Editor's Note: This op-ed is part of a series of contributions related to the Israel-Gaza war. Letters and op-eds are sent in by community members and do not represent the beliefs of The Daily Tar Heel. The other op-eds related to this conflict can be found here.
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We, the undersigned faculty, staff and graduate students of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, are writing to join the widespread calls for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the blockade and an end to Israel’s ongoing occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
We mourn the continuing, immense loss of life in Israel and Palestine. We believe that an understanding of such loss must be situated within the historical and political context of ongoing colonial oppression. The prevalent “both sides” narrative ignores the stark difference between a militarized settler colonial state backed by global superpowers and a stateless colonized population resisting oppression.
We are resolute in our solidarity with the Palestinian people and affirm the Palestinian struggle for liberation and its connections to the ongoing struggles for liberation from the racial violence of militaries, borders and police across the world.
This statement has been signed by more than 150 faculty and graduate students at UNC.
— Michelle Robinson, associate professor, American studies
Ariana Vigil, professor, women’s and gender studies
