Ukrainian letter of solidarity with Palestinian people
First published at Commons, temporarily hidden after site came under attack, but now back online here. Ukrainians can sign onto the letter here.
We, Ukrainian researchers, artists, political and labour activists, members of civil society stand in solidarity with people of Palestine who for 75 years have been subjected and resisted Israeli military occupation, separation, settler colonial violence, ethnic cleansing, land dispossession and apartheid. We write this letter as people to people. The dominant discourse on the governmental level and even among solidarity groups that support the struggles of Ukrainians and Palestinians often creates separation. With this letter we reject these divisions, and affirm our solidarity with everyone who is oppressed and struggling for freedom.
As activists committed to freedom, human rights, democracy and social justice, and while fully acknowledging power differentials, we firmly condemn attacks on civilian populations – be they Israelis attacked by Hamas or Palestinians attacked by the Israeli occupation forces and armed settler gangs. Deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime. Yet this is no justification for the collective punishment of Palestinian people, identifying all residents of Gaza with Hamas and the indiscriminate use of the term “terrorism” applied to the whole Palestinian resistance. Nor is this a justification of continuation of the ongoing occupation. Echoing multiple UN resolutions, we know that there will be no lasting peace without justice for the Palestinian people.
On October 7 we witnessed Hamas’ violence against the civilians in Israel, an event that is now singled out by many to demonize and dehumanize Palestinian resistance altogether. Hamas, a reactionary islamist organization, needs to be seen in a wider historical context and decades of Israel encroaching on Palestinian land, long before this organization came to exist in the late 1980s. During the Nakba (“catastrophe”) of 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians were brutally displaced from their homes, with entire villages massacred and destroyed. Since its creation Israel has never stopped pursuing its colonial expansion. The Palestinians were forced to exile, fragmented and administered under different regimes. Some of them are Israeli citizens affected by structural discrimination and racism. Those living in the occupied West Bank are subjected to apartheid under decades of Israel’s military control. The people of the Gaza Strip have suffered from the blockade imposed by Israel since 2006, which restricted movement of people and goods, resulting in growing poverty and deprivation.
Since the 7th of October and at the time of writing the death toll in the Gaza Strip is more than 8,500 people. Women and children have made up more than 62 per cent of the fatalities, while more than 21,048 people have been injured. In recent days, Israel has bombed schools, residential areas, Greek Orthodox Church and several hospitals. Israel has also cut all water, electricity, and fuel supply in the Gaza Strip. There is a severe shortage of food and medicine, causing a total collapse of a healthcare system.
Most of the Western and Israeli media justifies these deaths as mere collateral damage to fighting Hamas but is silent when it comes to Palestinian civilians targeted and killed in the Occupied West Bank. Since the beginning of 2023 alone, and before October 7, the death toll on the Palestinian side had already reached 227. Since the 7 of October, 121 Palestinian civilians have been killed in the occupied West Bank. More than 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners are currently detained in Israeli prisons. Lasting peace and justice are only possible with the end of the ongoing occupation. Palestinians have the right to self-determination and resistance against Israeli’s occupation, just like Ukrainians have the right to resist Russian invasion.
Our solidarity comes from a place of anger at the injustice, and a place of deep pain of knowing the devastating impacts of occupation, shelling of civil infrastructure, and humanitarian blockade from experiences in our homeland. Parts of Ukraine have been occupied since 2014, and the international community failed to stop Russian aggression then, ignoring the imperial and colonial nature of the armed violence, which consequently escalated on the 24th of February 2022. Civilians in Ukraine are shelled daily, in their homes, in hospitals, on bus stops, in queues for bread. As a result of the Russian occupation, thousands of people in Ukraine live without access to water, electricity or heating, and it is the most vulnerable groups that are mostly affected by the destruction of critical infrastructure. In the months of the siege and heavy bombardment of Mariupol there was no humanitarian corridor. Watching the Israeli targeting the civilian infrastructure in Gaza, the Israeli humanitarian blockade and occupation of land resonates especially painfully with us. From this place of pain of experience and solidarity we call on our fellow Ukrainians globally and all the people to raise their voices in support of the Palestinian people and condemn the ongoing Israeli mass ethnic cleansing.
We reject the Ukrainian government statements that express unconditional support for Israel's military actions, and we consider the calls to avoid civilian casualties by Ukraine's MFA belated and insufficient. This position is a retreat from the support of Palestinian rights and condemnation of the Israeli occupation, which Ukraine has followed for decades, including voting in the UN. Aware of the pragmatic geopolitical reasoning behind Ukraine’s decision to echo Western allies, on whom we are dependent for our survival, we see the current support of Israel and dismissing Palestinian right to self-determination as contradictory to Ukraine’s own commitment to human rights and fight for our land and freedom. We as Ukrainians should stand in solidarity not with the oppressors, but with those who experience and resist the oppression.
We strongly object to equating of Western military aid to Ukraine and Israel by some politicians. Ukraine doesn't occupy the territories of other people, instead, it fights against the Russian occupation, and therefore international assistance serves a just cause and the protection of international law. Israel has occupied and annexed Palestinian and Syrian territories, and Western aid to it confirms an unjust order and demonstrates double standards in relation to international law.
