The Executive Board of the Society for Medical Anthropology voted to adopt the statement that appears below. We believe that, as medical anthropologists, it is important for us to address how the Israeli campaign continues to impact civilians, medical facilities and health professionals, thereby increasing the deleterious health impacts of occupation, blockade, land expropriation, shortages of food and medicine, and massive inequities in the availability of health care in the Occupied Territories. We likewise wished to express our support for actions needed to rebuild health infrastructures and services.
We would like to make the process clear. The statement was brought to the Executive Board for consideration, and a majority of members voted to approve our co-signature of this statement. The statement thus expresses the collective position of the Executive Board, but does not claim to represent those of all SMA members or of the American Anthropological Association as a whole.
The SMA Executive Board
AnthroBoycott, October 16 Statement
The AnthroBoycott Collective stands for safety, justice, equality, and freedom for all people and calls on the US government to stop the imminent genocide of Palestinians.We mourn the many Palestinian and Israeli lives already taken. At this critical moment, we call for the protection of life from further devastating violence. We call on members of the AAA and all scholars to pressure their elected representatives to end Israel’s war on Palestinians in Gaza.Israel is currently enacting brutal collective punishment of 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity and denying people access to food, drinking water, electricity, fuel, and communication with the world. Israel is bombarding Gaza amidst open calls for war crimes and genocide coming from the Israeli state and military leaders. Lethal violence against Palestinians and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian villages in the West Bank are also escalating. Politicians around the world, including many of our own representatives, are enabling this brutality through statements of unconditional support of Israel and through massive shipments of weapons.As faculty and students based in North America and Europe, it is imperative that we raise our voices and urge our universities and academic associations to speak out for full Palestinian rights and demand that our governments cease arming Israel and sanctioning its genocidal violence against Palestinians in Gaza.This is above all a time to act against an impending genocide, as well as a time for us as anthropologists, students, and educators to teach and learn. Corporate media in the U.S. and Europe overwhelmingly supports its own colonial and settler-colonial perspectives, and participates in the racialized dehumanization of Palestinians.It is critical to pay attention to the history and context of what is happening in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel. No one can be safe until occupation, siege, and injustice end. Below are some links to credible sources to help you understand:1- Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Israel’s 75-year settler-colonial system across historic Palestine2- Israel’s Apartheid Regime: Israel’s apartheid regime that numerous legal scholars and human rights organizations have documented and named as such3- Settler Violence: the rising levels of violence that Israeli settlers, emboldened by their far-right government, use to terrorize Palestinians forcing them to leave their homes and lands4- Calls for Ethnic Cleansing: the increasingly bold calls and actions on the ground by Israel’s fascistic government for the ethnic cleansing of the rest of Palestine5- Israel’s Permit Regime: the system of military dictatorship that controls every aspect of Palestinian movement in the occupied territory6- Israel’s Permanent Siege of Gaza and Humanitarian Impact: the stifling 16-year siege of the Gaza Strip that has drastically reduced Palestinians’ life chances on every measure;7- Hamas, Armed Struggle, and Resistance in Gaza: the history of Palestinian resistance in Gaza and the emergence of Hamas8- Prisoners: Israel’s arbitrary deprivation of Palestinians’ liberty, and the steadily deteriorating conditions of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israel jails9- Refugees and The Great March of Return: refugees’ inability to return to their homes, noting that a large majority of people in Gaza are refugees dispossessed of their lands in 194810- International Law: the unwillingness of the international community to hold Israel to account or uphold internationally agreed norms and law11- Jewish organizations, media outlets, and experts on genocide calling to stop the genocide12- Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS): what you can do to support Palestinian freedom, justice, and equality through BDS