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  • Palestine/Israel

MESA Board Joint Letter With CAF condemning the decimation of the education sector in Gaza

The Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Association and its Committee on Academic Freedom vehemently condemn the government of Israel’s brutal military campaign against the Palestinian people of Gaza and urgently insist upon its immediate cessation. This letter focuses on the decimation of the education sector in the Gaza Strip through the military’s killing of students, faculty, and staff and its targeted destruction of schools, university buildings, and related facilities. We are especially concerned to underscore the magnitude of the decimation by identifying by name and affiliation as many of the murdered Gazan scholars as is possible at this time.

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MESA Board Joint Statement with CAF regarding the ongoing genocidal violence against the Palestinian people and their cultural heritage in Gaza

The Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Association and its Committee on Academic Freedom condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing attack on Gaza by the state of Israel, resulting in the widespread destruction of the built environment and civilian infrastructure of the Gaza Strip with the apparent intention of erasing Palestinian heritage, thereby amounting to cultural genocide.

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MESA Board Statement on Palestine and Israel

The MESA Board of Directors is heartbroken by the loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives over the last week. There can be no justification for the targeting of civilians. We join our members directly affected in grief, and we join all who are committed to a political solution that offers safety, dignity, and equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis. We are deeply concerned about the cumulative effect of the Israeli siege and bombardment of Gaza, resulting in massive death, displacement and destruction — including the bombing of schools and universities — imperiling, among many other things, the possibility of access to education for generations of Gazan students indefinitely. We also reaffirm the right and ability of students, faculty, and staff at universities across North America (and elsewhere) to express their viewpoints free of harassment, intimidation, and threats to their livelihoods and safety. MESA calls on university leaders and administrations to oppose all forms of discrimination, including anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism and anti-Semitism, and to affirmatively assert and protect the right to academic freedom and freedom of speech on their campuses.

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Joint letter from BRISMES, SeSaMO and MESA to Israeli authorities regarding Khaled El Qaisi

The Italian Society for Middle East Studies (SeSaMO), the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) and the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) have written to express concern for the detained Italian-Palestinian student Khaled El Qaisi. SeSaMO, BRISMES and MESA call upon the relevant authorities to intervene to ensure his immediate release.

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MESA Board Statement in Support of Palestinians

MESA’s Board of Directors condemns the ongoing Israeli government assault on the Palestinian people. It views the damaging and targeting of educational facilities and violence toward students and teachers as part of a systematic domination of Palestinians. We recognize there can be no academic freedom and adequate access to education, so long as there is apartheid.

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