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Personal Reflection

Scholasticide in Gaza

Avi Shlaim*Avi Shlaim*

Avi Shlaim is an Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy. His books include Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine (Columbia University Press, 1988); War and Peace in the Middle East: A Concise History (Penguin, 1995); The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (W W Norton, 2000, updated edition 2014); Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace (Vintage, 2007); Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations (Verso, 2009); Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew (Oneworld, 2023); and Genocide in Gaza: Israel’s Long War on Palestine (Irish Pages Press, 2025).

avi.shlaim@sant.ox.ac.uk

Abstract

This article examines the concept of ‘scholasticide’, the deliberate destruction of an educational system and its institutions, in the context of Gaza. Tracing its historical roots to the Nakba of 1948, the article situates scholasticide within the broader context of Zionist settler-colonialism and its policies of de-development, collective punishment, and ethnic cleansing. The analysis pays special attention to the annihilation of Gaza’s schools, universities, and academic infrastructure throughout the most recent war in Gaza, whilst exploring the intertwined phenomena of cultural genocide, domicide, and ecocide. Contrary to prevailing beliefs about the nature and legitimacy of Israeli attacks on Gaza’s educational system and broader infrastructure, the article invokes international law to argue that Israeli actions were disproportionate, unjustified, and importantly, unlawful.

Keywords

scholasticidesettler-colonialismZionismeducationGazagenocide

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Personal reflection

Normal View Dyslexic View

Scholasticide in Gaza

Avi Shlaim*Avi Shlaim*

Avi Shlaim is an Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy. His books include Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine (Columbia University Press, 1988); War and Peace in the Middle East: A Concise History (Penguin, 1995); The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (W W Norton, 2000, updated edition 2014); Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace (Vintage, 2007); Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations (Verso, 2009); Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew (Oneworld, 2023); and Genocide in Gaza: Israel’s Long War on Palestine (Irish Pages Press, 2025).

avi.shlaim@sant.ox.ac.uk