Funds aim to provide support for children, others affected by armed conflict in Ukraine, Qatari foreign ministry says.
Qatar has announced that it will provide $3m to the office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, as part of a push to support “welfare and safety” in the war-torn country.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that the funds aim to support initiatives designed to improve the lives of children, citizens affected by armed conflicts and the overall population in Ukraine.
“Furthermore, the fund will contribute to increasing legal support and improving the necessary infrastructure required to provide the support needed for families affected by conflict in Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry and the commissioner’s office also reiterated “their dedication to a world where human dignity is respected, and where each individual’s rights are protected”.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 16 Ukrainian children who “had previously been forcibly deported” to Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine were recovering in Qatar following their release.
A group of 16 Ukrainian children and their relatives are currently in Qatar for medical, mental, and social recovery. All of them had previously been forcibly deported to Russia, but thanks to our friendly Qatar’s mediation efforts, they have been released and reunited with their…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 24, 2024
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that the group was freed and reunited with their families thanks to Qatari mediation efforts that have helped bring back dozens of children taken during the 27-month war.
“I am deeply grateful to Qatar and personally to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, for assisting Ukraine in this vital effort,” the Ukrainian president said in a post on X.
“We look forward to continued fruitful cooperation on this matter, as well as the return of more of our children.”
The president’s comments came days after Qatar said 20 Ukrainian and Russian families had arrived in the Qatari capital, Doha, to be provided healthcare and support as part of the ongoing mediation efforts to reunite families.
Ukraine believes Russia has illegally taken more than 19,000 Ukrainian children since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022. Of that, fewer than 400 children have been returned.
Attack on al-Fashir would have ‘devastating consequences’ for civilians in area already on brink of famine, UN says.
The United Nations has sounded the alarm about a possible imminent attack on al-Fashir, in Sudan’s North Darfur, as the global body seeks to reduce tensions in the last major city in the region not under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the RSF was reportedly encircling al-Fashir, “suggesting a coordinated move to attack the city may be imminent”.
“Simultaneously, the Sudanese Armed Forces appear to be positioning themselves,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Guterres called on all parties to refrain from fighting in the al-Fashir area, said the spokesperson, adding that his envoy on Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, was working to de-escalate the tensions.
“An attack on the city would have devastating consequences for the civilian population. This escalation of tensions is in an area already on the brink of famine,” the spokesperson added.
War erupted in Sudan one year ago between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary RSF, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis.
The RSF and its allies swept through four other Darfur state capitals last year and were blamed for a campaign of ethnically driven killings against non-Arab groups and other abuses in West Darfur.
Residents, aid agencies and analysts have warned that the fight for al-Fashir, a historic centre of power, could be more protracted.
It could also further inflame ethnic tensions that surfaced in the early-2000s conflict in the region and reach across Sudan’s border with Chad.
The United States on Wednesday also called on all armed forces in Sudan to immediately cease attacks in al-Fashir.
Meanwhile, earlier on Friday, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed “grave concern” over fighting near the city. A statement from Turk’s office said dozens of people have been killed in and around al-Fashir in the past two weeks.
“Civilians are trapped in the city, the only one in Darfur still in the hands of the SAF, afraid of being killed should they attempt to flee,” the statement said.
“This dire situation is compounded by a severe shortage of essential supplies as deliveries of commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been heavily constrained by the fighting, and delivery trucks are unable to freely transit through RSF-controlled territory.”
Top UN officials warned the Security Council last week that some 800,000 people in al-Fashir were in “extreme and immediate danger” as worsening violence threatens to “unleash bloody intercommunal strife throughout Darfur”.
The UN has said nearly 25 million people — half of Sudan’s population — need aid and some eight million have fled their homes.
Donors last week pledged more than $2bn for the war-torn country at a conference in Paris.
From France to Australia, university students are part of pro-Palestine protests as Columbia students continue encampments.
Clashes between students and police officers have been reported all over the United States during intensifying university protests.
What started as the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University, where students are camping inside campus to push their institute to divest from companies linked to Israel, has since spread to campuses in California, Texas and other states.
Now, more than 20 universities in the US are protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 34,000 people and its blockade has caused starvation.
But the protests are not limited to the US, students worldwide have been demonstrating in support of Gaza since the outbreak of the war on October 7. Following the Columbia encampments, the protests have further spread to universities from France to Australia. Here is all you need to know about student protests for Gaza outside of the US:
Which global universities are holding pro-Palestine protests?
In Paris, France, Sorbonne University students have taken to the streets. Additionally, the Palestine Committee from Sciences Po, is organising a protest where students set up about 10 tents on Wednesday. Despite a police crackdown, the protesters regathered on Thursday.
In Australia, students from the University of Sydney set up pro-Palestine encampments on Tuesday, and they were continuing to protest on Friday. Also, University of Melbourne students pitched tents on the south lawn of their main campus on Thursday.
In Italy, Rome, students from Sapienza University organised demonstrations, sit-ins and hunger strikes on April 17 and April 18.
Since April 19 night, students from the University of Warwick’s group Warwick Stands With Palestine have occupied the campus piazza located in England, United Kingdom. In Leicester, England, a protest broke out on Monday in which students from the University of Leicester Palestine Society also participated.
Last month, students from the University of Leeds occupied a campus building in protest against the university’s involvement with Israel.
What are the demands of student protesters outside the US?
Hicham, a student protesting at Sciences Po, which is also called the Paris Institute of Political Studies, told Al Jazeera, “We have a few demands but one of them is to start investigating all of the ties they [Sciences Po] have with the state of Israel, which [are] academic and financial”.
