Palestinian groups and individuals inside and outside of historic Palestine have signed the following statement in solidarity with their brethren in Ferguson, Missouri.

Unsurprisingly, many of the police deployed to crush unarmed protesters demanding justice for the brutal murder of eighteen-year-old black American Mike Brown are Israel-trained. Despotic tactics Palestinians largely associate with Israel’s colonial military, such as teargassing protesters and harassing journalists, have all been implemented in Ferguson.

Although Ferguson and Palestine are two different contexts, both places and their people are fighting against white supremacist regimes of oppression which continue to view them as “disposable others” and act accordingly.

The individuals who signed the statement below may not all know or agree with each other. However, the undersigned all believe that it is the moral responsibility of every Palestinian to support and foster relations with the struggles of the oppressed all over the world.

It is also worth noting that the Palestinian struggle for freedom is not a copy of the struggle of our black brothers and sisters both in the past and present. Neither is the black struggle a homogeneous one. Finally, the struggle of our black brethren is not a simple tool to “popularize” ours.

But the Civil Rights, anti-apartheid and anti-colonial movements in the United States, South Africa and foreign colonies across the African continent in the past offer us various models from which we should learn. In the present, Palestinians (though this does not apply to sell-outs such as Mahmoud Abbas and his minions) stand up against the despotism which the US, the settler-colony known as Israel, and various European and Arab governments embody.

Full statement

We the undersigned Palestinian individuals and groups express our solidarity with the family of Michael Brown, a young unarmed black man gunned down by police on August 9th in Ferguson, Missouri. We wish to express our support and solidarity with the people of Ferguson who have taken their struggle to the street, facing a militarized police occupation.

From all factions and sectors of our dislocated society, we send you our commitment to stand with you in your hour of pain and time of struggle against the oppression that continues to target our black brothers and sisters in nearly every aspect of their lives.

We understand your moral outrage. We empathize with your hurt and anger. We understand the impulse to rebel against the infrastructure of a racist capitalist system that systematically pushes you to the margins of humanity.

And we stand with you.

We recognize the disregard and disrespect for black bodies and black life endemic to the supremacist system that rules the land with wanton brutality. Your struggles through the ages have been an inspiration to us as we fight our own battles for basic human dignities. We continue to find inspiration and strength from your struggles through the ages and your revolutionary leaders, like Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Kwame Ture, Angela Davis, Fred Hampton, Bobby Seale and others.

We honor the life of Michael Brown, cut short less than a week before he was due to begin university. And we honor the far too many more killed in similar circumstances, motivated by racism and contempt for black life: Ezell Ford, John Crawford, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Tarika Wilson, Malcolm Ferguson, Renisha McBride, Amadou Diallo, Yvette Smith, Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Kathryn Johnston, Rekia Boyd and too many others to count.

With a Black Power fist in the air, we salute the people of Ferguson and join in your demands for justice.

Signatories

Susan Abulhawa, novelist and activist

Linah Alsaafin, graduate student, SOAS

Budour Hassan

Rinad Abdulla, Professor, Birzeit University

Ramzy Baroud, Managing Editor, Middle East Eye

Diana Buttu, Lawyer, Palestine

Rana Baker, graduate student, SOAS

Abbas Hamideh, activist and organizer

Abir Kopty

Ahlam Muhtaseb, Professor, CSU

Alaa Milbes, Ramallah, Palestine

Alaa Marwan, Ramallah, Palestine

Nour Joudah, Washington DC

Ali Zbeidat, Sakhnin, Palestine

Areej Alragabi , Jerusalem, Palestine

Areej Saeb, student, Jerusalem

Asma Jaber

Beesan Ramadan, Nablus

Dina Zbidat, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dr Jess Ghannam, UCSF

Huwaida Arraf, Attorney, New York

Nejma Awad, Tetra Tech DPK

Monadel Herzallah, USPCN, San Francisco Bay Area

Ghassan Hussein

Dinna Omar

Randa C. Issa

Amal Khoury, MD MPH, Washington, DC

Amani Barakat Moorpark, California

Fadi Quran

Fajr Harb

Falastine Dwikat, PCACBI

Hala Gabriel

Khaled Jarrar

Osama Ahmad, AMP Bay Area director

Hala Turjman

Halla Shoaibi, Birzeit University

Harun Arsalai

Zaid Shuaibi

Hurriyah Ziada

Dima Eleiwa, Shujaiyah, Gaza, Palestine

Jamil Salem, Birzeit University

Karam Saleem, International Solidarity Movement, Palestine

Khaled Barakat

Khuzama Hanoon, Palestine

Laila Awartani, Ramallah, Palestine

Lana Habash, Let’s Go There Collective

Lana Khoury, Washington DC

Yousef Aljamal, University of Malaysia

Safwan Hamdi

Leena Barakat

Lema Nazeeh, lawyer

Yara Kayyali Abbas, Palestine

Mariam Barghouti, Birzeit University

Mohammad Ayyad, graduate student, SOAS

Nader Elkhuzundar

Nancy Mansour, Existence is Resistance, New York/Palestine

Mohammed Alkhader, Birzeit University

Nazik Hassan, attorney, Riverside, California

Nora Taha

Rena Zuabi

Roleen Tafakji-Haidami

Samera Sood

Sana Ibrahim

Sherene Seikaly, UCSB

Taher Herzallah

Tamara Reem, Washington DC

Ahmad Nimer, Palestine

Riya Al’sanah, journalist, London

Alaa Milbes, Ramallah

Belal Dabour, Gaza doctor

Huda Asfour, PhD, Durham NC

Iyad Afalqa, Irvine, CA

Ruba Leech, Portland, OR

Rashad Al-Dabbagh, Network of Arab American Professionals

Maysoon Suleiman-Khatib, Civil Rights Specialist

Diana Alzeer, Ramallah, Palestine

Mona Kadah, Boston MA

Lucy Garbett, Jerusalem, Palestine

Hadeel Assali, Columbia University, NYC

Magid Shihade, Oakland, CA

Tamara Tamimi, Palestine

Hammam Farah, psychotherapist and editor

Dina Elmuti, Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture

Laila Hamdan, Portland OR

Bushra Shamma, VA, USA

Rev. Fahed Abuakel, Presbyterian minister , Atlanta, GA

Rehab Nazzal, artist, Canada

Ezees Silwady, Palestine

Dua’ Nakhala, freelance researcher, Belgium

Amal Oweis, Palestine

Shaheen Nassar, UCR

Amin Dallal, youth counselor

Dr. Tariq Shadid, surgeon

Zaha Hassan, Esq

Randa Issa, PhD

Murad Saleh, GED

Lila Sharif, Ph.D

Sa’ed Atshan, Ph.D

Rasha Khoury, MD Jerusalem

Hadeel Assali, Columbia University, NYC

Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, Associate Professor of Race and Resistance Studies, San Francisco University

Tanya Keilani

Shahd Abusalama

Organizations

American Muslims for Palestine

Free Amer Jubran Campaign

International Solidarity Movement, Palestine

Let’s Go There Collective

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Students for Justice in Palestine, University of New Mexico

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat

Bay Area Intifada, Bay Area

PAWA, Palestinian American Women Association

NSJP, National Students for Justice in Palestine

Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights

Mashjar Juthour, Palestine

Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee

Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition

Stop the Wall

The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel