Beginning on 12 July 2006 the State of Israel began a massive military assault against Lebanon which continues until today. At least 900 civilians have been killed. The infrastructure of Lebanon has been devastated. Roads, bridges, and the airport have been bombed and are not usable. Civilians live under a condition of constant bombardment and siege. Homes and villages have been razed to the ground. Access to the outside world, to medical care and relief, and to resources of food and water is severely compromised.
This assault does not stand alone, but participates in earlier and continuing attacks by Israel against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank.
We, Jewish writers, scholars, poets, translators, and artists of diverse national origin, offer this open letter in order to communicate our solidarity with our Lebanese and Palestinian colleagues who are living under siege.
We wish to register before the international community our grave concern at the growing violence carried out by the State of Israel against the peoples of Lebanon and Palestine. Our concern is amplified by the condoning of this violence, and the deaths which it has caused, on the part of Jewish leaders, institutions and organizations in Israel, Europe, the United States of America and elsewhere who have labeled each "collateral damage."
We share our sorrow for all of the lives that have been so uselessly damaged and cut short, and recognize that the current attacks by the State of Israel form a part of a long history in which Israel has sought to dispossess the Palestinian people and to erase from memory the history of this dispossession, erecting a state upon the ruins of the lives of others.
We reject the logic that the State of Israel and those who speak for it require - a logic which demands that human beings be separated according to religion, language, nation of origin, and situation of ethnic or cultural belonging, and we reject the political application of this logic in all of its legal and juridical forms and manifestations.
We reject all attempts on the part of the State of Israel, its spokespeople, leadership, institutions and political parties, to speak on behalf of Jews as such - to speak for our concerns or aspirations, for our hopes or fears, for our pasts or for our futures.
We affirm that any attempt to impose a military solution upon the "Middle East conflict" participates in the violence which initiated it. Such measures shall only prolong and amplify the suffering which the peoples of the region continue to endure.
Sincerely,
Professor Ammiel Alcalay, Queens College & CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA
Livia Alexander, New York, NY, USA
Professor Daniel Amit, Istituto di Fisica, La Sapienza, Roma
Leeam Azulay-Yagev, New York, NY, USA
Sigal Barak, Tel Aviv, Israel
Chana Bloch, Berkeley, CA, USA
Naomi Braine, Sociologist, New York, NY , USA
Professor Sally Charnow, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, USA
John Comaroff, University of Chicago, American Bar Foundation, Chicago, IL, USA
Professor Alexander Elinson, Hunter College, New York, USA
Elaine Elinson, San Francisco, CA, USA
Sulaf Elsalfiti, Engineer, Canada
Professor David Theo Goldberg, University of California, Irvine, USA
Brigham M. Golden, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Marilyn Hacker, City College & CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY, USA
Adam Horowitz, Philadelphia, PA, US
Hubert Krivine, Physicist, Paris University
Susan Landau, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Professor Robert V. Lange, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA
Colombe Leland, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Professor Mark LeVine, University of California, Irvine, USA
Shane Minkin, New York University, New York, NY, USA
Dr. Marcy Newman, Visiting Professor, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
Michael Palm, New York University, New York, NY, USA
Professor Gabriel Piterberg, UCLA, USA
Avi Raz, University of Oxford, UK (Israeli citizen)
Loren Ryter, Leiden, the Netherlands
Sarah Sachs, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Professor Jeffrey Sacks, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Catherine Samary, Economist, Paris University
Elaine G. Schwartz, Ph.D., Albuquerque, NM, USA
Evalyn F. Segal, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Psychology, San Diego State University, USA
Sam Sternin, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Max Weiss, Stanford University, Beirut, Lebanon/Berkeley, CA, USA