We oppose the new wave of Islamophobia, such as the brutal murder of a Palestinian American 6-year old and assault on his family in Illinois, USA, and the equating of any criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. At the same time we also oppose holding all Jewish people all over the world accountable for the politics of the state of Israel and we condemn anti-Semitic violence, such as the mob attack on the airplane in Daghestan, Russia. We also reject the revival of the “war on terror” rhetoric used by the US and EU to justify war crimes and violations of international law that have undermined the international security system and caused countless deaths, and has been borrowed by other states, including Russia for the war in Chechnya and China for the Uyghur genocide. Now Israel is using it to carry out ethnic cleansing.
Call to action
We urge the implementation of the call to ceasefire, put forward by the UN General Assembly resolution.
We call on the Israeli government to immediately stop attacks on civilians, and provide humanitarian aid; we insist on an immediate and indefinite lifting of siege on Gaza and an urgent relief operation to restore civilian infrastructure. We also call on the Israeli government to put an end to the occupation and recognise the right of Palestinian displaced people to return to their lands.
We call on the Ukrainian government to condemn the use of state sanctioned terror and humanitarian blockade against the Gazan civilian population and reaffirm the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. We also call on the Ukrainian government to condemn deliberate assaults on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
We call on the international media to stop pitting Palestinians and Ukrainians against each other, where hierarchies of suffering perpetuate racist rhetoric and dehumanize those under the attack.
We have witnessed the world uniting in solidarity for the people of Ukraine and we call on everyone to do the same for the people of Palestine.
Signatures (as of 2023/11/02)
1. Volodymyr Artiukh, researcher
2. Levon Azizian, human rights lawyer
3. Diana Azzuz, artist, musician
4. Taras Bilous, editor
5. Oksana Briukhovetska, artist, researcher, University of Michigan
6. Artem Chapeye, writer
7. Valentyn Dolhochub, researcher, soldier
8. John-Paul Himka, professor emeritus, University of Alberta
9. Karina Al Khmuz, biomedical engineer programmer
10. Yuliia Kishchuk, researcher
11. Amina Ktefan, fashion influencer, digital creator
12. Svitlana Matviyenko, media scholar, SFU; Associate Director of Digital Democracies Institute
13. Maria Mayerchyk, scholar
14. Vitalii Pavliuk, writer, translator
15. Sashko Protyah, filmmaker, volunteer
16. Oleksiy Radynski, filmmaker
17. Mykola Ridnyi, artist and filmmaker
18. Daria Saburova, researcher, activist
19. Alexander Skyba, labour activist
20. Darya Tsymbalyuk, researcher
21. Nelia Vakhovska, translator
22. Yuliya Yurchenko, researcher, translator, activist
23. Iryna Zamuruieva, ecofeminist researcher, artist, climate & land policy project manager
24. Alisha Andani, history of art student
25. Daša Anosova, curator, researcher, UCL SSEES
26. Lilya Badekha, activist, culturologist, social media manager of the Spilne journal
27. Anastasia Bobrova, researcher
28. Anastasiia Bobrovska, dj, activist, digital strategy consultant
29. Mariana Bodnaruk, researcher
30. Yuriy Boyko, researcher, scientific assistant
31. Vladislava Chepurko
32. Daria Demia, artist
33. Olena Dmytryk, researcher
34. Olha Dobrovolska, teacher, culture researcher
35. Svitlana Dolbysheva, artist, filmmaker
36. Hanna Dosenko, anthropologist
37. Vitalii Dudin, activist of NGO ‘Sotsialnyi Rukh’
38. Oksana Dutchak, sociologist
39. Nastya Dzyuban, choreographer and performer
40. Kateryna Farbar, journalist
41. Taras Gembik, culture worker, co-organizer of SDK Slonecznik at Musuem of Modern Art in Warsaw
42. Anna Greszta researcher, co-founder of Collect4Ukraine
43. Nataliya Gumenyuk, journalist
44. Olenka Gu, sociologist
45. Tetiana Hanzha, documentary film director
46. Andrii Hulianytskyi, researcher
47. Serhii Ishchenko, journalist
48. Hanna Karpishena
49. Milena Khomchenko, curator and writer, chief editor of SONIAKH digest
50. Daria Khrystych, researcher, activist
51. Amira Khussein, fashion business manager
52. Kyrylo Klymenko, historian
53. Lyuba Knorozok, producer, documentary filmmaker
54. Oleksandra Kokhan, researcher
55. Vladyslav Kononok, project manager
56. Mariia Kosenko, translator
57. Olga Kostyrko, independent researcher, activist, editor
58. Iaroslav Kovalchuk, PhD Candidate, historian
