Princeton University community statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people

The following is a guest contribution and reflects the authors’ views alone. For information on how to submit an article to the Opinion Section, click here.

We, members of the Princeton University community, condemn the ongoing attacks on the Palestinian people in Gaza by the Israeli armed forces, which represent the latest chapter of a nearly-fifteen-year blockade that has transformed the territory into a prison for its two million inhabitants, most of whom descend from refugees expelled and driven from their homes during the Nakba (1947–49) that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel.

We condemn the displacement of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem — part of a decades long campaign of warfare, expulsion, unequal residency rights, and discriminatory planning policies that advances the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem.

We mourn all loss of life. We also refuse the “two-sides” and “evenhandedness” narrative that ignores and conceals the meaningful differences between Israel — one of the most heavily militarized states in the world that receives $3.8 billion in military aid annually from the United States — and a Palestinian population resisting occupation and oppression.

We stand by Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem in calling Israel’s systemic discrimination and violence by its proper name: Apartheid. The brutal system that controls Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is ideologically founded upon Jewish supremacy, rules over the lives of Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel alike, and is practically committed to territorial theft from Palestinians who continue to resist physical removal and existential erasure.

We salute the bravery and will-to-survival of Palestinians — in the Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and within Israel — as they resist the violence of the Israeli military, settler militias, and lynch mobs. We recognize, as they do, that peace with justice in Palestine/Israel is not possible under conditions of military occupation and unending settler-colonial expansionism.

We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their indigenous liberation struggle against forced dispossession by the Israeli settler colonial state. For decades, the ostensible peace process has perpetuated Israel’s land grabs and the violent displacement of Palestinians under the fictions of military necessity and a perpetually postponed “final status” negotiation.

We stand squarely in support of inalienable Palestinian rights that are enshrined in international law. Palestinians have the right to live in freedom. Palestinians have the right to remain in their residences. Palestinians dispossessed by the State of Israel have the right to return home.

We wholeheartedly endorse the Palestine and Praxis open letter and call to action, affirming our own commitments to speaking out in defense of the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people as well as foundational principles of scholarly integrity and academic freedom.

We stand in solidarity with Palestinians and their Jewish Israeli allies, understanding that their struggle is fundamentally entwined with many other movements for equality, justice, and liberation both within the United States and around the world. We join together in rededicating ourselves to working against all forms of racism, colonialism, and injustice at Princeton, in the classroom, on campus, and beyond.

Signed,

Max Weiss, History and Near Eastern Studies

Joshua B. Guild,  African American Studies and History

Julia Elyachar, Anthropology and Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies

Zia Mian, Program on Science and Global Security

Harshini Abbaraju '22, South Asian Progressive Alliance

Abdelhamid Arbab '23, Muslim Students' Association

Benjamin Conisbee Baer, Comparative Literature

Ruha Benjamin, African-American Studies

Eduardo Cadava, English

Vera Candiani, History

Zahid Chaudhary, English

Andrew Cole, English

Mohamed El-Dirany ’18 *19, Princeton Arab Society

Hal Foster, Art & Archaelogy

Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Near Eastern Studies

Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., African American Studies

Lara Harb, Near Eastern Studies

Satyel Larson, Near Eastern Studies

Mariam Mashaal *21, School of Public and International Affairs

Anne McClintock, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Rob Nixon, English and Princeton Environmental Institute

John Oakes '83

Chika Okeke-Agulu, African American Studies and Art & Archaelogy

Dan-El Padilla Peralta, Classics

Gyan Prakash, History

Rachel Price, Spanish and Portugese

Benjamin Roberts '22, Princeton Committee on Palestine

Sarah Sakha '18 

Irene Small, Art & Archaeology

Alex Smith '13 

Tracy K. Smith, Lewis Center for the Arts

Hrishi Somayji GS, Princeton Mutual Aid

Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor, African-American Studies

Below you will find the full list of signatories to the Princeton University Community Statement of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The list is current as of 3:17 p.m., May 18. All members of the Princeton University community are invited to sign here.

