Archaeologists Against Apartheid and Genocide
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archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Archaeologists Against Apartheid and Genocide
@archagainstaparth.bsky.social
700 followers 800 following 210 posts
An international and decentralised organisation of archaeologists committed to taking action against apartheid worldwide.
Open letter to EAA: https://forms.gle/En38n5ccH4YHjFjY7
https://linktr.ee/archaeosagainstapartheid
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archagainstaparth.bsky.social
15. Palestine is the Vanguard for Our Liberation: Insights from the Students’ Intifada at CUNY Dasha M., Luma Qashou, Parviz Behrangi, Caroline Reynolds and Amal Haddad 16. Becoming Combat Intellectuals: The Student Intifada at CUNY Author collective CUNY for Palestine 17. Forging Anticolonial Solidarity in the Hour of Genocide Haki/Pláticas on Complicity, Dissent and Protest in a Belgian University Omar Jabary Salamanca, Leila Mouhib, Elsa Roland, Jihane Mhand Yamna and Nathan Delbrassine 18. Still Balfour’s University: Upholding Al-Thawabet in the Face of ‘Necro-Bureaucracy’ Danya Delfs, Hajar Ibrahim and Suha Shroof 19. Balfour’s Imperial Legacy: Genocide and the Incommensurable Politics of Decolonial Redress Shaira Vadasaria and Samer Abdelnour
October 20, 2025 at 1:12 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
www.routledge.com/Palestine-an... @routledgelit.bsky.social
1st Edition Palestine and the Western Academe Fighting the Exception, Defending Epistemic Justice Edited By Walaa Alqaisiya, Nicola Perugini Copyright 2026 Introduction: Palestine and the Global Struggle for Epistemic Justice Walaa Alqaisiya and Nicola Perugini 1. Resistance to Repression and Back Again: The Movement for Palestinian Liberation in US Academia Lara Deeb and Jessica Winegar 2. ‘Axis of Evil’ and the Academic Repression of Palestine Solidarity Somdeep Sen 3. Antisemitism and Zionism: The Internal Operations of the IHRA Definition Neve Gordon 4. The Free Speech Exception to Palestine Steven Salaita 5. Witnessing the Architecture of a Cancellation: The Silencing of Voices on Palestine in Austrian Academia Author Collective scăpa شاهد, Alina Achenbach, Ruben Hordijk, Masawa Kawaumi, Masab Rood and Alexandra Tatar 6. Erasing Palestine in Germany’s Educational System: The Racial Frontiers of Liberal Freedom Anna Younes and Hanna Al-Taher 7. Intent to Harm: Settler Colonial Outposts in Psychoanalysis Lara Sheehi 8. Palestine Solidarity and Zionist Backlash in Australian Universities Jumana Bayeh and Nick Riemer 9. Australian Universities in the Gaza Genocide: Managerial Capitulation, Staff and Student Resistance Jumana Bayeh and Nick Riemer 10. A Land Acknowledgment in a Different Key: Palestine, Solidarity and the Disruption of the Liberal Script Brenna Bhandar 11. The Coloniality of Academic Freedom and the Palestine Exception Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores 12. Do Not Cower to Zionists: How Hillel International is Targeting Anti-Zionist Work on North American College Campuses Maura Finkelstein 13. Scholasticidal Tendencies: Notes on Academia During Genocide Basma Hajir and Mezna Qato 14. Palestine and the Ends of Theory Max Ajl
October 20, 2025 at 1:11 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
A cornerstone of the political platform of Israel’s most extremist ministers, most recently of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Betzalel Smotrich, is the destruction of the Islamic buildings of Haram al-Shareef in order to build a Jewish Temple. In August 2025 Smotrich participated in an event commemorating the passing of Rabbi Kook, and told the Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lior, “I will give the money, you will build the Temple” While this project might seem farfetched, it attracts enormous moral and financial support from both Jewish and Christian Zionists. Both groups harbour the belief that such a move will bring about the second coming of Jesus, and are the main target audience for El’ad’s tourist programs in the archaeological areas under their management. El’ad’s role in influencing political agendas is not new. Prior to the centering of the Temple, El’ad’s guided tours pivoted around a single concept: the site of the city of David as original Jerusalem, and Jerusalem as the capital of the Israelite kingdom. The guided tours made only passing references to the Temple or any other topic related to Jewish worship. This shift, away from the City of David as an original capital (to this new, Temple-oriented, narrative), coincided with Donald Trump’s electoral campaign, after which he swiftly moved to officially recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This is hardly coincidence; one of Trump’s megafunders is Miriam Adelson—billionaire and also major benefactor of El’ad. She is widely recognised as one of the main influences on Trump’s foreign policy. In short, the long-standing plans to destroy al-Aqsa mosque in order to build a Jewish temple are not a remote possibility. Practical steps have been taken towards this objective, including by the so-called Temple Institute, which has collected enough donations to build a “Third Temple”, prepared implements for cultic practice, and even offered training for priestly roles. Part of the hefty donations received, from Jewish and Christian religious fanatics alike, are even dedicated to breeding a perfect “pure” red heifer required for the consecration of a Jewish temple on the site. Amidst Israel’s Gaza genocide and regional landgrabs, many IOF soldiers are also driven by this Holy War ideology. Learn More https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg42v2r10kyo.amp https://www.newarab.com/analysis/israeli-settler-push-greater-israel-syria-lebanon https://www.jerusalemstory.com/en/blog/how-settlers-warp-history-silwan Silwanic: the Wadi Hilweh Information Centre https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-west-bank-settlers-red-cows-third-temple?utm https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/10/02/western-wall-tunnel-opening-jerusalem-israel-palestine-peace-514531 https://www.palestinechronicle.com/passoversacrifice-extremist-jews-try-to-smuggle-goats-into-al-aqsa-compound/
