Palestinian students continue to face new Israeli attacks as the campaign to #FreePalestinianStudents grows

Palestinian students continue to come under attack by Israeli occupation forces, even as the international campaign to free Palestinian students is escalating. Over 325 organizations have now signed on to support the campaign, including the All Nepal Peasants’ Federation, the American Association of Jurists, the Confederation of Workers from Turkey in Europe – ATIK, the National Lawyers Guild in the U.S., and the Landless Workers Movement/Movimento Sem Terra in Brazil, among a wide range pf political parties, Palestinian and solidarity organizations, churches, labor unions and social justice groups. (See the full list of endorsers below.)

Join the campaign for a social media storm on Thursday, 11 March, using the hashtag #FreePalestinianStudents. A list of sample tweets and images you can use is available at https://bit.ly/FreePalestinianStudents.

In Austin, Texas, the Palestine Solidarity Committee displayed banners over a major highway in support of Palestinian students and a demand to end U.S. aid to Israel as part of the campaign launch on 25 February.

In Toulouse, France, members of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra along with fellow campaign endorsers Le Poing Levé et l’Union des Etudiant·e·s de Toulouse organized a photo campaign and solidarity signs in support of Palestinian students as part of a day of student action against economic and social precarity on 3 March.

Many more organizations are planning actions, events and interventions. For more information, suggested actions and resources, please reach out to us at samidoun@samidoun.net.

The importance of this campaign is highlighted by the ongoing attacks on Palestinian students. At Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, occupied Palestine, Israeli occupation forces invaded the campus on 26 February in an attempt to launch a campaign of terror against Palestinian students, threatening students’ education with a “hit list” of students targeted for arrest and political persecution. Armed occupation soldiers posted signs with the photos of arrested Palestinian students with a red “X” through each of their pictures, leaving blank outlines at the bottom with question marks to ask, “who will be arrested next?”

The posters bore the title, “Graduation of the Islamic Bloc 2021,” boasting of students being denied their right to education because of their involvement in student activity on campus, and hung on the gates of the university and gathering locations in and around the university.

Only days later, on 3 March, many students at Al-Quds university received text messages from the Shin Bet — Israeli occupation intelligence — on their mobile phones, offering funds for collaboration. The message reads:
“Dear university students, your future is in your own hand. To whomever needs support to finish their education. Contact Captain Shaker,” followed by the agent’s phone number. This is another blatant attempt to intimidate, terrorize and coerce Palestinian students and undermine their right to education.

Occupation forces continued to detain Palestinian students. Majd Jarrar and Waleed Hamad, two students from Bir Zeit University, were seized and taken to the notorious Al-Moskobiyeh interrogation center after heavily armed Israeli soldiers invaded the two students’ homes on 2 March. Three students at Al-Najah University in Nablus, Asim Shtayyeh, Malik Shtayyeh, both engineering students, and Musa Dweikat, a medical student, were seized by occupation forces on 2 March, while at the University of Hebron, Ezz-el-Din Abu Hussein, Muthanna al-Qawasmi and Thameen Halaika were all seized by occupation forces on 1 March.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all friends of justice in Palestine to join the #FreePalestinianStudents campaign. This campaign brings organizations together in a global call to urge the immediate freedom of imprisoned Palestinian students and the protection of Palestinian students’ right to education, right to political expression and involvement and right to determine their own futures. The Israeli occupation has targeted Palestinian students and, specifically, the Palestinian student movement and Palestinian student organizations for harsh repression and political detention and imprisonment.

We join together to call for action and support for Palestinian students behind bars, including:

• Boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, including Israeli academic institutions, which are fully complicit in the systematic deprivation of Palestinian rights.
• Ending all military and economic aid, military transactions, joint projects and direct funding to the Israeli occupation regime by governments around the world.
• Challenging “normalization” programs that aim to legitimize Israeli occupation — this is an attempt to legitimize the criminalization and targeting of Palestinian students.
• Organizing to build direct links of solidarity with Palestinian students and the Palestinian student movement, to ensure that they will not be isolated from their global community of support despite all attempts by the Israeli occupation.