Full List of Signatories

Alumni

Katie Horvath ’15

Kelly Roache ’12 *15

Micah Herskind ’19

Michael Liapin ’20

Joshua Leifer ’17

Carson Welch ’19

Louison Sall ’21

Cameron Bell ’16

Janette Lu ’20

Imani Thornton ’18

Francisca Weirich-Freiberg ’21

Jason West ’19

Vincent Lloyd ’03

Michaela Daniel ’21

Yasin Hegazy ’15

Ananya Agustin Malhotra ’20

Stephen Chao ’19

Tori Gorton ’21

Sarah Radwan ’21

Elizabeth Cook ’13

Zeina Mohamed Elsisy ’21

Brittney Watkins ’16

Rebecca Ngu ’20

Nathan Poland ’20

Nourhan Ibrahim ’20

Nicole Ozdowski ’19

Katherine Cion ’18

Nicky Steidel ’18

Katherine Powell ’20

Scott Thode ’20

Maya Rosen ’17

Emily Kunkel ’19

Samuel Prentice ’20

Sayumi Takahashi Harb ’99

Rafael Tafur ’20

Alec Israeli ’21

Saed Al Shonnar ’08

Haeley Ahn ’21

Michelle Moyd ’90

Brandon Holt ’15

Amanda Eisenhour ’21

Nitasha Siddique ’18

Evan Bell ’18

Jordan Stallworth ’21

Carrie Pritt ’20

Robert L. Herbst ’69

Najla Said ’96

Anna Rubin ’15

Osama Hassan ’18

Nicholas Judt ’20

Chelsea Mayo ’14

Soraya Morales Nuñez ’18

Rami Farran ’19

Vayne Ong ’20

Alia Wood ’20

Peyton Morgan ’15

Mason Herson-Hord ’15

Sebastian Witherspoon ’19

Maya von Ziegesar ’19

Hilde Creager ’15

Nathaniel Moses ’19

Aída Piccato ’19

Nadirah Farah Foley ’11

Hema Lochan ’16

Dayton Martindale ’15

Benjamin Laufer ’19

Anna Zabel ’19

Farah Amjad ’16

Sami Hermez ’11

Preston Johnston ’21

Bassam Alalawi ’19

Wilglory Tanjong ’18

Layla Varkey ’19

Robia Amjad ’18

Asia Kaiser ’21

Hannah Wang ’21

Masha Miura ’21

Shanaz Deen ’21

Anna Macknick ’21

Rosie Vasen ’21

Vic Panata ’21

Julia Walton ’21

Nora Wildberg ’21

Kamya Yadav ’21

Aisha Tahir ’21

Thea Zalabak ’21

Daniel Benitez ’21

Avner Goldstein ’21

Sophie Li ’21

Ian Walling *21, Politics

Kimia Shahi *21, Art and Archaeology

Fatima Khan *21, School of Public and International Affairs

Mark Lee *21, School of Public and International Affairs

Joel Martinez *21, Psychology

Meghana Mungikar *21, School of Public and International Affairs

Emily Chen ’17 *21, School of Public and International Affairs

Faculty and Staff

Wendy Belcher, Comparative Literature and African-American Studies

Sarah Chihaya, English

Arcadio Díaz-Quiñones, Spanish and Portuguese, Emeritus

Daniel Sheffield, Near Eastern Studies

Nicole Legnani, Spanish and Portugese

Shariffa Ali, Theater

Karen Emmerich, Comparative Literature

Daniel Garber, Department of Philosophy

Katie Chenoweth, French and Italian

Anne McClintock, Gender and Sexuality Studies, American Studies and HMEI

Sara Al-Sayed, Program on Science and Global Security

Franz Prichard, East Asian Studies

Aleksandar Hemon, Creative Writing, Lewis Center for the Arts

Steven Chung, East Asian Studies

Colleen Asper, Lewis Center for the Arts

Patricia Blessing, Art & Archaeology

Olga Hasty, Slavic

Gayle Salamon, English and Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies

Eve Aschheim, Lewis Center for the Arts

Sylvia Chan-Malik, American Studies

Gavin Steingo, Music

Nicholas Risteen, Princeton Writing Program

Adrienne M Raphel, Princeton Writing Program

Miguel Centeno, School of Public and International Affairs and Sociology

Ilyana M Kuziemko, Economics

Christina León, English

Pedro Meira Monteiro, Spanish and Portuguese

Eartha Mae Guthman, PhD, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Eric Altman, Sociology

Jason Rhode 

Judith Weisenfeld, Religion

Monica Youn ’93, Lewis Center for the Arts

John Borneman, Anthropology

Robbie Richardson, English

Z Wan Yang, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Princeton Mutual Aid

