An Open Letter to the Governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and all EU member states and EU institutions on Israel/Palestine and the Gaza crisis

As a group of researchers, policy analysts, and experts with deep commitments to and expertise on the Middle East and North Africa, we have always worked side-by-side to advance policies based on shared universal values. Today, we find much of the government-led responses to the Gaza war to be in grave violation of these values and principles. After the horrific slaughter of civilians by Hamas in Israel on October 7, the world correctly and justifiably reacted with condemnation and solidarity; a response we are in complete alignment with. An accumulated legacy of dehumanisation of Palestinians has resulted in far too many western governments uncritically condoning the campaign of collective punishment against millions of innocent Palestinians that Israel launched in retaliation. When Russia bombed critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, or Assad held Aleppo under siege, western governments loudly and rightly condemned these attacks and called for immediate humanitarian ceasefires. Many wonder why they won’t do the same here. We have reached a point where there is virtual consensus among rights groups that war crimes were committed by Hamas on October 7 where over a thousand Israeli civilians were killed, and that war crimes have been committed by Israel since its aerial bombardment campaign against Gaza began which has killed more than five thousand civilians so far. To make matters worse, incitements to ethnic cleansing removing the distinction between civilians and combatants has been broadcast from the most senior levels of the Israeli establishment. The facts make for an ominous forecast and averting it should be our collective priority and is our collective responsibility. Western capitals pride themselves on solidarity with allies, and are demonstrating this again with Israel. But to achieve long-term security for Israel and the broader region, there is a moral and strategic obligation to ensure that Israel’s self-defence is characterised by international humanitarian law and leads to an end to the occupation; Western governments have not sufficiently emphasised that obligation, despite the situation demanding it. UN experts have also raised the need to restrain Israel from international law violations. But rhetoric is not enough. Using diplomatic leverage to pressure both Israel and Hamas, who are holding hundreds of hostages, towards adhering to international law is one of our key tools for de-escalation. One that is currently being discarded. Western governments should be advancing attempts to de-escalate, rather than give the impression that ‘might is right’. Given the power asymmetry between Israel and

Palestinians, this has enabled collective punishment in Gaza, and fast-tracked illegal
settlement expansion in the West Bank, where reports indicate that Palestinians are
being dispossessed, killed, or placed in ‘administrative detention’ in their hundreds.
This path, rather than ensuring security for Israelis, deepens the cycle of violence
and only makes the conflict’s regionalisation more likely.
The lack of strategic focus and failure to pressure collective adherence to
international law, denigrates the West’s global moral standing. It isolates it from
swathes of the world, deepening divisions at a time of great power competition and
shared challenges to our climate, collective security, and the world economy. It also
creates a precedent that imperils small states and fatally undermines any semblance
of a global rules-based order.
We are mandated to respond to this challenge by foregrounding our common
universal values, and we should be forewarned that our response is nothing less
than a civilisational litmus test, which will catalyse either the spread or retreat of
these values in the world.
We, the undersigned, call on western governments and our colleagues across the
policy-making world to centre those core values, upholding the equal humanity of
Palestinians and Israelis, rejecting anti-Semitism, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry,
at home and abroad.
Above all, in this crisis, we advocate for an immediate ceasefire, the provision of
humanitarian aid to all in need, and the return to political processes that can facilitate
just and fair resolutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
If we fail to do this, and instead enable the worst, then we condemn this region to the
tumult of war, deepen global divisions, and put an indelible stain on our collective
conscience.

To add your signature to this letter please email: OpenLetterIP@gmail.com

All signatories are signing in their personal capacity so as not to imply any
institutional positions. However, the following signatories are associated with a broad
variety of noted institutions in the policy arena, including but not exclusively, the
International Crisis Group, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Chatham
House, the European Council on Foreign Relations, Cambridge University, the Middle
East Institute, King’s College London, the Atlantic Council, the Tahrir Institute for
Middle East Policy, and others.

1. Comfort Ero, Institute Director
2. Marwan Muasher, former Foreign Minister
3. Yair Wallach, Reader
4. Yezid Sayigh, Senior Fellow
5. Lara Friedman, Foundation President
6. Maha Yahya, Center Director
7. Michelle Dunne, Institute Director
8. Nathalie Tocci, Institute Director
9. Hugh Lovatt, Senior Policy Fellow
10. Mohanad Hage Ali, Deputy Director for Research
11. Jonathan Portes, Professor
12. H.A. Hellyer, Senior Fellow & Professor
13. Joost Hiltermann, Programme Director
14. Adel Abdel-Ghafar, Programme Director
15. Alessia Melcangi, Associate Professor
16. Mai el Sadany, Institute Director
17. Kelly Petillo, Programme Manager
18. Johan Schaar, Researcher
19. Emad Badi, Senior Research Fellow
20. Eduard Soler I Lecha, Assistant Professor
21. Hafsa Halawa, Independent Consultant
22. Zuri Linetsky, Research Fellow
23. Zaha Hassan, Human Rights Attorney
24. Gerd Nonneman, Professor
25. Timothy Kaldas, Institute Deputy-Director
26. Virginie Collombier, Programme Deputy Director
27. Dalia Ghanem, Programme Director
28. Beverley Milton-Edwards, Professor
29. Tarik Yusuf, Institute Director
30. Haizam Amirah-Fernandez, Senior Analyst
31. Riccardo Fabiani, Project Director
32. Intissar Fakir, Programme Director
33. Wolfram Lacher, Senior Associate
34. Elham Fakhro, Research Fellow
35. Cinzia Bianco, Senior Policy Fellow
36. Noha el Mikawy, Dean
37. David Butter, Analyst
38. Sami Nader, Institute Director
39. Marc Owen Jones, Professor
40. Noha Aboueldahab, Assistant Professor
41. Sarah Yerkes, Senior Fellow
42. Assad al-Achi, Institute Director
43. Shahram Akbarzadeh, Professor
44. Abdullah Baabood, Professor
45. Karim Emile Bitar, Professor
46. Galip Dalay, Senior Research Fellow
47. Ishac Diwan, Director of Research
48. Aziz al-Ghashian, Researcher
49. Karim Haggag, Professor
50. Adel Hamaizia, Institute Director
51. Asma Khalifa, Institute Director
52. Tarek Megrisi, Senior Policy Fellow
53. Kholood Khair, Institute Director
54. Khaled Mansour, Writer
55. Renad Mansour, Senior Research Fellow
56. Karim Mezran, Senior Fellow
57. Ahmed Morsy, Senior Researcher
58. Farea al-Muslimi, Senior Research Fellow
59. Tariq al-Olaimy, Institute Director
60. Rouzbeh Parsi, Programme Director
61. Randa Slim, Programme Director
62. Andreas Kreig, Professor