Israeli military forces stormed Birzeit University campus on Monday afternoon. As students and lecturers were coming and going from classes, they were met with live fire from Israeli soldiers following undercover forces that had infiltrated the university. Five students were abducted and one was shot in the leg and currently remains detained in hospital receiving urgent treatment. The university administration has suspended classes until Sunday in the wake of the attack.
Escalating attack on Palestinian students
This is the second time in less than a month that Israeli military forces have raided Birzeit University. In the early hours of 14th December, over 100 Israeli soldiers invaded the campus, assaulting staff, raiding a number of faculties and tearing down the Palestinian flag flying in the main square of the university. Since the early years of the occupation, Birzeit has been targeted by Israeli authorities.
Standing in solidarity
Israel is violating basic Palestinian rights but students and university staff refuse to be intimidated. On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of members of the Birzeit community gathered in the main campus to protest Israel's attacks on Palestinian education and the ongoing arbitrary detention of fellow students. The higher education community in Palestine have long called for their rights to education and civil and political liberties to be upheld and for Israel to be held accountable for its breaches of Palestinian rights.
Fobzu works to provide scholarships to students in financial need at Birzeit University and refugee students in Gaza, helping to build links in the UK with Birzeit and other Palestinian universities, and raising the cause of Palestinian education as it faces attacks.