The Oral History Association passed a resolution during its annual meeting in October 2014, condemning Israeli violence against Palestinian researchers and their archival and oral history collections.
WHEREAS, the Oral History Association is dedicated to the documentation of human experience through the collection and preservation of historical information; and, further, encourages and facilitates contacts between professionals engaged in that endeavor; and
WHEREAS, this goal cannot be pursued if/when oral history collections and the people who create and preserve them are the targets of violence and intimidation; and
WHEREAS, oral history has been widely used as a means of documenting the expulsion and exodus of the Palestinian population from what is now Israel and the territories occupied in 1967; and
WHEREAS, the Oral History Center of the Islamic University in Gaza documents the experiences of Palestinian refugees, and
WHEREAS, the Israeli Defense Forces attacked the Islamic University in Gaza where the Oral History Center is located on August 2, 2014;
THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED that the Oral History Association condemns the acts of violence and intimidation by the State of Israel against Palestinian researchers and their archival and oral history collections, acts which can erase the memory of Israel’s crimes during the 1948-9 and 1967 wars and destroy Palestinians’ sense of historical identity; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution be sent to the President of the Islamic University of Gaza, the Israeli Minister of Education, and the Prime Minister of Israel.