September 17, 2025 at 3:37 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
The underground connection between the Silwan pool and the Western Wall plaza has since been completed, and was officially inaugurated on the 15th of September, in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister and wanted war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. This represents a significant and worrying step in what Palestinians have long identified and documented as an intentional “Judaization” of Jerusalem; in other words, the obliteration of the city’s Arab, Muslim, and Christian history and character. Through this tunnel, tourists will be able to walk through an imaginary past Jerusalem, without having to even see the real Palestinian community living above their heads. Read in its broader political context, though, this move really has much more foreboding connotations. El’ad’s archaeological excavations in the lower part of the tunnel—yet another example of an illegal research dig in occupied territory—have uncovered a few meter-long stretch of a Roman road. The road, flanked by porches probably hosting shops, was dubbed “the Pilgrims’ road”, and has been instrumental in re-focusing the story of the area as being connected with the ascent of Jewish worshippers towards the second Jewish temple site. Since that moment, “the Temple”, and Jewish worship on the Haram al-Shareef, have become the key focus of the story conveyed by El’ad in its guided tours. Over the years, and thanks in part to El’ad, the Jewish Temple has taken centre stage in Zionist political discourse. Recently, an increasing number of Jewish worshippers have broken a long standing religious prohibition, and begun entering the al-Aqsa esplanade to perform acts of worship, including attempting the ritual sacrifice of animals, smuggled live past the gates. This is especially problematic as the Haram al-Shareef is under formal protection of the Jordanian Minister of the Awqaf (religious endowments), and Israel has no sovereignty over the complex
September 17, 2025 at 3:33 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Aside from and prior to archaeological excavations, the burrowing of tunnels and the expansion of pre-existing subterranean water channels is a longstanding practice by imperial and colonial agents in Jerusalem. In 1867, British envoy Charles Warren explored the network of water cisterns adjacent to the foundations of the Haram al-Shareef, making his way thorugh with explosives. He opened a passageway that lead in the direction of the Dome of the Rock, which was met with strong opposition in the local community. The passageways near the Haram remained sealed until 1967, when the Israeli Minister of Religion reopened them. In 1982, Rabbi Geetz began a clandestine excavation to reopen Warren’s passage, believing that he would find the Ark of the Covenant at its end. Since the time of Warren and his gunpowder, Palestinians have suspected that tunnelling in the Old City is ultimately aimed at the destruction of the al-Aqsa compound. These suspicions are well-founded, as around the same time as Geetz’ digging, a plot by a Zionist organization to blow up the Dome of the Rock was exposed and foiled. During the 1990s, illegal settler NGOs continued the practice of excavating and expanding underground tunnels, which led in many cases to violent clashes with the Palestinian community. El’ad, too, has inserted itself in this long history of colonial tunnelling. However, they are the only group trying to justify and legitimise the practice of tunnel-digging as archaeological inquiry. The archaeological community has repeatedly condemned these in-tunnel excavations as grave professional misconduct. Archaeology reconstructs the past through the analysis of the layers of dirt and materials that have accumulated in a place, working from the surface downwards. Excavating horizontally in tunnels destroys the sequence of the layering (stratigraphy), preventing an accurate understanding of the chronology, chain of events, and the position of materials within the sequence. Despite the condemnations, tunnelling has become one of El’ad’s most prominent and profitable endeavors. The largest of the tunnels, which El’ad excavated under the main road of the Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood, has undermined the stability of the Palestinian houses that sit above. In 2018, the whole length of the main tunnel, connecting the Silwan pool with the parking lot excavation, was opened to paying tourists. Simultaneously, El’ad obtained management of an area inside the Old City walls that connects with the Buraq Wall (next to the Western Wall plaza, and began to excavate a series of tunnels, connecting the parking lot excavation area and the area inside the Old City, plus another set of tunnels expanding under the ground into what is today the Western Wall plaza.
