July 1, 2020

The undersigned student groups are in fierce opposition to the Israeli-US annexation plan. With Trump’s blessing, the Israeli regime continues to steal more and more Palestinian land, tearing families from their homes and siphoning essential natural resources, maintaining its goal of Zionist supremacy from the river to the sea.

Illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank have stolen Palestinian lives, land, and livelihoods for over half a century, and Trump’s green light will formalize their theft. While this is indeed a moment of crisis, Palestinians have been resisting systematic Israeli violence for decades while the US bankrolls and politically enables Israeli atrocities.

Annexation means further entrenching a settler-colonial project which imposes apartheid walls that separate families, military checkpoints that brutalize workers daily, settlement construction that destroys centuries-old olive groves, and unequal rights based on race and religion as the permanent reality for Palestinians.

Talks of formal annexation, beginning as soon as today (July 1st), must be understood for what they are: the continuation and expansion of Israel’s colonization and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Land theft and resource expropriation are not policy changes. Reducing Israeli annexation to this single moment distracts from ongoing Zionist settler-colonialism and prevents us from mobilizing towards justice and liberation in Palestine, from Ramallah to Gaza City.

Annexation of the West Bank is another tactic of Israel’s separation policy, which aims to further isolate political, cultural, economic, and familial connections to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to fragment the Palestinian people and ultimately disrupt their potential for liberatory unity.

People across the US are rising up against anti-Blackness and the systems of policing and incarceration that are central to upholding White supremacy. We are inspired by the demands from Black organizers to defund and abolish the police, and rebuild Black communities. We amplify these demands at home as we demand that the US divest from Israeli atrocities and uphold a vision of liberation for all people by investing in justice.

As students across North America, we demand an end to the Israeli colonization of Palestine, and US support for apartheid at home and abroad. The fight for Palestinian freedom does not start or stop on July 1st. We reaffirm our commitment to advancing Palestinian self-determination, and will continue to work on our campuses and in our communities to uplift Palestinian demands for justice, liberation, and the right of return.

SIGNATORIES:

California State University, Fullerton Students for Justice in Palestine
Bard College Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Maryland Students for Justice in Palestine
Brown University Students for Justice in Palestine
​Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Chicago
University of Houston Students for Justice in Palestine
Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine
Butler University Students for Justice in Palestine
Occidental College Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California - Davis Students for Justice in Palestine
New York University School of Law Students for Justice in Palestine
University of Washington Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights
Earlham College Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Students for Justice in Palestine
Santa Monica College Students for Justice in Palestine
Northwestern University Students for Justice in Palestine
McGill University Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights
University of California - Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine
McGill University Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights
Rutgers University - New Brunswick Students for Justice in Palestine
Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine
University of California - Irvine Students for Justice in Palestine
Students for Justice in Palestine Chicago
University of Massachusetts - Amherst Students for Justice in Palestine
Students for Justice in Palestine at University of South Florida
University of California - Los Angeles Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine
Kingston Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (Queen’s University)
Students for Justice in Palestine at University of South Carolina
Students for Justice in Palestine Arizona State University
Chapman Students for Justice in Palestine
Students for Justice in Palestine at University of California - Los Angeles
Palestine Solidarity Committee (Austin, Texas)
Students for Justice in Palestine Florida State University
University of Southern California Students for Justice in Palestine
San Diego State University Students for Justice in Palestine
Macalester Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights
Students for Justice in Palestine University of Delaware