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Research network for knowledge about Palestine, academic freedom and solidarity (GUPAS)

In connection with a group of students establishing a tent encampment in Vasaparken in May 2024 (as part of the global student movement in solidarity with Palestine), a group of engaged teachers and researchers began a discussion about how we could support the students and how we ourselves, in a more organised way, could act on issues concerning the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the ongoing genocide, and the university’s support for and collaborations with Israeli universities. This discussion led to the formation of GUPAS.

About GUPAS

The GUPAS network consists of teachers and researchers from all faculties at the University of Gothenburg and aims to increase knowledge about the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the university’s support for and collaborations with Israeli universities, and how these collaborations affect the situation of Palestinians. By organising discussions and seminars, as well as engaging in public advocacy on these issues, we seek to serve as a meeting place both within the university and in the wider public sphere. Our seminars feature invited national and international guests who engage in dialogue with students and teachers/researchers at the University of Gothenburg. In addition, we organise smaller seminars in which we discuss current themes and critically examine national and international research and discourse on Israel and Palestine.

Within the network, research on Palestine is also being conducted, alongside work aimed at supporting the reconstruction of higher education in Gaza. We have also engaged in efforts to support Palestinian students and researchers, for example by inviting Palestinian scholars to give seminars and lectures, and by offering shorter stays as visiting researchers. We are also exploring possibilities for offering Palestinian students the opportunity to study at the University of Gothenburg through a higher education initiative.

GUPAS focus areas

Genocide and illegal occupation

GUPAS’s seminars and advocacy work take as their point of departure the events in Gaza following Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023. Numerous experts in international law, genocide scholars, and human rights organisations have defined Israel’s actions as constituting genocide (UN Special Rapporteur; The Guardian; Amnesty International). In addition, as early as December 2023, South Africa presented compelling evidence in its application against Israel under the Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), demonstrating that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. As part of the systematic documentation of Israel’s war crimes, the United Nations has also used the term “scholasticide”, referring to the deliberate destruction of a people’s academic and educational infrastructure.

The ICJ has not yet ruled on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza; however, on 26 January 2024 the Court ordered certain provisional measures, which entail that not only Israel but also all states that are parties to the Genocide Convention are obliged to act to prevent violations of the Convention (Genocide Convention, Article I). Since 2024, several independent sources, including UN bodies, have established that Israel has violated the laws of war and international law—not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank. A report (A/HRC/56/26) published in June 2024 by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel - established in 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) - concludes that both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes, and that Israel’s actions also constitute crimes against humanity. Furthermore, on 19 July 2024, the ICJ declared that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is contrary to international law. On this basis, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for starvation as a method of warfare and for crimes against humanity.

UN experts have also warned of the consequences of inaction:
“Failure to act now jeopardises the entire edifice of international law and the rule of law in world affairs.”

Academic boycott

Academic freedom

Racism and anti-racism

The reconstruction of higher education in Gaza

Network members

Activtities

Upcoming seminars and lectures

May 11: Imagine Palestine – (Re)Writing and Translating Future Realities
A conversation with Alaa Alqaisi and Sanabel Abdel Rahman exploring Palestinian literature, various forms of aesthetic and political resistance, as well as visions of alternative futures and the dilemmas of translation.
The event takes place on May 11 from 18:00–20:00 in the Auditorium (Hörsalen) at Gothenburg City Library. It is organized by Ord&Bild, the seminar series Imagine Palestine at the University of Gothenburg, and Gothenburg City Library.
Alaa Alqaisi is a translator and PhD candidate in literature at Trinity College Dublin. Her work has been published in, among others, ArabLit and LitHub. She has also been translated into Swedish in Prisma Palestina (Ord&Bild) and in Aftonbladet Kultur.
Sanabel Abdel Rahman is a writer and researcher. She completed her PhD at Philipps University Marburg in Germany with a dissertation on magical realism in Palestinian literature and is currently working on a book on the same theme.
May 12: Imagine Palestine – The Double Life of the Palestinian Translator
A lecture followed by a discussion with Alaa Alqaisi. The lecture is based on the text of the same name, which is available in Swedish on the Ord&Bild website.
The lecture takes place on May 12 at 15:15 in room C454, Humanisten, Renströmsgatan 6.
Alaa Alqaisi is a translator and PhD candidate in literature at Trinity College Dublin. Her work has been published in, among others, ArabLit and LitHub. She has also been translated into Swedish in Aftonbladet Kultur.
POSTPONED Between Belonging and Alienation:
Environmental Awareness among Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Question of Land
Speaker: Maisalon Dallashi, Stockholm University (and guest researcher University of Gothenburg)
Maisalon Dallashi has a PhD in Sociology and her research focuses on education, labor market inequalities, environmental issues, and patterns of violence and crime within Palestinian society. She examines how structural segregation and systemic inequality shape everyday life and opportunities for both Jews and Palestinian citizens of Israel. She is currently developing her postdoctoral research at the Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, exploring Palestinian migration, statelessness, and transnational belonging. Alongside her academic work, she actively advocates for Palestinian rights, striving to connect critical research with meaningful social and political change. From 23 March to 2 April, she is a guest researcher at the Department of Sociology, University of Gothenburg.
POSTPONED Cancel Culture in Israeli Academia after October 7: The Dynamics of Censorship and Self-Censorship among Palestinian Scholars
Speaker: Maisalon Dallashi, Stockholm University (and guest researcher University of Gothenburg)
Maisalon Dallashi has a PhD in Sociology and her research focuses on education, labor market inequalities, environmental issues, and patterns of violence and crime within Palestinian society. She examines how structural segregation and systemic inequality shape everyday life and opportunities for both Jews and Palestinian citizens of Israel. She is currently developing her postdoctoral research at the Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, exploring Palestinian migration, statelessness, and transnational belonging. Alongside her academic work, she actively advocates for Palestinian rights, striving to connect critical research with meaningful social and political change. From 23 March to 2 April, she is a guest researcher at the Department of Sociology, University of Gothenburg.

Previous seminars

Imagine Palestine - Ghassan Kanafani and the revolution of 1936-1939 in Palestine
Tuesday 17 March at 15.00 via Zoom.
Click on the link above to sign up and to get the Zoom link.

Welcome to this online seminar in which we will discuss Ghassan Kanafani’s book The Revolution of 1936–1939 in Palestine where Kanafani examines the economic, political, social, and cultural conditions that contributed to, and limited, the anti-colonial struggle in this period.
Ghassan Kanafani was a Palestinian political activist, artist, and writer.
The book will be presented by Hazem Jamjoum, who is a writer and translator. His translation of Ghassan Kanafani's classic essay on the 1936-1939 Revolution was published in 2023 by 1804 Books.