News and updates

San Francisco, CA – March 17, 2026

Geographers for Justice in Palestine (GJP) announces it has won important though limited steps to advance reform within the American Association of Geographers (AAG) as the organization meets in San Francisco March 17-21. On Thursday, February 12, 2026, AAG divested funds from key firms profiting from Israel’s genocidal war and military occupation, and built a program to support displaced Palestinian geographers. Geographers for Justice in Palestine was formed by AAG members to support an academic boycott and divestment from Israel by geographers. AAG is a professional organization of approximately 10,000 members from around the world.

Divestment of AAG funds from all priority firms outlined by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) represents a major win fulfilling one of GJP’s demands. AAG funds were removed from eight weapons-related firms whose technology has been used, for instance, in the ongoing US-Israeli bombing campaigns in March 2026. Though numerous US-based academic associations have passed resolutions in support of BDS, GJP’s member-led campaign results in real movement of an academic association’s organizational funds. Ongoing disclosure and review of investments will be crucial, as screen developer Morningstar Sustainalytics has been a target of US conservatives for recognizing human rights violations committed by firms operating in Israeli occupied territories.

Deborah Cowen, professor at University of Toronto’s Department of Geography and Planning, described the divestment policy as “a crucial step toward transforming AAG into a professional organization that reflects its members’ values.” They continued, “Geographers for Justice in Palestine have demonstrated and amplified support for Palestinian liberation in our discipline. Geographers will continue to demonstrate that our knowledge and academic positions must not be used for colonial occupation and genocide.”

In March 2025, more than 10% of AAG membership petitioned AAG’s National Council to hold a “special meeting” concerning academic boycott and divestment, following a member-driven petition process outlined in AAG bylaws. In organizing for consideration of these actions, geographers respond to the decades-long call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment, and sanctions of Israel. Academic boycott and divestment are meant to advance an end to the Israeli military occupation and apartheid regime to uphold the protected right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and to receive reparations.

While divestment is a notable win, the process that AAG members had to navigate fell short of basic principles of membership democracy. AAG council has refused calls to hold a membership vote on an academic boycott. AAG released a prevaricating statement describing the need to protect higher education in Gaza. However, GJP’s call for an academic boycott responds to the fact that Israeli universities, including geography departments, actively provide material support and knowledge that enable and deepen Israel’s atrocity crimes against Palestinians. In this regard, AAG leadership risks upholding the legacy of racism and colonialism in geography, a discipline which has historically taken an active role in erasing the presence and rights of Palestinians and other colonized peoples.

AAG has also announced a fund to support “displaced scholars globally, including scholars from Gaza and other conflict-affected regions.” These scholars will be provided free AAG membership and registration for AAG annual meetings, eligibility to apply for relocation or travel funds, and connections to aid organizations. In recent years, “Palestine” was not even a location option available to registrants for AAG meetings, forcing Palestinian geographers to register as if they were from another location. Finally, AAG released an “International Partnership Framework” to address relationships with organizations that could be violators of human rights.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) commented that “We welcome AAG’s significant steps toward becoming a more ethical association, including divesting its funds from companies complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and in its 77-year settler-colonial apartheid regime. By moving toward an ‘International Partnership Framework,’ AAG also clearly recognizes that maintaining ties with academic institutions that are complicit in gross human rights violations is as untenable as it is unethical. AAG must necessarily exclude ties with all Israeli academic institutions under this framework due to their well-documented active role in Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and now genocide against Palestinians. The development of this policy must be transparent and inclusive of input from the AAG membership and stakeholders. We thank Geographers for Justice in Palestine and the principled AAG members who are working to ensure the association lives up to its stated values.”

While AAG leadership describes these actions as a “final response to the petition,” Geographers for Justice in Palestine will continue to push towards membership-led change in the organization in support of Palestinian liberation.

