Palestinian students resist racism in Israeli unversities

Hundreds of Palestinian students held demonstrations in Israeli universities last week to protest the murder of Kheir Al-deen Hamdan by Israeli police. Hamdan, a 22-year-old Palestinian citizen of Israel, was shot by a police officer on Friday 7 November in the Arab town of Kafr Kanna, in Northern Israel.

The incident was captured on video footage that contradicted the officers’ claim that a warning shot was fired prior to the fatal bullet. It is clear from the video that Hamdan did not pose an immediate threat to the police when they shot him. This happened two days after Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch had stated that “a terrorist who attacks civilians should be sentenced to death.”

On the Sunday following the shooting, approximately 150 Palestinian students demonstrated in Haifa University, at the entrance of the campus. The demonstration was organized by the student movements of Balad, Abnaa el-Balad, the Islamic movement and Hadash. Students condemned the police brutality against Arab citizens and demanded justice for Palestinians. They held signs reading “cold blooded murder” and “The charge: being an Arab; the punishment: death”.

In another united protest that was organized by the various Arab student movements, about 100 Palestinian students demonstrated at the main entrance of Tel Aviv University campus against the killing of Hamdan and against the invasion of al-Aqsa mosque by Israeli authorities and far-right extremist Israelis.

The students expressed their anger with a police force that “does not value the lives of Arabs”, for whom when it comes to Arabs “it becomes easier to pull the trigger and fire.” Students wore Palestinian keffiyehs and waved the Palestinian flag. Extremist Israeli students organized a counter-protest and called Arab students “traitors” and shouted “terror supporters go to Gaza.” Police officers stood between the demonstrators to prevent clashes. Palestinian students insisted that until a change is made in the Israeli government and its racist policies against Palestinians, they will keep demonstrating and fighting for their rights.

A similar protest took place at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, where students gathered in solidarity with the victims of police brutality and condemned police action against Arab citizens of Israel. Meanwhile on Tuesday, students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem called for a free Palestine and against “the terrors of the Israeli state”, with students also protesting against the invasion of al-Aqsa mosque and the racism and acts of hate against the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

A general strike was announced by the Arab Higher Committee in the Arab villages and towns across Israel last Sunday, as a reaction to the shooting. Arab schoolchildren joined the ongoing protests and wore keffiyehs to their schools the day following the strike, in solidarity with Palestine.

This series of protests is a reaction to the ongoing racist policies that Israel practices against its Palestinian citizens. Palestinian youth feel it is their duty to stand up for their people’s rights, to repeatedly remind the state of Israel of their Palestinian identity and their right to exist on Palestinian land. These demonstrations are the Palestinian youth’s tool to show Israelis and the world what is happening.

In addition to exposing the truth, demonstrations are a place for Palestinian student movements to empower a sense of identity that the state of Israel is trying to obliterate within the younger generation. Students’ political activism at universities shows that they are part of a united Palestinian community. Activists stress the importance of political awareness in addition to education and school.

Palestinian students in Israeli universities are conveying a message of resistance to occupation; they are calling for fighting injustice, speaking out for the oppressed and the victims of racial discrimination.

The author is a Law and English literature student at Tel Aviv University

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.