September 17, 2025 at 3:32 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
In the tradition of colonial/ imperialist biblical archaeology, these excavations proceeded by identifying every material remain of the past uncovered in Silwan, in light of the narrative that the Bible provides for the area around the pool of Siloam. The Canaanite water source that feeds the lower pool through a rock-cut channel, which the Palestinian community used to fetch drinking water and called ‘Ayn Umm al-Daraj, was interpreted as the water channel that biblical King David is said to have used to conquer the citadel of Yabous. Based on this assumption, the whole area was then interpreted as the biblical “City of David”, and the debate limited to matters of chronology more than of substance. In the Western consciousness, Palestinian Silwan was obliterated. After the Six Day War of 1967, Silwan became part of the occupied territories and fell into a state of institutional neglect—the Israeli municipal authorities systematically ignored the housing and infrastructural needs of its growing population, refusing to issue planning schemes or building permits. The areas immediately surrounding the Old City walls were declared a “National Park”. The boundaries of the park were progressively expanded to include larger and larger areas of Silwan. The legislation of the National Park forbids all alterations to the landscape, unless the Nature and Parks authority issues a special permit. Within this framework, in 1992 a religious, right-wing Zionist illegal settler NGO called El’ad, began to operate in Silwan. Right from the onset of their operation in Silwan, El’ad began to violently expropriate or illegally acquire Palestinian houses to establish a Jewish-only settlement. On the pretext of protection of antiquities, supposedly at risk, this Jewish-only settlement was established in the midst of the areas which had been excavated before 1967. Having failed to gain approval for their original plan of building 200 jewish-only housing units inside the archaeological areas, El’ad decided to focus its efforts on the development of heritage tourism for Zionists, and the funding of excavations. Thus, El’ad created an archaeological park that caters exclusively to Zionist audiences in the heart of Palestinian Silwan. Misappropriating the past and its remains, they constructed a militant narrative aiming to erase Palestinian existence both from the present and the history of Silwan. El’ad’s archaeology-related work proceeded on a double track. On the one hand, in violation of the 1954 Hague convention that prohibits research excavations in occupied territory, they expanded the excavated surface areas in Silwan as much as possible, for example, expropriating a parking lot that served the area and was used for gatherings by the Palestinian community. On the other hand, they also turned their attentions underground.
September 17, 2025 at 3:25 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
On Israeli archaeological malpractice, heritage crimes, and US complicity #archaeology #🏺
Title: Illegal excavations in East Jerusalem—archaeological malpractice in service of Zionism and Israel’s ‘holy war’ in the region Image: Silwan village, occupied East Jerusalem, with the Haram al-Shareef complex and al-Aqsa mosque above. www.alt-arch.org The Palestinian village of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem lies right below the southern corner of Haram al-Shareef, the complex upon which the al-Aqsa mosque rises. On Monday the 15th of September 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio walked below the roads of this village, all the way to the Western Wall plaza inside the Walls of the Old City. This was the grand opening ceremony of a tourist attraction that was not only built in contravention of International Law, and the principles of archaeological methodology, but is also foreboding of grave danger to the status quo that protects the sovereignty of the compound. The area of Silwan has been inhabited con-tinuously since the Bronze Age, and has been the object of archaeological attention from as early as 1838, when British biblical scholar Edward Robinson, in his travels through Ottoman Palestine, iden-tified the pool of water located at the bottom of the hill as the Siloam pool, mentioned in the christian Gospels. A long series of excavation campaigns followed Robinson’s early exploration. During the following century, the area witnessed large scale campaigns led by the German, French and British Schools of Archaeology. The most recent of them, conducted by Dame Kathleen Kenyon, and dubbed by her biographer “the last great imperial excavation”, was interrupted only by the 1967 Six Day War.
