Hegoa's solidarity with Palestine

In October 2023, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, described the consequences of Israel’s attacks on Gaza as “carnage”. Now, after a year of destruction in Gaza, the official number of Palestinians killed has reached 41,500, with thousands missing—many of them believed to be buried under rubble—thousands injured and an unknown number detained. Almost the entire population of Gaza has been forcibly displaced on several occasions, with no place in the Strip that is safe and secure from Israeli bombardment. In addition, Israel has imposed restrictions on humanitarian aid, with catastrophic consequences in terms of deaths from widespread disease and famine. In turn, hundreds of people have been killed and thousands detained in the West Bank as part of a comprehensive attack on Palestine.

The destruction of Gaza, after 16 years of a strict Israeli blockade, has been thorough and systematic, affecting entire residential neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools, universities, libraries, museums, archives and other civilian infrastructure. The deliberate demolition of educational and cultural infrastructures, the murder of thousands of students and teachers in Gaza, the ongoing harassment, persecution and censorship of students and staff of educational institutions elsewhere in the Palestinian territory and Israel (also against the minority of Israelis critical of such actions) are destroying Palestinian scientific and cultural heritage.

We condemn the perpetration of a genocide and ethnocide in Palestine, made possible by the inaction of the international community, as well as by the complicity of the governments of the United States and European countries, amidst shrinking civic space, evident in the crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

In light of this situation, as the Institute for Development Studies and International Cooperation, Hegoa, stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people and joins the calls for:

1. An immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to all restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza, along with the end to attacks against the Palestinian population in the West Bank and elsewhere in Palestine.

2. The release of all abducted persons and those arbitrarily detained and imprisoned.

3. Increased international pressure on the state of Israel through academic, political, economic, cultural and sporting boycotts as long as the apartheid of the Palestinian people persists.

4. Decolonisation and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, as well as recognition of the right to self-determination and independence of the Palestinian people to decide freely on their future and form of government.