Geographers for Justice in Palestine can be reached for comment at geog4pal@proton.me

October 17, 2025 at 12pm EDT

Join us for the People’s Special Meeting to discuss what BDS and solidarity should look like in the AAG!

Register on Zoom by clicking here (registrations screened).

February 17, 2026

On Thursday, February 12, the AAG sent an email to members entitled “AAG’s Response to the Member Petition on Israel–Palestine” and published a “Statement on Palestine and Higher Education." Both texts announce four changes to AAG policy developed by the AAG council over recent months, described as investment framework changes, international partnership policies, a displaced scholars fund, and an official AAG statement. But, the AAG has skirted any gestures towards voting on an academic boycott. So while we can claim a legitimate win in the divestment of AAG funds from militarism and the displaced scholar’s fund, the announcement of these limited actions as “final” represents the culmination of a deeply flawed undemocratic process. Here is how we see it!

What we won:

1. On divestment, it is important to recognize and celebrate a critical win for our campaign. Though many BDS resolutions have been passed by other scholarly organizations, the AAG’s change in policy makes it one of only a handful in North America that has actually moved funds. Going forward, it will remain critical that AAG continue disclosure practices and maintain an eye on investments, since Morningstar Sustainalytics screens have come under criticism by the US-Israeli right.
   
   
2. The “Displaced Scholars Support Program and Fund” aims to support Palestinian scholars, and perhaps others, who have been affected by “conflict.” A “working group will develop the program details over the next year.” This program is an important win brought forth by over two years of campaigning and shaming the AAG about their limited support for, and often abandonment of, Palestinian geographers. However, it is important to remember that this policy is only as effective as institutional support can make it, especially considering the immense financial and political barriers to scholarly participation that Palestinians face. Dismantling these barriers is the goal of academic boycott, which the AAG failed to implement.
   
   
   What’s next?
   GJP’s fight for a democratically passed boycott of Israeli academic institutions continues!
   
   AAG council’s response pledges to develop an “International Partnership Framework and Due Diligence Policy” which (if implemented) would proactively dissuade institutional partnerships with “countries where there are significant human rights or academic freedom concerns.” This stops well short of Palestinian civil society’s call for an explicit boycott of Israeli academic institutions, a crucial component of the international solidarity movement for Palestinian liberation. The goal of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is to isolate Israeli academic and cultural institutions who actively support genocide, occupation, and apartheid. Boycott is a central part of the campaign to make this genocidal project untenable.
   
   An actual special meeting—wherein AAG members could debate the case for divestment and boycott—was never held. We did not ask for a statement, because bad statements do more harm than good. The current statement reiterates Zionist talking points, and continues the shameful legacy of racism and colonialism in geography, a discipline which has long taken an active role in erasing the presence and rights of Palestinians and other colonized peoples. We need to continue to push for a democratic vote for boycott where AAG member voices can be heard.

October 17, 2025 at 12pm EDT

Join us for the People’s Special Meeting to discuss what BDS and solidarity should look like in the AAG!

Register on Zoom by clicking here (registrations screened).

August 28, 2025

We are writing this message as an update and a call for action on our campaign to pass academic boycott and divestment resolutions at the American Association of Geographers (AAG). Keep an eye out for emails about once a week with updates on the situation in Palestine, updates on our campaign, and actions you can take to support our efforts towards BDS at the AAG.

After more than 22 months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Israel continues to act with impunity, bombing tents, shooting people at aid sites, and enacting a policy of forced starvation in Gaza. Israel’s recent bombing of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis killed more than 20 people, including 5 journalists. The AAG has so far refused to commit to an academic boycott or divestment from Israeli (and other military) investments. For these reasons, and many more, our organizing remains a vital effort to express meaningful and material solidarity with Palestine.

To support our campaign, we are planning a fall conversation series, beginning with an event that brings together key participants in disciplinary academic boycott and divestment campaigns.

Finally, don’t forget to attend the special meeting on October 3rd, from 12:00 to 1:30 pm EST to demand a vote on BDS resolutions at the AAG as proposed by GJP.