September 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Response from the BDS-movement (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) on the EAA. If you are a member, go to the AMBM today and voice your opinion!
September 5, 2025 at 7:17 AM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Archaeologists Against Apartheid urgent call for action! We are not anonymous. We are members of both the EAA&global archaeological community and more committed than ever to holding our representative organisations to account and anti-democratic influences.

aaaeaastatementseptember3rd.tiiny.site
September 3, 2025 at 5:00 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Keep your eyes open for the next campaign, as together we continue to hold our representative organisations to account. In the meantime, the open letter to EAA will be open for continued registration of support. #boycottisrael #archaeology #🏺#eaa2025
OPEN LETTER STILL AVAILABLE TO SIGN WE HAVE SENT THE OPEN LETTER TO EAA, BUT DUE TO REQUESTS TO SIGN, THE LETTER WILL BE KEPT OPEN, SO ARCHAEOLOGISTS OF CONSCIENCE CAN CONTINUE TO SHOW THEIR SUPPORT FOR THIS ACTION. PLEASE DO CONTINUE TO SIGN AND SHARE.
August 19, 2025 at 12:34 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
An infographic with at its centre a pie chart showing the signatories to an open letter to the European Association of Archaeologists, by country/nation. The image is surrounded by further figures which state: In just 2 weeks... ...a total of 1229 archaeology, museum and cultural heritage workers said ‘No’ to Israel’s record of impunity and continued participation in the EAA... ...almost 20%* are current EAA members... *19.24% ...archaeology students, staff, professors; university, museum, private sector and government workers; elders and future archaeologists, all stand with the people of Palestine.
August 18, 2025 at 2:21 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
We are honored to have the endorsement of Professor Mahmoud Hawari of Bethlehem University, Palestine, for the Archaeologists Against Apartheid campaign in support of the Palestinian people. forms.gle/m8De7pW2oG4K... #archaeology #eaa2025 #🏺
As a Palestinian archaeologist, I fully endorse the AAA campaign. For me, this struggle is both professional and personal. Archaeology should be a discipline of care, justice, and truth, yet in Palestine it is repeatedly mobilised to dispossess and dehumanise us as Palestinians; co-opted by Israel as a weapon of erasure, it is used to legitimise settler colonialism and oc-cupation, justify apartheid, and deny the Palestinian people their history and their future. Our archaeological and historical sites are destroyed or appropriated, our heritage looted, and our landscapes trans-formed to erase Palestinian memory. This is part of the same system of violence that demolishes homes, uproots families, and now carries out genocide in Gaza. This campaign is vital because it demands accountability. It insists archaeologists not remain silent or complicit, and that our discipline stand against apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and cultural genocide. I urge colleagues worldwide to endorse this campaign and to ensure archaeology serves justice, dignity, and liberation—not oppression, to join AAA, cut ties and boycott complicit institutions and in-dividuals. Silence is complicity. Prof. Mahmoud Hawari
August 14, 2025 at 10:05 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Professor John Waddell, from the University of Galway, Ireland, has endorsed the Archaeologists Against Apartheid campaign in support of the Palestinian people. forms.gle/RdnXZK93iANv...
#archaeology #eaa2025
"Almost a century ago a great poet writing of his own people said 'Great hatred, little room, Maimed us at the start'. Sadly this is true of Israel today where the actions of its government over many years have sown seeds of conflict and dispute that will last for generations." Prof. John Waddell
August 12, 2025 at 8:29 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
WE HAVE PASSED 1000 SIGNATURES! We are extending the deadline, to give all who want to join this movement the chance to add their signature. Please do sign and share, archaeologists can and should take a stand and make a difference! #🏺 #eaa2025 #archaeology
EXTENDED DEADLINE: FRI. 15TH NEW DEADLINE FOR SIGNATURES: FRIDAY 15TH OF AUGUST. THIS IS TO GIVE EVERYONE THE CHANCE TO SIGN, SO PLEASE CONTINUE TO SHARE AND TALK ABOUT THIS CAMPAIGN AND HOW ARCHAEOLOGY CAN NO LONGER BE COMPLICIT IN ISRAEL’S CRIMES.