For the full campaign statement, resources, posters, photos and more, including translations in eight languages, please visit: https://freepalestinianstudents.org/

Add your organization’s name to this statement: http://bit.ly/palstudentsignon

List of endorsing organizations:

• 100 Idee per la Pace Siena – Italy
• Action Antifasciste Paris Banlieue
• ADDICTED To WAR
• AFPS 0726 (Association France Palestine Solidarité Groupe local Ardèche Drôme)
• AFPS 63 (France)
• AFPS Douai
• AFPS Nord- Pas de Calais
• AFPS Paris 14-6
• AFPS PARIS-SUD
• Africa4Palestine
• Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
• Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
• Alkarama Palestinian women’s movement)
• All Nepal Peasants’ Federation (ANPFa)
• Alliance for Global Justice
• Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
• Allt åt Alla Kvinnofront
• القطب الطلابي الديمقراطي التقدمي Al Qutob – Progressive Democratic Student Pole at Bir Zeit University
• Al-Yudur Juventud Palestina | Al-Juzour Palestinian Youth
• Amis des Arts et de al Culture de Palestine
• AMP-NJ
• Anakbayan-USA
• Anti Imperialist Action Ireland
• Anti-Imperialist Alliance – Ottawa
• Anti-Imperialist Alliance Youth (AIA Youth – Ottawa)
• Anti-Imperialist Front – France (AIF)
• Antirasistiska Akademin
• Arbetarmakt (Workers Power) – Swedish Section of The League for the Fifth International
• ARENE (Association des ResidEnts de NanterrE)
• Asamblea Plaza de los Pueblos Madrid
• Asociación Brasileña Maloka
• Asociación Estudiantil Madrid
• Asociación Palestina Biladi
• Asociación Punto Feminista Alcorcón
• Asociación Teatro de la Tierra
• Asociación Unadikum
• Associación Americana de Juristas
• Association Car t’y es libre
• Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine (AURDIP)
• Association Eunomia
• Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees
• Association France Palestine Solidarité d’Albertville
• Association France Palestine Solidarité Nîmes
• Association Nationale des Communistes – ANC
• Association of Palestinian Students – University of Toronto Mississauga
• Associazione Amicizia Sardegna Palestina
• Associazione Senza Paura Genova
• Australia Solidarity with Latin America
• Bahraini Society to Resist Normalization with Zionism
• Bathurst Street United Church
• BAYAN Canada
• BAYAN USA
• BDS France Marseille
• BDS France Montpellier
• BDS Genova
• BDS Mexico
• BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish Territories
• Belgian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI)
• Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG)
• Boycott, Divest, Sanction, on CATerpillar
• Bündnis gegen Krieg / Hände weg von Syrien
• California Scholars for Academic Freedom
• Campagne Unitaire pour la Libération de Georges Abdallah
• Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
• Canada Palestine Association
• Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet)
• Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR)
• Canadian BDS Coalition
• Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3902 BDS Committee
• Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)
• CAPJPO-EuroPalestine
• Catholics for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land (Canada)
• Center for Study and Preservation of Palestine
• Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies
• Centro Culturale Handala Ali – مركز حنظله علي الثقافي
• Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
• Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine
• Coletivo pelos direitos no Brasil
• Collectif 65 pour la liberation de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
• Collectif 69 de soutien au peuple palestinien
• Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
• Collectif Palestine Vaincra
• Collettivo Palestina Rossa
• Comité Antifa Saint Etienne
• Comité d’actions et de soutien aux luttes du peuple marocain
• Comité de Défense des Internés des Camps du Sud (Algérie)
• Comite de Liberté pour Musa Aşoğlu!
• Comité de solidarité tunisien pour la libération de Georges Abdallah
• Comité justice et vérité 31
• Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient (CPJPO)
• Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran (CASI)
• Communist Organization of Greece (KOE)
• Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninst) Liberation
• Communist Workers League
• Comunidad Palestina de Chile
• Confederación Intersindical Galega (CIG)
• Confederation of Workers from Turkey in Europe – ATIK
• Cordillera Peoples Alliance
• CRED-GIGI
• Cultura è Libertà, una campagna per la Palestina
