Collective
We, Ukrainian researchers, artists, political and labour activists, members of civil society stand in solidarity with the 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 percent 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, 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 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.
Sign the letter (for Ukrainians)
Signatures (as of 2023/11/06)
- Volodymyr Artiukh, researcher
- Levon Azizian, human rights lawyer
- Diana Azzuz, artist, musician
- Taras Bilous, editor
- Oksana Briukhovetska, artist, researcher, University of Michigan
- Artem Chapeye, writer
- Valentyn Dolhochub, researcher, soldier
- John-Paul Himka, professor emeritus, University of Alberta
- Karina Al Khmuz, biomedical engineer programmer
- Yuliia Kishchuk, researcher
- Amina Ktefan, fashion influencer, digital creator
- Svitlana Matviyenko, media scholar, SFU; Associate Director of Digital Democracies Institute
- Maria Mayerchyk, scholar
- Vitalii Pavliuk, writer, translator
- Sashko Protyah, filmmaker, volunteer
- Oleksiy Radynski, filmmaker
- Mykola Ridnyi, artist and filmmaker
- Daria Saburova, researcher, activist
- Alexander Skyba, labour activist
- Darya Tsymbalyuk, researcher
- Nelia Vakhovska, translator
- Yuliya Yurchenko, researcher, translator, activist
- Iryna Zamuruieva, ecofeminist researcher, artist, climate & land policy project manager
- Alisha Andani, history of art student
- Daša Anosova, curator, researcher, UCL SSEES
- Lilya Badekha, activist, culturologist, social media manager of the Spilne journal
- Anastasia Bobrova, researcher
- Anastasiia Bobrovska, dj, activist, digital strategy consultant
- Mariana Bodnaruk, researcher
- Yuriy Boyko, researcher, scientific assistant
- Vladislava Chepurko
- Daria Demia, artist
- Olena Dmytryk, researcher
- Olha Dobrovolska, teacher, culture researcher
- Svitlana Dolbysheva, artist, filmmaker
- Hanna Dosenko, anthropologist
- Vitalii Dudin, activist of NGO ‘Sotsialnyi Rukh’
- Oksana Dutchak, sociologist
- Nastya Dzyuban, choreographer and performer
- Kateryna Farbar, journalist
- Taras Gembik, culture worker, co-organizer of SDK Slonecznik at Musuem of Modern Art in Warsaw
- Anna Greszta researcher, co-founder of Collect4Ukraine
- Olenka Gu, sociologist
- Nataliya Gumenyuk, journalist
- Tetiana Hanzha, documentary film director
- Andrii Hulianytskyi, researcher
- Serhii Ishchenko, journalist
- Hanna Karpishena
- Milena Khomchenko, curator and writer, chief editor of SONIAKH digest
- Daria Khrystych, researcher, activist
- Amira Khussein, fashion business manager
- Kyrylo Klymenko, historian
- Lyuba Knorozok, producer, documentary filmmaker
- Oleksandra Kokhan, researcher
- Vladyslav Kononok, project manager
- Mariia Kosenko, translator
- Olga Kostyrko, independent researcher, activist, editor
- Iaroslav Kovalchuk, PhD Candidate, historian
- Anna Kovtoniuk, software developer
- Dmytro Kozak, PhD candidate, anthropologist
- Ruslana Koziienko, PhD candidate, social anthropologist
- Yustyna Kravchuk, cultural worker, translator
- Yulia Krivich, artist, co-organizer of SDK Slonecznik at Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, PhD fellow at Academy of Arts in Krakow, Poland
- Amir Ktefan, personal translator and voice over artist
- Olexii Kuchanskyi, researcher, film programmer
- Veronika Kulak, student of business economics
- Yuliia Kulish, researcher
- Kateryna Lysovenko, artist
- Kostiantyn Maleoniuk, activist
- Daryna Mamaisur, filmmaker, visual artist, researcher
- Daniil Marchenko, bike messenger, cook
- Anastasia Marusii, art historian
- Mykyta Mikhalkov, student, volunteer
- Andrii Myroshnychenko, cultural manager and translator
- Pavlo Molochko, signaller in the AFoU
- Andriy Movchan, publicist
- Serhii Movchan, left activist, volunteer
- Zarina Netovkina
- Zhanna Ohanesian, researcher, humanitarian worker
- Kateryna Olieshko, artist, activist, creative producer
- Olga Papash, researcher, producer, volunteer
- Anton Parambul, soldier