August 12, 2025 at 1:59 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Prof. Roberto Macchiarelli has endorsed the AAA campaign in support of the Palestinian people. Prof. Macchiarelli is a renowned palaeoanthropologist, recognized for his research on Pleistocene health and human evolution…https://forms.gle/YkcYuikrqh1DqscR6
#🏺 #eaa2025 #archéologie
"Dans ma carrière d'anthropologue, je me suis occupé des caractéristiques démographiques des nourrissons et des enfants du passé, de leur état de santé, habitudes alimentaires, rythmes et modalités de croissance, style et qualité de vie Pour ce faire, j'ai utilisé des indicateurs osseux et dentaires capables de capturer de manière indélébile ces informations, parfois sous forme de 'cicatrices' des degrés de souffrance.  
Pour moi, il est inconcevable, et cela me cause angoisse et préoccupation, de prendre conscience que, par des décisions politiques et militaires lucides planifiées par des êtres humains—invariablement, encore et encore des hommes adultes—totalement conscients des conséquences de leurs choix (car il y a eu et il y a des choix), les enfants palestiniens subissent aujourd'hui des souffrances psycho-physiques qui marquera de manière indélébile leurs petits corps, même ceux de qui survivront, peut-être, en tentant désespérément de devenir adultes. Contrairement à l'étude du passé, dans ce cas il n'est pas nécessaire de s'interroger sur les causes et de formuler des hypothèses de scénarios plausibles: ici, la cause est la déshumanisation de l'autre.” Roberto Macchiarelli
August 11, 2025 at 8:15 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Thank you all for showing that archaeologists stand with Palestine. With just 1 day left, we ask you to continue to sign, share & talk about the open letter to @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social demanding they do the right & principled thing: #boycottisrael
forms.gle/YkcYuikrqh1D...
#archaeology #🏺#eaa2025
August 11, 2025 at 5:34 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Dr Anna Revedin, former Director of the Italian Institute of Prehistory and Protohistory, has endorsed the Archaeologists Against Apartheid campaign in support of the Palestinian people. #archaeology #🏺 #archaeology🏺 #eaa #archeologia
"Ho firmato perché non si può assistere in silenzio ai crimini dello stato di Israele contro il popolo Palestinese." Prof. Ana Revedin
August 10, 2025 at 9:28 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
560 and counting. Let’s keep it going! Send the open letter link to 5 colleagues (especially at another institute/uni/company) who you think may have missed the open letter, may be nervous to sign it, or may be unsure if they should #archaeology #🏺 #archaeology🏺#eaa2025 forms.gle/xxn4zNo1ms7Z...
White writing on a red background reads: TARGET #2: 1000 SIGNATURES THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT, THE OPEN LETTER TO THE EAA HAS OVER 550 SIGNATURES FROM ARCHAEOLOGISTS ACROSS THE WORLD. KEEP SHARING AND TALKING ABOUT PALESTINE, AND LET’S GET THE LETTER TO 1000 SIGNATURES! SEE CAPTION FOR HOW WE CAN DO THIS.
August 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
If we want our representative orgs to take action to protect Palestinians, to stop the genocide and end apartheid, so must we. With 1 week until the deadline for this open letter to the EAA, take action now!
#archaeology #🏺 #archaeology🏺#eaa2025 forms.gle/ytxEk7dmojjb...
Red writing on white background reads: Week of action for Palestine 1. Read and sign the open letter to EAA 2. Share the link, publicly on your socials, and directly to your colleagues 3. Engage with posts on social media (insta, FB, Bluesky, Twitter): like, comment, tag people, save, and share share share 4. Discuss the campaign with colleagues 5. If you are an EAA member, write directly
August 6, 2025 at 7:50 AM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
#archaeology #archaeology🏺 #🏺 #eaa2025
Target #1: 500 Signatures Thanks to your support, in just over 24 hours, the open letter to EAA has made it past 300 signatures. Can we turn that into 500 by tomorrow? We’re very close! Keep sharing and talking about Palestine. It has never been more urgent!
