[News] Palestinians decry Israel army's 'barbaric' university raid and student arrests

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-israel-decry-army-barbaric-university-raid-student-arrests>
Palestinians decry Israel army's 'barbaric' university raid and student
arrests
By Fayha Shalash in Ramallah, occupied Palestine
September 25, 2023
------------------------------

Palestinians <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> have
condemned the Israeli <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel>
army's storming of a leading West Bank university and the arrest of student
activists.

Around 10 military vehicles violently raided Birzeit University's campus at
dawn on Sunday before dozens of special forces disembarked and surrounded
the student council building, according to student Basil Barghouti.

Troops assaulted university guards, vandalised the council's office and
arrested eight of its members.

The detained students, including the council's elected president, Abdul
Majeed Hassan, had been barricading themselves inside the building for two
weeks fearing arrest by the Palestinian security services.

"The soldiers destroyed the contents of the building and broke equipment
that was to be used in activities during next week," Barghouti told Middle
East Eye. "They also confiscated many items belonging to the student
council."

Along with Hassan, those arrested included senior members of the student
council, which is dominated by the Islamic Wafa bloc. The Hamas-affiliated
list won
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-bank-hamas-bloc-wins-major-student-birzeit-elections>
student elections in May for the second consecutive year, beating their
PA-affiliated rivals.

Birzeit University, located north of Ramallah, is one of the largest
educational institutions in the occupied
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/occupation> West Bank and maintains
its independence from the control of the Palestine Authority (PA).

Student activism at the university is hotly contested and often reflects
trends in the wider Palestinian political life.

The Sunday raid came one day after Birzeit opened its doors for the new
academic year, a time when there is high demand for the services provided
by the student council.

It also follows the violent arrest
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-student-leader-detained-after-election-success>
of elected leader Hassan by the PA forces, who regularly coordinate
security matters with the Israeli army, in June.

The 23-year-old was detained with fellow student activist Yahya Farah and
held for a month over their student work.

Students from the Islamic Wafa bloc say they have faced continued
harassment by the PA forces since, including attempts to arrest some of
them.

"The [PA] security services arrested two students on charges of union work
because they were students from the Hamas-affiliated Islamic Wafa bloc,"
said Barghouti.

"After that, the students and elected council members began sleeping at the
university for fear of arrest."
‘Recurring and brutal invasion’

Nour al-Tamimi, a member of the Right to Education Campaign at the
university, denounced how the arrests on Sunday were carried out as
"barbaric".

She said the troops threatened the students with their weapons and used
dogs to terrorise them.

"We tried to document the toll of violations that occurred that night, and
everything we documented confirms that it was a systematic attack directly
against the student council at Birzeit University,'' Tamimi told MEE.

Such raids into Palestinian universities are not new. Birzeit University
was last raided in 2021, and in 2018, when then-council president Omar
al-Kiswani was arrested. At least 80 students attending the university are
at present detained in Israeli military prisons, according to the
university.

'It was a systematic attack directly against the student council at Birzeit
University'

*- Nour al-Tamimi, Right to Education Campaign*

The Israeli military claimed the eight students detained on Sunday were
recruited by Hamas and were planning an attack against Israel. Similar
claims are routinely made by the Israeli military after the arrest of
Palestinian activists.

Birzeit University denounced the attack on its campus and the arrest of the
students, calling it a violation of "internationally upheld principles".

"The recurring and brutal invasion is an extension of the military
occupation's systematic policy to break down the educational system in
Palestine, particularly attempting to exert control over Palestinian youth,
their aspirations and right to education," the university said in a
statement.

"Birzeit University has been subjected to military raids and arrest
campaigns since its establishment, and last academic year several students
were shot at and subsequently imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces at
the eastern gate of the university."

The board of trustees at the university urged action by international
institutions, calling upon them to protect the Palestinian public and their
educational institutions.
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