Public Statement on Genocide in Gaza
Observatory for Palestine Studies (OPal) - Iscte

The Observatory for Palestine Studies (OPal) at the University Institute of Lisbon - Iscte, Portugal, issues this statement in response to the ongoing atrocities committed in the Gaza Strip. In light of mounting evidence by multiple international human rights organisations, legal analysis by international scholars, as well as the International Court of Justice, and official UN findings, we believe it is necessary to take a clear, firm and consistent position regarding the genocidal acts committed by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

We strongly condemn all violations of international law and humanitarian norms, including indiscriminate bombardments of densely populated civilian areas, the deliberate targeting of hospitals, schools and people seeking food, and the forced displacement of Palestinians, as well as the denial of life-saving humanitarian aid and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

We view the systematic attack on the education system in Gaza, also named ‘scholasticide’, as a violation of human rights not only on individuals but on the collective cultural and intellectual identity of the Palestinian people.

As scholars committed to justice and human rights, we are compelled to take a stand. Silence and neutrality in the face of genocide equates to complicity.

Therefore, we:

• Affirm the centrality of international law and fundamental principles of humanity.
  
  
• Support the UN findings and recommendations, as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, recently called to end the economy of genocide, also including the involvement of academic institutions.
  
  
• Call upon Iscte, as well as Portuguese academic institutions to suspend all institutional partnerships, funding agreements, and research collaborations, including EU Horizon 2020, with Israeli universities and entities directly complicit in or supportive of the ongoing atrocities until further notice as obligated under the Genocide Convention.
  
  
• Demand that the Portuguese government fulfils its obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent and punish acts of genocide.

 
We, as an academic community, have this moral and legal imperative. The targeting of any civilian population for eradication - both physically and intellectually - must be condemned and opposed, as obliged by the Genocide Convention.

We therefore urge our Portuguese colleagues and institutions, as well as international partners to act in defence of life, dignity, and justice in Palestine.

The Direction of the Observatory for Palestine Studies (OPal)