All I want for the holidays is a ceasefire
Christmas and holiday festivities in Palestine have been canceled this year in solidarity with Gaza. The Church of Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus, will hold prayers in complete silence.
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Scholars Against the War on Palestine - A transnational, cross-disciplinary coalition standing firmly with the Palestinian struggle for liberation and justice. We call for an immediate end to the century-long colonial war on Palestine and its people.
Permanent Ceasefire Now

Christmas and holiday festivities in Palestine have been canceled this year in solidarity with Gaza. The Church of Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus, will hold prayers in complete silence. Heads of Churches in Jerusalem have canceled all festive celebrations as Palestinians collectively mourn the loss of thousands of lives– the result of an Israeli war that has been identified by leading experts as genocidal in intent.

In the first ten weeks of war, Israel dropped in excess of 25,000 bombs – the equivalent of two nuclear bombs – on 2.2 million besieged Palestinians in Gaza. It has done so with unwavering support from the United States and other western nations. The bombardment has killed more than 20, 000 Palestinians, including 8,000 children, and millions are facing starvation and dehydration as food, electricity, and water has been cut off. More than 1.1 million people have been forcefully displaced internally, and much of Gaza’s infrastructure has been carpet-bombed, destroying hospitals, schools, universities, residential units, bakeries, religious sites, archives, and government buildings and facilities.

Israel has waged a full scale war on Palestinian educational institutions. In Gaza, 11 of 14 universities are completely destroyed including the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG), Al-Azhar University, and the North Gaza branch of Al-Quds Open University. Israeli airstrikes targeted and killed renowned Palestinian intellectuals including, Sufyan Tayeh, world-leading scientist and President of IUG, and the prominent poet and English literature professor Refaat Alareer of IUG. Israeli bombs have destroyed over 239 government schools and 50 United Nations Refugee Works Agency (UNRWA) schools. Thousands of students, staff, and educators have been killed and more than 88, 000 students in Gaza have been deprived of their right to education. Crucially, these actions have been supported and facilitated by the United States and other leading western powers.

This holiday season, we stand with Palestinians everywhere in calling for (1) an immediate and permanent ceasefire; (2) unrestricted and immediate entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza; (3) ending Israel’s siege on Gaza; (4) ending attacks on educational and health institutions in Palestine.

This call is issued by Scholars Against the War on Palestine (SAWP), a transnational cross-disciplinary coalition of scholars, working to advance the Palestinian call “to take urgent action to stop Israel’s current war and genocide in Gaza.”

Co-sponsored by Scientists for Palestine and Scholars for Palestine (UK)

Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only