SFUFA Motion on Israel/Palestine
Approved in a Faculty Referendum on June 7, 2024
Approved in a Faculty Referendum on June 7, 2024
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