59. Anna Kovtoniuk, software developer
60. Dmytro Kozak, PhD candidate, anthropologist
61. Ruslana Koziienko, PhD candidate, social anthropologist
62. Yustyna Kravchuk, cultural worker, translator
63. Yulia Krivich, artist, co-organizer of SDK Slonecznik at Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, PhD fellow at Academy of Arts in Krakow, Poland
64. Amir Ktefan, personal translator and voice over artist
65. Olexii Kuchanskyi, researcher, film programmer
66. Veronika Kulak, student of business economics
67. Yuliia Kulish, researcher
68. Kateryna Lysovenko, artist
69. Kostiantyn Maleoniuk, activist
70. Daryna Mamaisur, filmmaker, visual artist, researcher
71. Daniil Marchenko, bike messenger, cook
72. Anastasia Marusii, art historian
73. Mykyta Mikhalkov, student, volunteer
74. Andrii Myroshnychenko, cultural manager and translator
75. Pavlo Molochko, signaller in the AFoU
76. Andriy Movchan, publicist
77. Serhii Movchan, left activist, volunteer
78. Zarina Netovkina
79. Zhanna Ohanesian, researcher, humanitarian worker
80. Kateryna Olieshko, artist, activist, creative producer
81. Olga Papash, researcher, producer, volunteer
82. Anton Parambul, soldier
83. Mariia Pastukh, activist, head of Ukraine solidarity collective “Vsesvit”
84. Valerii Petrov, game maker
85. Julie Poly, artist
86. Mariia Ponomarova, film director, creative producer
87. Zakhar Popovych, activist
88. Nina Potarska, researcher
89. Dariia Puhach, computer linguist
90. Olha Pylypenko, art manager
91. Anna Rebrii, journalist, PhD student, activist
92. Maksym Romanenko, doctor
93. Marta Romankiv, artist, researcher, PhD fellow at Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk
94. Betya Roytburd, artist, organizer, curator
95. Kseniia Rybak, researcher
96. Bohdana Rybenchuk
97. Mariia Salan, artist
98. Abdula Sarkhan, digital artist
99. Yulia Serdyukova, film producer
100. Mariia Shynkarenko, researcher
101. Maria Sonevytsky, professor, researcher
102. Veronika Stancheva, psychologist
103. Vladyslav Starodubtsev, historian
104. Oleksandr Svitych, researcher
105. Olena Syrbu, researcher, cultural worker
106. Nast’ey Teor, graphic artist and designer
107. Natasha Tseliuba, feminist, activist, artist, curator
108. Dr. Nataliya Tchermalykh, University of Geneva
109. Marharyta Tokarieva researcher, filmmaker
110. Leo Trotsenko, artist
111. Viacheslav Tsyba, philosopher, translator, editor
112. Elen Udud
113. Tetiana Usova, translator, filmmaker
114. Kateryna Volochniuk, researcher
115. Valeriia Voronova fashion influencer, digital creator, interior designer
116. Bogdana Yakovenko, photographer, activist, volunteer
117. Mariana Yaremchyshyna, culture worker, activist
118. Aisha Yusupova, psychologist, creator
119. Fattukh Zhalal, student of international economic relations
120. Roma Zimenko, humanitarian worker
121. Yevheniia Stepko, editor
122. Oksana Karpovych, filmmaker
123. Rita Adel, research analyst
124. Olena Martynchuk, cultural anthropologist
125. Kris Maslyuk, student
126. Oleksandra Hryhorenko, translator
127. Arsenii Kniazkov, film researcher
128. Olena Mykhaylova, researcher
129. Islam Dabank, poet and company manager
130. Diana Khalilova. An artist, a cultural manager
131. Sylvestr Kozurak, artist
132. Vitalii Zalozetskyi, philosopher
133. Denys Gorbach, social researcher
134. Mykhaylo Maliarenko, military
135. Alexandra Paul Zotov, Museum
136. Tasha Gnatenko
137. Ira Tantsiura, activist, researcher
138. Oleksandra Chernomashyntseva, volunteer, stage designer
139. Ostap Bohoslavets, researcher
140. Anton Karyuk, artist
141. Tania Banakh, historian
142. babych kateryna, activist
143. Stepan Bilousov, student
144. Iryna Tsiuk, proofreader
145. Mila Teshaieva, photographer, film director,
146. Oleksiy Godz, architect
147. Mariia Goubernik, psychotherapist, activist
148. xenia mil'ushkina, activist, online influencer
149. Anna Zakharchenko, student
150. Alyssa Naryzhny
151. Marta Iwanek, photographer, filmmaker
152. Anna Lykhohliad, researcher
153. elliott miskovicz
154. Diana Yehorova, researcher and artist
155. Polina Piddubna, director
156. Tetiana Sokolnykova, arts Mediator, coordinator and facilitator of socio-cultural projects
157. Mariia Kovtun, artist
158. Anna Nykytiuk, artist
159. Maria Panchenko, cultural worker
160. Julia Kosova, social activist
161. Daryna Miahka, activist
162. Madina Mahomedova, multimedia artist & graphic designer
163. Varvara Spilt, student, artist, director
164. Oleksandra Marushchak, animator
165. Roman Levin, activist
166. Katia Denysova, art historian and curator
167. Di Horban, artist
168. Sam Veremchuk, PhD student
The list of signatures will be updated gradually