Israeli attacks on the Palestinian knowledge ecosystem

It is believed that Israel intentionally targeted Gaza’s universities and other educational facilities in order to destroy the ecology of Palestinian knowledge and learning. All twelve colleges have now seen airstrikes. Al-Azhar University and the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) were among Israel’s targets, and as a consequence, years’ worth of research conducted by Palestinian academics, researchers, and students was destroyed.

An Israeli strike on the university claimed the lives of Prof. Sufian Tayeh, the President and Vice Chancellor of the IUG, as well as members of his family. The IUG is the premier academic organization in Gaza, and Prof. Tayeh was a globally recognized researcher. Ninety-odd university academics have been slain in the continuing attack, including Dr. Refaat Alareer, an English literature professor at the IUG.

The Palestinian Ministry of Education released statistics showing that up until January 20, 2024, there were approximately 4,400 students killed and 7,800 injured in the attacks, along with 231 teachers and administrators killed and 756 injured. Additionally, 378 state-run schools and those operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza were completely or partially destroyed. Since the conflict started in October 2023, at than 35,000 people have died, including at least 97 journalists and media professionals.

Blinne Ní Ghralaigh, representing South Africa before the International Court of Justice, stated: “Nearly ninety thousand Palestinian university students are unable to attend university in Gaza. Nearly all colleges, several bookstores, libraries, and more than 60% of the country’s schools have all suffered damage or destruction. The education possibilities for Gaza’s youth have been completely destroyed by the hundreds of academics and instructors who have been slain, including prominent Palestinian intellectuals and university deans.

Numerous cultural heritage locations, like as archives, museums, and libraries, have also been destroyed, erasing the people’s emblems and recorded history.

In a letter to the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Muhannad Ayyash, a professor of sociology at Mount Royal University in Canada, described it as an attempt to “erase the Palestinian existence from history” and “erase Palestine from the political map.” This is how Palestinian intellectuals interpret it. Prof. Ayyash claims that the destruction of Palestinian knowledge, knowledge producers, and knowledge-producing institutions amounts to nothing less of epistemicide.

The term “epistemicide” refers to the destruction, devaluation, silence, or death of a knowledge system. The expression “death of knowledge — of a subordinated culture caused by colonization, oppression, and genocide” was coined by sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos. It might be ideological/epistemological as well as military. It includes taking something or destroying something in the name of freedom, attacking someone in the name of peace, taking a life in the name of life’s sanctity, and violating someone’s rights in the name of rights protection.

Following their expulsion in 1948 to make room for Israel, the upper class of educated Palestinians made rebuilding the educational system their first priority. For them, education served as a catalyst for personal growth and life reconstruction. With the intention of fostering significant cross-cultural exchanges, scientific discoveries, historical knowledge, innovative literary works, and the improvement of Palestinian society, a large number of experts relocated to Gaza from various locations. It’s debatable whether they were successful, but Palestine is undoubtedly one of the places with the greatest rates of literacy. The World Bank estimates that 97.51% of Palestinians are literate. The phrase “world’s best educated refugees” refers to Palestinians.

Academicians throughout the globe are aware of this, which is why professors and students at US universities and those in other nations have taken up arms. International campuses are feeling the effects of what is occurring in Palestinian educational institutions.

A number of campuses have seen the establishment of encampments in protest of the US government’s ongoing moral, military, financial, and diplomatic backing for Israeli aggression. Approximately ten institutions reported to the police, and 645 people were taken into custody; many of them were eventually freed. Protest centers have emerged at highly esteemed institutions, Columbia and Boston; from these schools, over 200 arrests were made. A sizable portion of the faculty has endorsed or participated in the demand for a ceasefire in Gaza. Administrators at certain colleges have taken harsh measures against disruptive students, leading to the expulsion of some of them.

There have been reports of altercations between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protestors at the University of California, Los Angeles, among other locations.

To prevent damaging and polarizing missteps in Palestinian education, the international community has to step up its efforts. Decades pass while rebuilding the knowledge system, just hours are needed to destroy it.

Unfortunately, colleges in Israel’s allying nations have historically shunned academic exchange arrangements with Palestinian institutions, leading to the marginalization of Palestinian universities. Conversely, Israeli university students were invited to partake in the advantages of global cooperation. There are now 60 academic partnerships between Israeli universities and Canadian post-secondary institutions. In addition to pledging help for the reconstruction of the crippled Palestinian system, academics, faculty groups, and unions—particularly in the developed world—need to reflect and work to change public opinion in favor of ending the conflict.