For over 14 years we’ve worked steadily with academic colleagues in Palestine and especially in The Gaza Strip on research projects which focus on sustainable peace, overcoming gender-based violence & growing intercultural dialogue. Our work is centred around education and research, cultural practices, the arts, multilingual education and the prevention of gender-based violence, especially with regard to integrating displaced populations in Palestine.

 

We are gravely concerned for our colleagues in the Gaza strip and for our collective work towards peace.

 

We fear greatly the suspension of the Geneva Conventions and their protocols, and the deadly consequences of the announcement of a total blockade which means that no electricity, fuel or food will be allowed into The Gaza Strip. We fear further capture and torture of people. We are dismayed at the circulation of inaccurate media reporting and inflammatory statements by some governments which inflame the desire for vengeance on both sides of the 75-year-old conflict and illegal occupations.

 

We are especially concerned for the refugees in Israel and The Gaza Strip, the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. We are concerned for those who, as a result of statelessness or their status as people seeking asylum or granted refugee status, have no recourse to consular assistance or safe routes. In particular, we are deeply worried for the safety of those receiving assistance from United Nations Work and Relief Agency and the workers in The Gaza Strip. We condemn the targeting of all civilians and of relief workers.

 

As ground, sea and air attacks are planned and intensify we call on all Governments who are able to act as peace-brokers to enable safe routes, urgently, under the direction of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and UNHCR: The United Nations Refugee Agency and to do all they can to protect lives.

 

We applaud the work of medical workers and those working through UNWRA to try and protect civilians in schools in impossible conditions.

 

It is not easy to witness the destruction of incremental research work for peace after years of working together against many odds. We are proud of our colleagues and their academic achievements.We applaud the hard work and creative programmes which our colleagues have co-produced with us over 14 years in lifelong learning, languages and intercultural studies, culture and creativity, multilingual pedagogy, and sustainable and inclusive peace.

 

We have little hope that much will remain after the war. We have been alongside too many conflicts to have illusions of a return to peacel’. Our colleagues in Palestine, though, have shown us their deep commitment to hope and renewal despite ongoing violence. We are determined to findi ways to renew and rebuild the work we do together as soon as this is possible.

 

The @UNESCO mission remains central to our work: “that if wars are made in the minds of people then it is in the minds of people that the defences of peace must be constructed.”

 

Discerning ways to build and sustain peace is hard analytic work requiring whole heartedness and courage amidst destruction. It requires living with and by the Palestinian cultural value of ‘Sumud’: steadfastness, steadfast perseverance in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances. It requires time and commitment over the long term. In these days of intense difficulty for our collective work we will continue with our work as best and as mercifully as we are able, and with words of a colleague in Gaza in our heads and hearts: “A new dawn of lasting peace will rise soon.”

As of Monday 9 October 2023, a statement has been released by UN Secretary General António Guterres on the situation: 'While I recognize Israel’s legitimate security concerns, I also remind Israel that military operations must be conducted in strict accordance with int'l humanitarian law. Civilians must be respected & protected at all times. Civilian infrastructure must never be a target.'

First published: 10 October 2023

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