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Academics4Peace [1]

[]

Date: 2023-12 

President Biden,

We, the undersigned academics and supporters, call on the US to lead the way in negotiating an immediate and lasting ceasefire, implementing a hostage-prisoner exchange, and supplying urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The human toll is unbearable, with both sides committing grave violations of the Geneva Conventions and humanitarian law. Some 1,200 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, close to 7,000 wounded, and 240 taken hostage. Hamas committed atrocious crimes that day, including rape.

Since then, a staggering 15,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombing, the majority of them women and children. Tens of thousands are wounded, 7,000 are still missing under the rubble, and - in what amounts to a humanitarian disaster - most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are starving, displaced, and deprived of water, electricity, and medicine.

We denounce the October 7 attacks. At the same time, 75 years of displacement, 56 years of occupation, and 16 years of blockade have generated an ever-worsening spiral of violence that can only be stopped with a political solution. Israel’s continued apartheid in the West Bank, administrative detention (jail without trial) of 2000 civilians, and daily terrorizing of Palestinians by armed settlers, are causing an escalation of violence. This historic injustice continues unchecked because the US allows Israel to flout binding UN Security Council Resolutions.

We call on the US to stop its unconditional support of Israel's assault on Gaza and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. Ideas for a political resolution abound; they require political will. The US must set the tone for a paradigm shift, from managing the conflict to solving it within a short and reasonable timeframe.

Two peoples live and will continue living between the Jordan river and the sea. The only way forward is recognizing the right of both to self-determination and full equality.

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[1] Url: https://sites.google.com/view/israel-elephant-in-the-room/new-biden-stop-the-assault-on-gaza

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