The European International Studies Association stands in solidarity with staff and students at Birzeit University following the attack perpetrated by Israeli military forces on 6 January 2026, which resulted in the injury and hospitalisation of several students. Universities are protected spaces under international humanitarian law. The deliberate targeting of an academic institution constitutes an unacceptable attack to academic freedom and the basic human right to pursue education free from violence. This troubling development forms part of a pattern of deliberate dismantling of Palestinian educational life through campus attacks, arrests of students and faculty, denial of movement, and the destruction of infrastructure, which scholars and UN experts have called scholasticide.
The EISA is committed to supporting academic freedom and upholding universal principles of human rights. The Association is committed to supporting scholars at risk including those targeted by scholasticide and will continue to provide a venue for academic debate, critique and for collaboration with Palestinian scholars affected by the attack. The right to pursue knowledge without fear of military violence applies to all people, without exception.
The EISA Governing Board
