 7th, the killing and capture of innocent Israeli civilians and other foreign nationals, including children, were horrific and tragic. We neither defend nor condone such violence. We mourn all the victims. Every life is precious, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Secularists, Israelis and Palestinians.
However, the moral duplicity of condemning the unjustifiable killing of Israeli civilians while rationalizing the aggressive Israeli military action that is taking the lives of innocent and defenseless Palestinian civilians in Gaza, does not look like any form of justice we recognize. Thousands of lives have already been lost and experts on the ground describe Gaza as on the verge of collapse. The Israeli government's decision to cut off access to water, fuel and food to the civilian population of Gaza is a war crime. The bombing of civilian populations is another. We express our agreement with respected organizations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the World Health Organization, and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), as well as the legal rights group Adalah and Jewish Voice for Peace, all of which have documented and compellingly argued that what we see unfolding in Gaza is a humanitarian crisis of historic proportion. The civilian population of northern Gaza is being told to flee under threat of imminent invasion. As they endure the systematic bombing of their homes, many Palestinians in Gaza know they will never be able to return. They have been forced to forfeit their homes and land to hopefully save their lives. And still, those lives are in jeopardy. The UN defines 'ethnic cleansing' as: "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group, which is contrary to international law." Sadly, this situation fits that definition.
The historical context for the current tragic events is long and circuitous. We will not recount it all here. We know that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank live under the control of the Israeli government, without the rights of full citizenship. They live under occupation, even with the limited power of the Palestinian Authority. Gaza has no airport, and there is a fortified barbed wire fence on one side, and the ocean on the other, leaving Palestinians with little or no access to the outside world. Their movements are tightly controlled. They have endured numerous invasions and bombardments. Structures, infrastructures and many lives have already been lost since 1948. We support calls for an end to occupation and reaffirm the right to self-determination for the Palestinian people, and a recognition of their basic human rights.
Numerous experts, faith leaders, and human rights advocates have called for a de-escalation, a ceasefire, an end to the forced exodus of Palestinians within Gaza, and the immediate provision of humanitarian aid. We join them in this call and our hearts are with all those suffering throughout the region. To call for a CEASEFIRE now is the most just position we can take. Revenge is not the solution and makes no one safer.
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