- Mariia Pastukh, activist, head of Ukraine solidarity collective “Vsesvit”
- Valerii Petrov, game maker
- Julie Poly, artist
- Mariia Ponomarova, film director, creative producer
- Zakhar Popovych, activist
- Nina Potarska, researcher
- Dariia Puhach, computer linguist
- Olha Pylypenko, art manager
- Anna Rebrii, journalist, PhD student, activist
- Maksym Romanenko, doctor
- Marta Romankiv, artist, researcher, PhD fellow at Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk
- Betya Roytburd, artist, organizer, curator
- Kseniia Rybak, researcher
- Bohdana Rybenchuk
- Mariia Salan, artist
- Abdula Sarkhan, digital artist
- Yulia Serdyukova, film producer
- Mariia Shynkarenko, researcher
- Maria Sonevytsky, professor, researcher
- Veronika Stancheva, psychologist
- Vladyslav Starodubtsev, historian
- Oleksandr Svitych, researcher
- Olena Syrbu, researcher, cultural worker
- Nast’ey Teor, graphic artist and designer
- Natasha Tseliuba, feminist, activist, artist, curator
- Dr. Nataliya Tchermalykh, University of Geneva
- Marharyta Tokarieva researcher, filmmaker
- Leo Trotsenko, artist
- Viacheslav Tsyba, philosopher, translator, editor
- Elen Udud
- Tetiana Usova, translator, filmmaker
- Kateryna Volochniuk, researcher
- Valeriia Voronova fashion influencer, digital creator, interior designer
- Bogdana Yakovenko, photographer, activist, volunteer
- Mariana Yaremchyshyna, culture worker, activist
- Aisha Yusupova, psychologist, creator
- Fattukh Zhalal, student of international economic relations
- Roma Zimenko, humanitarian worker
- Yevheniia Stepko, editor
- Oksana Karpovych, filmmaker
- Rita Adel, research analyst
- Olena Martynchuk, cultural anthropologist
- Kris Maslyuk, student
- Oleksandra Hryhorenko, translator
- Arsenii Kniazkov, film researcher
- Olena Mykhaylova, researcher
- Islam Dabank, poet and company manager
- Diana Khalilova, artist
- Sylvestr Kozurak, artist
- Vitalii Zalozetskyi, philosopher
- Denys Gorbach, social researcher
- Mykhaylo Maliarenko, military
- Alexandra Paul Zotov, Museum
- Tasha Gnatenko
- Ira Tantsiura, activist, researcher
- Oleksandra Chernomashyntseva, volunteer, stage designer
- Ostap Bohoslavets, researcher
- Anton Karyuk, artist
- Tania Banakh, historian
- babych kateryna, activist
- Stepan Bilousov, student
- Iryna Tsiuk, proofreader
- Mila Teshaieva, photographer, film director,
- Oleksiy Godz, architect
- Mariia Goubernik, psychotherapist, activist
- xenia mil’ushkina, activist, online influencer
- Anna Zakharchenko, student
- Alyssa Naryzhny
- Marta Iwanek, photographer, filmmaker
- elliott miskovicz
- Anna Lykhohliad, researcher
- Diana Yehorova, researcher and artist
- Polina Piddubna, director
- Tetiana Sokolnykova, arts mediator, coordinator and facilitator of socio-cultural projects
- Mariia Kovtun
- Anna Nykytiuk, artist
- Maria Panchenko, cultural worker
- Julia Kosova, social activist
- Daryna Miahka, activist
- Madina Mahomedova, multimedia artist & graphic designer
- Varvara Spilt, student, artist, director
- Oleksandra Marushchak, animator
- Roman Levin, activist
- Katia Denysova, art historian and curator
- Di Horban, artist
- Sam Veremchuk, PhD student
- Antonina Mambyk, public sector
- Olena Lyubchenko
- Bohdana Andrieieva, web-designer
- Bogdana Yakovenko, photographer, activist, volunteer
- Artem Remizovskyi, culturologist, trade union activist “Direct Action”
- Khromyi Denys, anarchist, translator, student, essayist
- Filyuk Kateryna, curator
- Oleksii Popovych, student
- Oksana Demidova, artist
- Nataliya Gubenko, business consultant
- Yelyzaveta Monastyrova, PhD candidate
- Marty Horobiichenko, artist
- Aldushchenkov Evgen, worker
- Nina Sodin, animator
- Daryna Prudnikova, student
- Mohsen Timoor Raphatovich, student
- Mosiychuk Andriy, web designer
- Kyrylo Chehrynets
- Michael Nikitiuk, cook
- Yuliya Gwilym, illustrator and author
- Aliona Sydorenko, clinical counsellor
- Sakara Oleksandra, freelancer
- Valeriia Bondarieva, climate justice activist
- Kateryna Kasianenko, researcher
- Iryna Kulinich, digital artist
