call for action

IAW statement 2023

March 2023
Statement initiated by Dutch Scholars for Palestine

Dutch Scholars for Palestine calls for concrete action in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who are facing sustained violence and ongoing dispossession at the hands of the Israeli state. This means - at the very least - demanding that our government, our places of study and of work, and our pension fund immediately put an end to their complicity with Israel’s colonial expansion.

What can you do?  Join Dutch Scholars for Palestine and Students for Palestine for Israeli Apartheid Week 2023 and take action!

Since January 2023, over 50 Palestinians, 14 of whom have been children,  have been murdered at the hands of the Israeli apartheid regime. Much of this violence has been born by the cities of Jenin and Nablus, some of the largest Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank. Alongside this increase in state violence, Palestinians are also facing a rapid acceleration in settler attacks. Most strikingly has been the pogrom in Huwara, which saw over 400 settlers attack the town, burn cars, damage homes and shops, and assault bystanders. Soldiers stood by while the settlers rampaged through the town.

Across the Netherlands, students and university staff members are organising events and discussions as part of the annual Israeli Apartheid Week. We are doing so in order to shed light on the situation in Palestine. Since 2005, over 170 Palestinian civil society organisations have called on people around the world to Boycott, Divest from, and Sanction all those institutions and companies that participate in, or profit from, the ongoing injustices carried out against Palestinians.

This is directly relevant in our own universities. Dutch universities maintain exchange and joint research programmes with Israeli universities despite the latter’s complicity in the apartheid regime, through the stealing of land, military and spyware research, and funding opportunities for military personnel [add PACBI link]. In addition, our pension fund ABP continues to invest millions of Euros - our monthly payments - in Israeli companies who profit from the occupation.

So long as Israel maintains its apartheid regime, these institutional and financial links make us complicit. If our governments and managers refuse to act, then we must demand that they change their minds. Join us in saying ‘not in our name’. Join Israeli apartheid week. Take action.

For Press inquiries please contact Dina Zbeidy and Christian Henderson via dutchscholarspalestine@gmail.com