August 5, 2025 at 11:42 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
Not only does @worldarch.bsky.social need a comprehensive ethical policy regarding Israel (to avoid complicity in war crimes), #wac10 should also stand firmly in solidarity with Palestine, as an indigenous population which has suffered 77 yrs of Israel’s ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and now genocide
7 DEMANDS WE HAVE 7 DEMANDS WHICH WE DELIVERED TO WAC ON MARCH 31ST OF THIS YEAR. THEY ARE: 5. Install a representative of the State of Palestine as part of the ‘Western Asia’ regional college, and call for Palestinian candidates to fill this position. 6. Create a continued financial support fund for Palestinians (those with Palestinian citizenship and those who were forced to leave their homeland as refugees and now hold other citizenships), to attend all future WAC meetings, as long as Israel illegally occupies Palestinian territory. 7. Organise an emergency scholarship at an appropriate university for Palestinian research students. FRIDAY VOTE WE HAVE RECEIVED WORD THAT WAC MAY HOLD A VOTE ON POLICY AND MEASURES RELATED TO ISRAEL AND THEIR CONTINUED VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW, THIS FRIDAY AT THE PLENARY SESSION. THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO SEND A LOUD MESSAGE TO THE WAC COUNCIL AND WAC-10 ATTENDEES: NO BUSINESS AS USUAL UNDER GENOCIDE! WE MUST STAND UP TO ISRAEL! WE MUST BOYCOTT ISRAEL NOW! WE’RE CALLING ON YOU TO FLOOD THE #WAC10 HASHTAG EVERY DAY UNTIL FRIDAY, SO THAT NOBODY IN DARWIN CAN SAY THEY DIDN’T KNOW. POST ON ALL SOCIALS: INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, BLUESKY, TIKTOK...USE BOTH THE HASHTAG #WAC10 & #WACWITHOUTAPARTHEID. FEEL FREE TO USE OUR POSTS OR CREATE YOUR OWN.
June 24, 2025 at 3:26 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
We welcomed @worldarch.bsky.social 's recent decision to exclude from the Darwin congress an archaeologist at a university based in an illegal Israeli settlement on Palestinian land. But we were also alarmed by the oversight which almost led to #wac10 attendees sharing the space with a war criminal.
ACTION! HIJACK #WAC10 NO BUSINESS AS USUAL UNDER GENOCIDE! BEFORE FRIDAY’S PLENARY SESSION AND VOTE, LET’S FLOOD WAC’S HASHTAG #WAC10, SO NOBODY AT THE CONGRESS CAN SAY THEY DIDN’T KNOW. DO BETTER THE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONGRESS JUST AVOIDED ALLOWING AN ISRAELI WAR CRIMINAL ATTEND THE WAC-10 DARWIN CONGRESS. THE ILLEGAL SETTLTEMENT-BASED ARCHAEOLOGIST WAS ACCEPTED TO CHAIR A SESSION, AND HAD HIS NAME PRINTED IN THE PROGRAM, WITH HIS AFFILIATION FALSELY LISTED AS “ARIEL UNIVERSITY, ISRAEL.” WHILE THIS OVERSIGHT WAS A FAILURE ON WAC’S BEHALF (TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW, ITS OWN PRINCIPLES AND ITS DUTY TO ITS MEMBERSHIP), THE TIMELY REMOVAL OF THIS PARTICIPANT FROM THE CONGRESS WAS A WIN FOR THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMMUNITY, WHICH HOLDS EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE AND AIMS TO DO BETTER. WE CONTINUE TO HOLD WAC ACCOUNTABLE, AS WE CALL ON THEM TO DO BETTER, BY PALESTINIANS AND THEIR HERITAGE, AND BY OUR PALESTINIAN COLLEAGUES. 7 DEMANDS WE HAVE 7 DEMANDS WHICH WE DELIVERED TO WAC ON MARCH 31ST OF THIS YEAR. THEY ARE: 1. Respond to calls from our Palestinian colleagues and representative Palestinian civil society and academic organisations to join and support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, by pledging no ties with Israel or with its complicit institutions, and barring official representatives of said institutions in all WAC councils, committees and meetings 2. Publish a new statement condemning the deliberate destruction by the Israeli Occupation Forces of Palestinian cultural heritage and educational institutes in the Gaza Strip. 7 DEMANDS WE HAVE 7 DEMANDS WHICH WE DELIVERED TO WAC ON MARCH 31ST OF THIS YEAR. THEY ARE: 3. Actively engage in establishing a taskforce of non-complicit archaeologists to a) investigate the war crimes of deliberate destruction, looting, illegal excavation, and appropriation of Palestinian cultural heritage, by the Israeli Occupation Forces, Israeli cultural and educational institutions, and armed Israeli settlers (the findings of said investigation should be shared urgently with all WAC members, as well as publicly and with the press), and b) provide assistance and support for the restoration of damaged cultural heritage. 4. Do due diligence in not collaborating with, platforming, or accepting participation of complicit individuals (i.e. suspected war criminals) in all WAC councils, committees and meetings.