• Dallas Palestine Coalition
• Deutsch-Palästinensischer Frauenverein e.V.
• Droit Solidarite
• DSA BDS & Palestine Solidarity Working Group Steering Committee
• East Los Angeles Revolutionary Action Party
• Éirígí- for A New Republic
• End the Deadly Exchange Seattle
• Eye On Palestine Arts and Film Festival
• Fédération Syndicale Étudiante (FSE)
• Femmes de diverses origines/Women of Diverse Origins
• Festiclown
• Finnish-Arab Friendship Society, FAFS
• FIRMES: Federación Internacional de Resistencia Migrante en España
• Fordham SJP
• Framåt kamrater
• Free CUNY!
• Free Palestine Movement
• Freedom Road Socialist Organization
• French Friends of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin (ATL Jénine)
• Friends of Palestine Against Imperialism and Zionism (Filistin Dostlari)
• Friends of Sabeel North America
• Front Populaire France (Turquie)
• Front Uni des Immigrations et des Quartiers Populaires de Grenoble (FUIQP 38)
• GABRIELA Alliance of Filipino Women
• GABRIELA BC
• Galizan People’s Union-UPG
• GATS
• Gazainfo
• Giovani palestinesi d’Italia
• Giuristi Democratici
• GMB union z60 branch Lincoln
• Green Mountain Solidarity With Palestine
• Groupe Non-Violent LOUIS LECOIN
• GUPS Aix-Marseille
• Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
• Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War
• HRA:PI/CD3-IP (Human Rights Awareness: Palestine Israel/CD3 Israel Palestine
• Human Rights March, Denmark
• ILPS Commission on Children
• Indiana Center for Middle East Peace
• Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)
• Inminds Human Rights Group
• International Action Center
• International Association of Democratic Lawyers
• International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)
• International League of Peoples’ Struggle – Australia Chapter
• International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) – Commission 10
• International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) – US Northeast
• International League of Peoples’ Struggle-US
• International Social Movement France
• International Solidarity Movement France
• Internationalt Forum – Denmark
• Int’l Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
• IPNOTGlobal
• Ireland Information Group of Sweden
• ISM Northern California
• Israel Palestine Task Force
• IU-Marx Madera
• IWA – Europe
• Jailhouse Lawyers Speak
• Jeune Garde Lyon
• Jeunes Communistes de la Loire (JC42)
• Jeunes Communistes du Bas-Rhin (France)
• Jeunesse solidaire
• Jewish Voice for Peace – Bay Area
• Jewish Voice for Peace – Los Angeles
• Jewish Voice For Peace Central Ohio
• Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
• Jóvenes Izquierda Unida
• Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
• Justice for Palestinians, Calgary
• Justice pour la Palestine
• KAMARAD-مجموعة عمل نشريّة كاماراد/تونس
• Kia Ora Gaza (Aotearoa New Zealand)
• Labor for Palestine
• Landless Workers Movement – MST
• L’association Couserans-Palestine
• Le Collectif Rouge Internationalistes pour la libération des prisonniers révolutionnaire (Le CRI Rouge – Paris)
• Le Collectif Solidarité Palestine Ouest Étang de Berre
• Le Poing Levé Mirail
• Le poing levé Paris 8
• League of Filipino Students
• League of Filipino Students – Cavite State University
• League of Filipino Students PUP
• Letters for Palestine – Aotearoa New Zealand
• Lynne Stewart Organization
• Mar de Lumes – Comité Galego de Solidariedade Internacionalista
• Massachusetts Peace Action
• Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church (MUPMC)
• Mesa Migración y Antirracismo SBC
• MOVIMIENTO WIPHALA España
• الحملة الوطنية لتحرير الأسير جورج عبدالله National Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
• National Jericho Movement
• National Lawyers Guild
• National Lawyers Guild International Committee
• National Lawyers Guild, Loyola Chicago Chapter
• National Students for a Democratic Society
• National Students for Justice in Palestine
• Netherlands Palestine Committee
• Netzwerk Freiheit für alle politischen Gefangenen Magdeburg
• Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel (NMJPI)
• Noi Restiamo
• NorCal Sabeel
• North America Nakba Tour
• Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste (NPA, France)
• NPA Jeunes
• NY Boricua Resistance
• NY4Palestine Coalition
• Oakland Jericho
• OPRA (Oakville Palestinian Rights Association)
• Palästina Antikolonial
• Palestina Libre Murcia España
• Palestinalibre.org
• Palestine Advocacy Project
• Palestine Network Shining Waters Region, United Church of Canada
