Final Update on Petition: EMA reasoning and our response.
Good evening,
A few days ago, we received an extensive explanation on behalf of the EMA staff regarding the internship with the EU delegation of Israel. They outlined that before they entertain the idea of meeting online with the student body that has signed the petition, they believe it is not the most efficient use of their time.
They expressed sympathy for how we "feel" and yet, insisted that the EU delegation in Israel is a leading voice in the conversation of peace and stability in the region. They reiterated that the reason why the internship was suspended this year is exclusively for security reasons, and "to say otherwise would not be the truth". They also cannot guarantee that they will not be continuing the internship in future years. This is because the EMA staff believe that participating in the work of the EU Delegation to the state of Israel enables graduates to support human rights work in the region and is separate from the human rights violations that the state of Israel commits. They, therefore, do not believe it is necessary to proclaim a denunciation of the human rights violations of the state of Israel and that this is not correlated to the internship with the EU delegation of Israel. There reeks a stark double standard and the putrid smell of blissful ignorance to choose to believe that sustaining diplomatic recognition through this internship to a state that has been occupying another state in inhumane conditions, under military rule, and arbitrarily detaining Palestinians for over 70 years is somehow unrelated.
The EMA staff also cited a series of numbers of the funds that the EU has provided for humanitarian aid to UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority to support their position. We believe that these numbers, although gracious, are unrelated to the cause at hand. The US is also providing humanitarian aid to Palestine. However, it is also arming the IDF. Ursula Von Der Leyen has expressed full and unwavering support to Israel, citing them as "friends" of the EU, with Germany and Italy being leading figures in financially and militarily arming the IDF. As human rights defenders, we cannot choose to see one side without also seeing the other.
We have taken a long time to deliberate on how best to respond to this. It is difficult to coordinate and share our feelings of solidarity, considering each of us is completing the final months of our Master's in separate locations. However, what the signatures on this petition have shown is that there is a strong will to act and use our roles as human rights defenders.
The UN Security Council has also passed a US-approved ceasefire resolution, recently. We take this as a sign of hope that concrete actions will follow through to end the genocide against the Palestinian people and that the crimes against humanity committed by Israel will be vindicated by the ICC (although bombings and attacks have not stopped in civilian safe zones in Gaza).
We have urged once more for the EMA staff to communicate their reasoning and rapport with the EU delegation of Israel in Tel Aviv, if not through a live Zoom meeting with all interested students, then at least in an official written statement. We believe it is with respect to all the signatories of this petition that you receive their reasoning directly from them.
We share in solidarity the statement by the students at the ERMA program at the Global Campus of Human Rights in the Caucasus, the ARMA program that held multiple educational webinars on the violation of rights in Gaza, and the alums of APMA and EMA who published public statements, engaging in student solidarity action with Palestine.
We will be closing this petition since the EMA staff have technically suspended the internship for this upcoming year. However, we reiterate that we are still discontented with their reasoning. We urge everyone who has signed to continue showing acts of solidarity, resilience and compassion for Palestinian liberation, in small or large acts, every day.
Always in solidarity,