June 24, 2025 at 3:26 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
AAA welcomes @worldarch.bsky.social’s decision to exclude from participation at WAC-10 Darwin an archaeologist affiliated with Ariel University, an illegal institute built on illegally occupied Palestinian land, and therefore a war crime.
#wacwithoutapartheid #wac10 #worldarchaeologicalcongress #🏺
A red background with white writing in capital letters that reads: WAC Without Apartheid
June 22, 2025 at 9:46 AM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
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#wac10 #worldarchaeologicalcongress #wacwithoutapartheid #wacwelcomeswarcriminals #archaeology #🏺 #Archaeology🏺
Through their cooperation with the military, all Israeli universities are complicit in genocide. All Israeli universities also carry out excavations of archaeological sites on Palestinian land, celebrated in government and military sponsored conferences. Furthermore, all Israeli universities carry out excavations in cooperation with illegal Jewish settler organisations or their regional councils. We have already discussed here in previous posts how Israeli archaeology has, since its inception, been essential to the apartheid state’s system of oppression against indigenous Palestinians. Here we are stressing, in the most unambiguous terms, the illegality of those archaeology departments and those archaeologists who occupy and operate on Palestinian land internationally recognised as illegally taken by Israel and those settler organisations. We reiterate again the need for the global archaeological community to refuse complicity. Do not recognise, legitimise or normalise the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. Do not collaborate, cooperate or associate with those Israeli archaeologists who are confirmed war criminals. References BDS (2025) ICC Arrest Warrants: No Platforming of Suspected Israeli War Criminals in Academic or Cultural Settings (bdsmovement.net) Maya Wind (2024) Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom NoArielTies.org Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees and Palestine Academy for Science and Technology (2024) Palestinian Academic Unions Commend Global Universities for Ending Ties With Complicit Israeli Universities, Urge Action From Others (bdsmovement.net)
June 19, 2025 at 9:40 PM
archagainstaparth.bsky.social
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#wac10 #worldarchaeologicalcongress #wacwithoutapartheid #wacwelcomeswarcriminals #archaeology #🏺 #Archaeology🏺
The Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University has departments just like any other institute: prehistory, classical archaeology, Ancient Near East, biblical..... There is one crucial difference, the Institute is based on the Scopus Campus, on illegally occupied Palestinian territory. All archaeological research carried out by the institute is illegal. That doesn’t just apply to excavations on illegally occupied land. All research carried out at the institute, in its labs and offices, is illegal. Any archaeologist associated with research with the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, or with its staff, is involved in the normalisation and legitimisation of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, and of its oppression of Palestinian people and denial of their basic human rights. Any archaeologist cooperating in research with the Institute or its staff is knowingly cooperating in apartheid and genocide. Any archaeologist collaborating with the Institute or with its staff is complicit in war crimes. Ariel University The Institute of Archaeology at Ariel University is affiliated with the Department of Land of Israel Studies and carries out excavations in the Jordan Valley among other regions. The Institute accepts participants from all around the world in their projects—Malta, Switzerand, the UK, Finland, Italy, Germany. As an institute built at the heart of an illegal Israeli settlement on occupied Palestinian territory, its very existence is illegal. All archaeological research carried out by the institute is illegal. Any archaeologist associated with research at the Institute of Archaeology at Ariel University, either collaborating with its staff, or participating in its excavations. is involved in the recognition, maintenance and expansion of illegally occupied settlements, and therefore complicit in war crimes. Israeli Academia, Archaeology, and War Crimes
June 19, 2025 at 9:38 PM