SFUFA Motion on Israel/Palestine

Motion on Israel/Palestine 

1. Whereas since October 2023, Israel’s unrelenting assault on Gaza has resulted in more than 110,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, including over 231 teachers, 95 university professors, and three university presidents.

2. Whereas Israel has destroyed 396 educational facilities, including all 12 of Gaza’s universities, as well as libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural sites through targeted bombardment and controlled demolitions.

3. Whereas the systematic assault on the educational sector in Palestine is part of a historic and ongoing project of ethnic cleansing and scholasticide.

4. Whereas since their founding, Israeli universities have been complicit in the occupation and subjugation of the Palestinian people, as documented in Dr. Maya Wind’s Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom.

5. Whereas Canadian universities, including SFU, are complicit in the Israeli project of occupation and apartheid through their partnerships with Israeli universities.

6. Whereas the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) has, since 2004, called for a boycott of Israeli institutions for these reasons, and Palestinian Higher Education institutions have more recently issued a Unified Call for Justice and Freedom appealing to their international counterparts to take action in support and defense of academic freedom.

7. And whereas education is a fundamental human right, enshrined in international law and a crucial pillar for a people denied their inalienable right to self-determination.

Therefore, faculty members of Simon Fraser University urge our administration to commit to the following:

1. Condemn Israel’s destruction of the education system in the Gaza Strip and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to scholasticide in Palestine.

2. Suspend all institutional partnerships with Israeli academic institutions and divest from Israeli commercial interests until such time that Israel ends its policies of military occupation and apartheid.

3. Work with partners to actively support Palestinian universities and the Palestinian educational sector more broadly through inter-institutional cooperation, including virtual instruction, exchanges, library sharing, and infrastructural support.

4. Commit to setting up placements, fellowships, and scholarships for new students from Palestine, as well as hardship funds for students affected by the war on Gaza.

ANNEX

This annex is compiled by the Middle East Studies Association, the largest and most respected academic association dedicated to the study of the Middle East. It represents a compilation as of 1 March 2024 of available documentation concerning Palestinian archives, cultural heritage, libraries, and museums destroyed during the ongoing attack on Gaza by the Israeli military. The destruction is catalogued by category of heritage: libraries, archives, and publishing houses; cultural and social centers; media and artistic production companies; museums; churches; mosques; archaeological sites; cemeteries and monuments; traditional houses and markets; and natural heritage.

Public Libraries and Archives Destroyed

Gaza Municipal Library

Central Archives of Gaza City

Palace of Justice

Rashad al-Shawa Cultural Center

Diana Tamari Sabbagh Library

University Libraries Destroyed

Islamic University of Gaza Library, Gaza City

Al-Israa University Library and National Museum

Al-Quds Open University Library, Gaza City

Jawaharlal Nehru Library, Al-Azhar University, Gaza City

Publishing Houses and Smaller Libraries Destroyed

Al-Shorouq Al-Daem Library and Exhibition

Sami Mansour Bookshop and Library in Gaza City

Enaim Library

Al-Nahda Library

Lubbud Library

Al-Nur Cultural Center’s Library

Cultural and Social Centers Destroyed

Arab Orthodox Cultural and Social Center

Dar Al-Shabab Cultural and Development Authority

The General Union of Cultural Centers

The Sununu Foundation for Arts and Culture

Our Children Society for Development

Gaza Center for Culture and Arts

The Hakawi Association for Culture and Arts

The Palestinian Association for Development and Heritage Protection

Shababik Professionals

Village of Arts and Crafts, Gaza Municipality

Widad Theater and Widad Association for Community Development

Rafida Suhail Artist Studio

Es’ad Child Cultural Center

Bayader Theatre and Arts Association

Iltiqa’ Gallery for Contemporary Visual Arts

Kana’an Educational Development Institute

Ataa Library, International Board on Books for Young People Children in Crisis Library (Beit Hanoun)

Yasser Arafat Foundation

Media and Artistic Production Companies Destroyed

Mashariq Company

Asayel Studios

Mix and Match Studio

Museums Destroyed

Rafah Museum

Al Qarara Cultural Museum (also known as the Khan Younis Museum)

Qasr al-Basha (Pasha’s Palace Museum, also known as Radwan castle)

Mathaf al-Funduq (Museum Hotel)

Al-‘Aqqad Cultural Center of Heritage Archaeology and Museum

Shahwan Museum

Khudari Museum

Ibrahim Abu Sha’ar Heritage Diwan

Deir al-Balah museum

Cultural Karameh Museum

Churches Destroyed

The Church of Saint Porphyrius

Ruins of the Monastery of St. Hilarion, part of the Tell Umm Amer site in Nuseirat

Byzantine Church located in the Jabaliya refugee camp

Holy Family Church

Mosques and other Muslim Religious Sites Destroyed

At least 114 mosques have been destroyed and 200 others have been damaged in Gaza

The Grand Omari Mosque

Othman Bin Qashqar Mosque

Mosque of Sayyid Hashim

Sheikh Abdullah Mosque

Katib al-Wilayah Mosque

Al-Zafar Dmari Mosque and Center for Manuscripts and Ancient Documents (Shuja’iyya)

Sheikh Shaaban Mosque

Mosque of Ibn Othman, Gaza City

Maqam Khalil Al-Rahman (Abasan)

Maqam Al-Khidr (Deir al-Balah)

Maqam al-Nabi Yusuf (Bani Suheila)

Archaeological Sites Destroyed

Tell al-Ajjul

Tel al-Mansatar (Gaza)

Tal al-Sakan (Al-Zahra)

Tell 86 (al-Qarara)

Tell Rafah (also known as Tell Zara’b)

Anthedon Harbor

Roman necropolis (Ard-al-Moharbeen) in northern Gaza

Qal’at Burquq

Cemeteries and Monuments Destroyed

At least 16 cemeteries were desecrated during the ground offensive in Gaza

English Cemetery (Gaza)

English Cemetery (Zuwaidah)

Unknown Soldier Monument

Historic or Traditional Houses and Markets Destroyed

Old City of Gaza City

Al-Suqqa House (Shuja’iyya)

Tirzi House (Rimal)

Hammam al-Sammara (the Sammara Bath)

Al-Fawakhir district

Al-Zawiya market, historical extension of the Al-Qaysariyya market, also destroyed.

Mazan Market (East Khan Younis)

Natural Heritage Destroyed

Coastal Wetlands in the Gaza Valley