Thank you for being an active part in the success of our campaign! With the Trump Administration’s attacks on higher education, it is important we do not back down and maintain our position and commitment to this rightful cause.

August 21, 2025

Greetings from the Geographers for Justice in Palestine team. We’ve been busy organizing our campaign for the passage of BDS resolutions by the American Association of Geographers after successfully gathering a petition with over 10% of the membership of AAG! Nonetheless, while Israel’s horrific and genocidal assault on and starvation of Gaza continues unabated, our disciplinary leaders are delaying and obfuscating the clear action we need to take as geographers. If your AAG membership is active, you should have received an email from AAG executive director, Gary Langham, announcing a “special meeting” on October 3, 2025 at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. We are writing to provide context surrounding this email, our analysis of AAG’s handling of our petition, and a crucial ask to forward this email so that our campaign can reach the broadest audience.

Our organizing blitz at AAG 2025 in Detroit was hugely successful. We organized a pre-conference attended by 200 people and a series of packed sessions on the role of Geography in the Palestine solidarity movement. Over 10% of our membership signed the petition to the executive council to convene a meeting about our proposed BDS resolutions. This unprecedented solidarity with Palestine and Palestinian geographers is crucial to uphold, now more than ever before.

While we had hoped AAG Executive Director and Council would support our BDS proposals as member-driven change in our organization, they instead have chosen an undemocratic and unprecedented path forward which locks AAG members out of meaningful participation while reserving the ability to develop their own “report” on BDS. This process will interface with members only through what seems to be a “listening session” model. Despite initial assurances from Gary Langham, the process you all asked AAG to take by signing the petition is not being considered. We have been told directly that “No further action is needed from [GJP’s organizers] or any petitioner” in this process. We believe the executive council has likely violated aspects of AAG’s bylaws and standing rules in the process. Further, these decisions were made by the outgoing executive board on June 25; the minutes will not be visible to AAG members until September. These calculated moves are signs that the executive council would be extremely unlikely to ever allow any membership-wide vote on BDS resolutions or any meaningful action–unless we heighten our pressure.

We are committed to organizing over the next six weeks to resist this undemocratic process and make the special meeting a site of antagonism for AAG council and a campaign win for us. Here’s what we are asking of you to ensure that the demands of the petition you signed at AAG are respected:

1. We need members to attend the special meeting and demand to vote on actual BDS resolutions as proposed by GJP. The special meeting is currently scheduled for October 3rd, from 12:00 to 1:30 pm EST.
2. We need you to forward this email to colleagues and ask them to sign up here to continue recieiving emails. Please use a more secure non-institutional email address, as many university spam filters automatically catch our emails. We will be messaging this list regularly with updates and steps you can take over the next six weeks. We need to mobilize a skilled and disciplined message about how to approach this meeting, and executive council, in our specialty group communities, and on our geography listserves. We have assembled a series of talking points on our website, including background on the BDS movement, why AAG in particular should support it, and how to address potential concerns. Now is the time to practice making the case for the urgency of boycott and divestment in AAG as we await details on the form of the special meeting. Keep an eye out for more opportunities to practice between now and October 3.
3. We need you to further spread our message on social media. You can follow our accounts @geogboycott for message discipline and graphics, but the most effective messages are those that are spoken from your own position.

We’ll keep you up to date on small asks over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for a Zoom teach-in in September featuring colleagues in disciplinary organizations that have passed BDS motions. And if our representatives continue to drag their feet, we need to strategize how to escalate further, such as taking more drastic action prior to the San Francisco AAG meeting.

This is a critical moment for reforming AAG to leverage our power and knowledge courageously. Choosing neutrality on Palestine today will be choosing powerlessness on migration, academic freedom, climate change, and fascism tomorrow. With Palestine in our hearts, our goal is to change the culture of silence and neutrality within our discipline. Now is the time to act as Palestinian geographers and civil society have called us to do.