Graduate Students

EB Saldaña GS, Anthropology

Elis Mendoza GS, Architecture

Abigail Schoenfeld GS, Near Eastern Studies

Jessica Womack GS, Art & Archaeology

Maia Silber GS, History

Tina Wei GS, Philosophy

Guillermo Herrera Nimmagadda *22, School of Public and International Affairs

Charmaine Branch *24, Art and Archaeology

Jorge Yanar GS, Neuroscience

Henry Gomory *22, Sociology

Disha Karnad Jani GS, History

Raisa Chowdhury *22, School of Public and International Affairs

Aditi Rao GS, Classics

Rob Konkel GS, History

Max Ridge GS, Politics

Linda McNulty Perez GS, Classics

Mostafa Heddaya GS, Art and Archaeology

Zainab Amjad  *22, School of Public and International Affairs

Lina Abushouk GS, English

Francis Torres GS, School of Public and International Affairs

Christian Bischoff GS, English

Isabel Lockhart GS, English

Gaby Nair GS, Politics

Paul Eberwine GS, Classics

Chelsey Clark *24, Psychology

Huda Al Alawi *25, Geosciences

Cheima Belhadad *2018, Architecture

Alex Nguyen GS, Neuroscience

Undergraduate Students

Raneem El Torky ’22

Zora Arum ’22

Chaya Holch ’23

Ellen Li ’22

Eric Periman ’23

Zachariah Sippy ’23

Josiah Gouker ’22

Arielle Rivera ’23

Meredith Gallagher ’24

Fernanda Romo ’22

Lara Katz ’24

Destiny Allen ’24

Sam Bisno ’24

Megan Pan ’22

Christina Im ’22

Zoha Enver ’23

Temi Ayeni ’24

Asad Hussein ’22

Natasha Montiel ’22

Nimrah Naseer ’23

Nader Alkhabbaz ’22

Elizabeth Zheleznyakova ’23

Shazra Raza ’24

Justin Coon ’22

Kavindya Dalawella ’22

Sayf Addassi ’23

Areeq Hasan ’24

MiKayla Green ’22

Naser Al-Fawakhiri ’22

Mina Musthafa ’22

Nemo Newman ’23

Omar Zakaria ’22

Rohit Narayanan ’22

Adele Peng ’24

Frelicia Tucker ’22

Anecia Henry ’23

Angelica Qin ’23

Jeffrey Liao ’24

Cole Meyer ’24

Adelina Rolea ’22

Thanya Begum ’23

Shireen Amna Waraich ’24

Claire Middleton ’24

Bobby Shell ’23

Hannah Reynolds ’22

Mohamed Alghondakly ’23

Yusuf Kocaman ’23

Sakura Price ’23

Aria Lupo ’24

Jeremy Bernius ’22

Olivia Cao ’24

Kristal Grant ’24

Liam Seeley ’23

Chioma Ugwonali ’24

Sheherzad Jamal ’23

Brittani Telfair ’22

Dusu Sidibay ’24

Athena Chu ’24

Maya Chande’ 24

Hifsa Chaudhry ’22

Fawaz Ahmad ’22

Hannah Faughnan ’23

Saareen Junaid ’23

Celine Pham ’24

Sameer Riaz ’24

Safa Firas ’23

Mohamed Amir Touil ’24

Wafa Zaka ’22

Karlo Ascue ’23

Peter Taylor ’22

Thussenthan Water-Angelo ’24

TJ Sell ’22

Faraz Awan ’24

Jamie Pelling ’22

Ben Small ’24

Yenet Tafesse ’24

Noel Peng ’22

Emily Bender ’24

Aliha Mughal ’23

Christopher Lugo ’22

Kathleen Song ’23

Akhila Bandlora ’24

Joseph Feng ’22

David Eniola ’23

Nausheen Rajan ’22

Bashar Eid ’24

Tamica Perera ’22

Faraaz Godil ’24

Ameena Faruki ’22

Manar Talab ’23

Daniel Wey ’22

Micah Newberger ’23

Tiffany Huang ’23

Diego Ayala ’22

Marissa Michaels ’22

Aliya Ismagilova ’22

Aneela Kanhai ’22

Magnus von Ziegesar ’25

Noah Harrigan ’24

Anika Kahoo ’22

Muskan Effendi ’24