On Tuesday December 10th, Maynooth University’s Department of Anthropology hosted a lecture titled ‘Settler Indigeneity in the West Bank’. The blurb of this talk notes how ‘indigeneity has become an identity and political resource within the context of Israeli settlements in the contested West Bank territories’. The West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and Gaza, have been unlawfully occupied by Israel since 1967. This is an undisputed fact under international law, as recognised and reaffirmed by the United Nations multiple times.
Since 1967, Israel has built at least 358 colonies in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and there are 714,600 Israeli-Jewish settlers illegally residing therein. In July this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed what Palestinian and international legal experts have denounced for decades: that “Israel’s occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, is unlawful, along with the associated settlement regime, annexation and use of natural resources”.
The ICJ also reaffirmed the plethora of evidence showing that Israel’s regime against Palestinians is tantamount to the crime of apartheid. The ICJ recommended, inter alia, the withdrawal of Israel’s presence from the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and Gaza, the halt to any new colony expansion and the evacuation of all Israeli-Jewish settlers (para 285).
Furthermore, in January 2024 the ICJ recognised the risk that Israel may be committing genocide against Palestinians, and has since ordered Israel to prevent and stop any act of genocide three times (January, March and May). This deliberation has been widely supported by the evidence that the Palestinian people continue to livestream as well as by the most reputable Palestinian and international experts, including UN independent experts, legal practitioners, and academics.
In this framework, it is disturbing to see the notion of ‘settler indigeneity’ presented as a legitimate object of debate and the occupied West Bank being referred to as ‘contested territory’. This position not only contradicts international law and undermines an already fragile multilateral order, but also contributes to the epistemic violence that has normalised Israel’s lawlessness over the past decades, at the expense of Palestinian indigenous rights, existence and sovereignty: this strikes at the core principle of academic integrity. While academic freedom is sacred, it cannot be a shield for legitimising a viscerally unlawful and immoral reality. To do so would be to deploy academic freedom in service of settler-colonial occupation, apartheid and genocide. As a University of Sanctuary, and participant in the National UoSI programme, Maynooth’s commitment to “…the promotion of equality and respect of all human rights” means to recognise and act upon the severe power differential between occupied Palestinians and their occupiers, colonised and colonisers, and genocided and genociders.
Settler-indigeneity is a legal and moral oxymoron – colonial settlers cannot be Indigenous to the land they are occupying. The use of this wording to normalise the Israeli colonisation of Palestine needs to be called out and strongly rejected. Ironically, the event coincides with International Human Rights Day on December 10th. Last year, Maynooth hosted talks on the subject of well- documented Israeli human rights abuses against the Palestinian people, including unlawful killings, forced displacement, restrictions on movement, and targeting of civilian infrastructures. It is despicable that this year our University will host a lecture that normalises the unfolding genocide, which has been televised for over 14 months, and its associated settler-colonial occupation.
Ireland has an intimate understanding of the violent manifestations of settler-colonialism, including man-made starvation, genocide and occupation. Therefore, to honour the Irish people’s resilience in freeing their land from colonial rule, including where Maynooth University stands today, is to reaffirm a collective act of solidarity with the Palestinian people. At this perilous moment, with all 12 universities in Gaza reduced to rubble and over 5,000 students and 95 professors assassinated by Israel’s genocidal campaign, and academic institutions across occupied Palestine under constant threat from Israeli raids – students and academic staff beaten, arrested, and unlawfully detained – Maynooth University should commit to amplify Palestinian Indigenous perspectives, center intellectual voices and engage with radical discourses emerging from the ground in Palestine as well as fostering knowledge exchange with Palestinian universities.
Academics for Palestine Maynooth and Maynooth BDS condemn the organisation of the lecture ‘Settler Indigeneity in the West Bank’ by the University’s Department of Anthropology, and urge the University to make a solid commitment to actively promoting human rights across all its Departments and in all educational settings.
academicsforpalestine.org 