On Saturday over 100,000 people joined a march in London in protest against the attacks against Palestinians in Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank and against Palestinian citizens of Israel. UCU was one of many trade unions supporting the march, in line with its longstanding policy in support of the Palestinian cause. 

Members of the Queen Mary community have produced a statement of solidarity with Palestinians and with colleagues and students affected by the situation, you can read the statement below. The link to sign the statement was sent to the email of all members today (the email was titled: Solidarity with Palestinians everywhere). We urge everybody to read the statement, sign it and share it with your colleagues.

Statement of Solidarity from the Queen Mary Community

As members of the Queen Mary University of London community of scholars, university staff, and trade unionists, we condemn Israel’s violent attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, the violent suppression of Palestinians inside Israel and in the Occupied Territories, and the Israeli security apparatuses’ sanctioning of civilian violence against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Like many millions around the world, we know that the representation of the current violence in our media as being waged equally by “both sides”, as a symmetrical conflict, as “clashes” are simply not true. The state of Israel, the sole sovereign power wielding control over the entirety of the territory between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean, is responsible for killing nearly two hundred civilians, and attacking international media reporting from Gaza. The illegal expulsion of Palestinians from Shaikh Jarrah and other areas of Jerusalem is part of the continuing dispossession of Palestinians since the 1948 Nakba. This system of control has been condemned as akin to apartheid by both the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem as well as by Human Rights Watch; building on previous reports by Palestinian human rights organisations and scholars.

We are aware that many of our colleagues and students are affected by the situation and would like to declare our solidarity with them and offer our support to anyone whose families and loved ones are under direct attack or threat of dispossession.