• Palestine Solidarity Alliance of Hunter College CUNY
• Palestine Solidarity Committee Stuttgart, Germany
• Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
• Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU)
• Palestinian Cultural Club at the American University of Beirut
• Palestinian Youth Movement
• Pallasos en Rebeldia
• Parti des Indigènes de la République
• Peace Alliance Winnipeg
• Peoples Power Assemblies NYC
• Peoples Power Assembly
• Peoria No Ban No Wall
• Philippines ‐ Palestine Friendship Association
• Philippines Australia Union Link
• PISTON
• Plataforma Bolivariana de Solidaridad con Venezuela de Madrid
• Plataforma Solidaria con Palestina de Valladolid
• Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
• Popular Resistance
• Principles NOT Parties
• Prisoners Solidarity Committee
• Prisoners Solidarity Committee of Workers World Party
• Progressive Lawyers Association, CHD
• Project South
• Rattvise och frihet center
• Red Banner Anti-Imperialist Collective
• Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP
• Resistance Festival – Athens, Greece
• Resistencia Saharaui
• Rete Romana di Solidarietà cin il Popolo Palestinese
• Revolutionaire Eenheid
• Rojavakommittéerna Göteborg
• SABIR
• Sacramento Area Peace Action
• Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights
• Sada Movement
• Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns
• Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
• Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine
• سير وصيرورة Sayr wa Sayroura
• SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)
• SDSU SJP
• Secours Rouge de Belgique
• Secours Rouge Genève
• Secours Rouge International / International Red Help
• Secours Rouge Montréal
• Secours Rouge Toulouse
• Secrétariat International de la CNT-France
• Sikhay-Marikina
• SJP Chicago
• SJP DePaul
• SOAS Palestine Society
• Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action socialiste
• SODePAZ BALAMIL
• Solidaires 09
• Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC
• SPHR Queen’s
• Stand with Kashmir
• Studenten voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina
• Students Against Israeli Apartheid UofT
• Students Against the Occupation DK
• Students for a Democratic Society – Georgia Tech
• Students For Justice in Palestine – San Diego State University
• Students for Justice in Palestine at Arizona State University
• Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA
• Students for Justice in Palestine at UMass Amherst
• Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California Irvine
• Students for Justice in Palestine, University of South Carolina
• Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill University (SPHR McGill)
• Students Not Consumers
• SUD Education 31-65
• Sulong UBC
• Temple Students for Justice in Palestine
• The Global Campaign to Return to Palestine
• The Palestine Committee of Norway
• The Palestine Solidarity Committee – Austin, Tx
• The Rachel Corrie Foundation
• Theorie und Praxis Verlag
• Trawunche Madrid (Coordinación de Apoyo al Pueblo Mapuche)
• Tunisian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (TACBI)
• UCL (union communiste libertaire)
• UJFP
• UMass Amherst SJP
• Unión de Juventudes Comunistas de España – Communist Youth Union of Spain (UJCE)
• Union Départementale des Syndicats CNT de Haute-Garonne
• Union départementale des syndicats CNT des Pyrénées Orientales
• Union des Étudiant·e·s de Toulouse – UET
• Union Générale des Etudiants de Palestine – GUPS France
• Union syndicale Solidaires
• Unione Democratica Arabo Palestinese
• Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East
• Unité Communiste
• United Methodists’ Holy Land Task Force
• United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
• Unity of Child Rights Advocates Against Inhumane Treatment and Neglect of Children (UNCHAIN Children)
• University of Leicester Palestine Society
• US Boats to Gaza
• US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
• US Palestinian Community Network
• UW United Students Against Sweatshops
• Vänsterpartiet Göteborg
• Victoria Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
• V-SB (Vlaams Socialistische Beweging)
• Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement
• Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine
• Women for Filipino Women and Children (WoW)
• Workers Assembly Against Racism
• Workers World Party
• Yeni Demokratik Gençlik – YDG
• Youth Against War & Racism
• Youth and Students Section of the Lebanese Communist Party