- Yevheniia Vasylenko, compliance specialist
- Ivan Bychkov, student
- Asia Tsisar, curator, researcher
- Alice Zhuravel, social actor and entrepreneur
- Karolina Gulshani, artist
- Kachan Anna, QA engineer
- Mariia Zadvorna
- Ganna Zakharchenko, architect, artist
- Leontyuk Yuliia, legal scholar
- Viktoriia Markova, volunteer, graphic designer
- Anastasia Orydoroha
- Anya Tsaruk, photographer
- Iuliia Kandaurova
- Kate Zavertailo, translator
- Maksym Shumakov, activist
- Yuliia Palamarchuk, architect
- Katya Gritseva, artist
- Khrystyna Slobodianyk, doctor
- Slobodianiuk Daryna, mama
- Iryna Ullah, home wife
- Alla Zhyvotova, artist
- Rachitska Katerina
- Iryna Krupenko, bartender
- Larisa Sayej, doctor
- Alisa Pogrebna-Raizman, PhD student at the University of Warsaw
- Olena Mykhalska
- Azarova Kateryna, IT programmer
- Oksana Arkhypchuk, educator
- Olena Haies, housewife
- Viktoria Sergienko, director of educational centre
- Balytska Yana
- Maryna Shapovalova, housewife
- Alieva Viktoriia, pedagog
- Asiya Umm Yahya, kids writer
- Polina Skrynnikova, assistant, humanitarian NGO
- Diana Bishtavi, dentist
- Iryna Baraniuk, mother
- Tetik Serafyma, teacher
- Alina Volosiuk, engineer, in maternity leave
- Olena Malakhova
- Maria Dibrova, finance student
- Orlova Anastasiia, owner of small business
- Yevheniia Holovachova, beauty master
- Nadiia Guzenko, teacher
- Iryna Refahi, journalist
- Guseynova Mate
- Anastasiia Onufriv, climate activist
- Alona Aljadaan, public figure
- Yelyzaveta Riznychenko, student
- Valentyna Chehlatonieva, dancer
- Lozinska Yana
- Dinara Abdo, UX/UI web designer
- Victoriia Abuiaiia
- Victoriia Bratushkina
- Olha Chychko, pensioner
- Alina Babaieva, mom is on maternity leave
- Venzovska Victoria, lawyer
- Vladyslav Taratutenko, logistics dispatcher
- Diana Maksymenko, translator and book blogger
- Strashynska Tetiana
- Ivanna Kosteniuk, finance and operations manager
- Valeriia Zurigat, psychologist
- Yana Maletska, student
- Gavrilitsia Hanna, doctor
- Bogdana Kosmina, architect, artist, curator
- Masha Vlasenko, mathematician
- Ruslan Kulevets, author, cinephile
- Biduliak Lilia, psychology
- Polina Sobos
- Ihnatiuk Valeriia, visual communication
- Tsymbalyuk Victoria
- Albina Bykova, housewife
- Tatyana Gagina
- Kukunina Kateryna, software developer
- Ivanna Bykova, housewife
- Fedir Horash, seafarer, activist of Inicjatywa Pracownicza trade union
- Valeriia Ganicheva, designer
- Sasha Zakrevska, musician
- Alyona Kobel, manager International tourism
- Anastasia Muntyan, Unemployed
- Alina El Assadi, artist
- Maritchka Ryniejska, researcher
- Bohdan Diedushkin, teacher
- Sofiya Taranenko, student
- Nadiya Kachmar, student of political science
- Oleksii Poliakov, software developer
- Daria Pochepnia
- Mameedova Natalia Igorivna
- Aisha Zankidaeva
- Daryna Kolesnyk, chambermaid
- Svitlana Al-Azzawi, teacher
- Derbin Serhiy, architect
- Siver Iryna Rawilivna, orchestra artist
- Anna Skrypnyk, pharmacist
- Serhieieyva Kasia
- Mstyslava Nesteruk, HR
- Anna Matsuka, translator
- Nastasya Yaremchuk, musician, Slavic Studies student
- Natalka Gurba, activist
- Obertynska Iryna
- Anastasia Petriuk
- Аsyenye Bulatova
- Kutsenko Iuliia, teacher
- Yermolayeva Kateryna, artist
- Mahmuda Ruzieva
- Kovalenko Daria, beauty therapist
- Stanislava Ovchinnikova, interdisciplinary artist and curator
- Mariya Bokhonko
- Liubov Kuibida, programmer
- Yusuf Baysangurov
- Olena Mogylna, designer
- Mehrabi Dariia, international relationship
- Hanna Bodnarchuk, choreographer
- Diana Romanenko, ingenieur assistant
- Amaliia Mamedova, student
- Vsevolod Kazarin, photographer
- Hanna Horbasenko, interpreter
- Hrodzitska Veronika, photographer & volonteer
- Taras Fedirko, anthropologist, researcher
- Daria Pysaruk, student
- Anna Schlegel, employee
- Polina Pysaruk, student
- Victoria Levchenko, researcher, engineer, activist
- Christina Cherniievska, artist
- Sofiya Chotyrbok, artist
- Tetiana Burlachenko
The list of signatures will be updated gradually