Statement from the Right to Education Campaign to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

To The Members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

We, the Right to Education Campaign at Birzeit University, write to you to express our unwavering support for the locals of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) that have proposed resolutions calling on AFT to divest its State of Israel bond and purchase none further.

Today, in what the International Court of Justice has ruled is plausibly genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, depriving Palestinians of their rights to exist and live, the Israeli assault on Palestinian education persists.  The entire higher education system in Gaza has been disrupted or destroyed. Universities have been bombed, resulting in the deaths of over 100 professors and thousands of university students. More than 88,000 students have been deprived of their education since the beginning of this aggression. In the West Bank, escalating violations and fear of Israeli settler attacks have forced all 34 higher education institutions to switch to distance learning for months, impacting over 138,800 students.

The Israeli occupation imposes severe restrictions on movement, with 645 permanent blockades across the West Bank, hindering accessibility and fragmenting Palestinian society. These blockades force students and faculty to navigate dangerous and obstructed routes daily, threatening their lives and educational pursuits. Moreover, the criminalization of Palestinian education extends to the harassment and arrest of students and faculty members.

Additionally, the isolation of Palestinian universities through directives restricts academic freedom and undermines the autonomy of our educational institutions and the Palestinian intellectuals who shape them.

We also bring to your attention the recent letter from Gaza universities, which underscores the resilience and determination of Palestinian academics and students. Despite the destruction of their institutions, they remain committed to education and rebuilding their universities. They call upon the international community to resist the ongoing campaign of scholasticide, rebuild demolished universities, and reject any plans that seek to bypass or weaken Palestinian academic institutions.

We echo their call and emphasize the urgent need to support Gaza’s education institutions. This support is not just for current students but to ensure the long-term resilience and sustainability of our higher education system.

Israel targets all institutions of education in Palestine deliberately in an attempt to coerce communities to leave as well as weaken Palestinian intellectual and cultural infrastructures. As Palestinians, we consider manufactured ignorance as settler colonialism’s ally; it allows an occupier state like Israel to perpetuate its false narratives  in order to conceal the status quo of its daily violations of Palestinian’s rights. In contrast, education serves as a tool for Palestinians to resist, exist, and seek freedom and self-determination.

In this dire context, we call upon the AFT to support the resolution to divest from Israel State bonds. This act of divestment is not only a financial decision but a moral imperative. It aligns with the legacy of solidarity shown by US teachers and unions during the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Ending the funding for Israel’s crimes against Palestinians is an essential form of solidarity that we urgently need.

We hope you will heed our call and act with the urgency and moral clarity that this situation demands. Stand with us, stand with our Palestinian colleagues, and help put an end to these egregious violations of human rights. Together, as workers and educators, we can make a difference.