The Global Network on the Question of Palestine (GNQP) strongly condemns the most recent Israeli military invasion of the Birzeit University campus in the occupied West Bank, which took place on Tuesday 14 December 2021.
Early on that day nearly 100 heavily armed soldiers stormed Birzeit University, injuring a security guard and destroying property. It subsequently emerged that the purpose of the military operation was the removal of a Palestinian flag from the campus.
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Higher Education denounced the attack as “a serious violation of all international laws and conventions” that infringe “the sanctity of universities and educational institutions”. This raid, along with others that target educational institutions in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), demonstrates a systematic lack of respect for academic freedom and educational premises, as well as a continuous Israeli campaign to undermine the education system in the oPt.
Such acts indisputably violate International Human Rights Law and the basic norms and rules of international humanitarian law. Israel’s determination that even the display of a Palestinian flag constitutes a threat to its security furthermore makes a complete mockery of the international consensus that Palestinians must exercise sovereignty in an independent state comprising the oPt. This is particularly the case when this same international community further encourages Israeli impunity by yet again refusing to hold Israel accountable for actions that are designed to render this consensus meaningless.
In response to the Israeli military invasion of the campus, the Birzeit University community held an assembly in which they restored the flag and voiced “their commitment to the right to education and to the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence.”
The GNQP fully supports Birzeit University, its staff, and students, and calls upon universities and academic institutions everywhere to denounce and condemn this violent act and to express and demonstrate their solidarity with Birzeit University and indeed all Palestinian educational institutions. To do less under present circumstances is tantamount to, and will be interpreted by Israel, as an act of complicity.