He added that it has become “extremely hard” to talk about Palestine in France due to the way police respond.
The organisers additionally want Sciences Po to condemn Israel’s actions.
Sorbonne students are calling on the French government to help Palestinians.
The University of Sydney students are demanding that their institute cut ties with Israeli universities and arms manufacturers, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The Warwick students have demanded that the university divest from companies that they have identified are funding “genocide” perpetrated by Israel, Warwick’s student-run newspaper, The Boar, reported. The Boar quoted an unnamed student protester saying that, while the US protests had invigorated them, they were planning to take action regardless.
The protest in Leicester on Monday was outside the Elbit Systems UK drone factory, calling for the factory’s shutdown. The student protesters at Leeds last month demanded the suspension of Jewish chaplain Zecharia Deutsch who served in the Israeli army during the war on Gaza.
Is there a police crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters outside the US?
On Wednesday, police broke up the Sciences Po demonstration after the institute made “numerous attempts” to evacuate the students peacefully, AFP reported.
The institute’s Palestine Committee released a statement on Thursday saying the protesters were “carried out of the school by more than 50 members of the security forces,” adding that “around 100” police officers were “also waiting for them outside”.
Hicham said that he and his fellow students had been occupying their school for three days. “We went to one building, they [the university] called the cops on us, we had to get out, so we went to the main historical building,” he said.
“But I think the more repression happens, the more people are mobilising,” he said. “We were maybe 300 people before, [but] now we’re 600.”
The students at Sorbonne were also surrounded by riot police, as shown in an Al Jazeera video from Thursday.
“This will continue as long as we don’t have an open and serious conversation about the issue,” a student from Sorbonne University told Al Jazeera.
Sabreen al-Rouh Jouda dies just days after her mother, father and sister were killed in Israel attack on Rafah.
A premature Palestinian baby, who was saved from her mother’s womb after she was killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip, has died after days in an incubator.
Sabreen al-Rouh Jouda died in a Gaza hospital on Thursday after her health deteriorated and medical teams were unable to save her, said her uncle, Rami al-Sheikh Jouda.
Dr Mohammad Salama, head of the emergency neonatal unit at Emirati Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, who was caring for the baby girl, also confirmed her death on Friday.
“I and other doctors tried to save her, but she died. For me personally, it was a very difficult and painful day,” Salama told the Reuters news agency.
The girl’s mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, was rushed to hospital after an Israeli air strike hit the family’s home in Rafah on Saturday.
The girl, who was named Sabreen after her mother, was rescued through a Caesarean section after her mother succumbed to her injuries.
Al-Sakani, who was 30 weeks pregnant, was killed along with her husband and a young daughter.
The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas fighters and infrastructure in the attack, which predominantly killed women and children.
Weighing just 1.4kg (3.1 pounds), the baby was in severe respiratory distress because she was born prematurely. She was being cared for in an incubator in a neonatal intensive care unit.
“She was born while her respiratory system wasn’t mature, and her immune system was very weak and that is what led to her death. She joined her family as a martyr,” said Salama, the doctor.
The baby girl’s uncle told The Associated Press that she was buried next to her father on Thursday.
“We were attached to this baby in a crazy way,” he said, speaking near her grave in a cemetery in Rafah.
“God had taken something from us but given us something in return”, said the uncle, with the baby surviving after her family died.
“But 1714141585 he has taken them all. My brother’s family is completely wiped out. It’s been deleted from the civil registry. There is no trace of him left behind.”
The baby girl’s uncle crouches next to her grave in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, April 26 [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]
The baby is among more than 14,000 children who have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the war began on October 7.
More than 34,300 Palestinians across the besieged Palestinian enclave have been killed.
Despite international calls to end the conflict, Israeli leaders have said they plan to move ahead with a ground assault on Rafah.
About 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering in the southern city, which was previously designated as a “safe zone”.
Global attention has turned to universities across the United States, where students have erected encampments to demand action to end Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
The growing protests have taken root on the campuses of some of the country’s top academic institutions, including Columbia and Harvard.
And over the past weeks, they have spurred heated debates around freedom of speech, Palestinian solidarity activism in the US, and the use of force to disperse student protesters, among other issues.
But the students at the heart of the movement say the reason they began their demonstrations – the pressing need to end Israel’s deadly bombardment of Gaza – risks being lost amid a cacophony of voices and distractions.
“Gaza is why we’re here. Gaza is why we’re doing this,” said Rue, a student at The New School in New York City who asked to only be identified by her first name due to a fear of reprisals.
“The New School encampment is happening because we want to make sure that we are doing what we can to end this genocide,” Rue told Al Jazeera.
List of demands
Encampments have popped up at universities and colleges across the US this month, as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza surpassed the 34,300 mark, amid reports that mass graves were uncovered in the coastal enclave.
The students issued a list of demands to their respective universities, including divesting from any companies that may be profiting from the Gaza war or providing the Israeli military with weapons and other support.
They have also urged an end to reprisals against students who have spoken out in support of Palestinians and for administrators to pledge not to send police or other law enforcement agencies onto the campuses to break up their protests.
Images of throngs of New York Police Department (NYPD) officers marching onto the Columbia University campus to disperse a Gaza protest encampment earlier this week galvanised students in other parts of the US to set up their own protest sites, too.
Hundreds of students have been arrested across the country since the encampments began.
A first-year PhD student at New York University (NYU), who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity due to a fear of reprisals, said students are acting “on the ideals and the histories that [they’re] being taught”.
“As students who are being taught in class about colonialism, about Indigenous rights, about the effect of non-violent protest across history, it would be extremely hypocritical — or it would totally undermine the point of our education — if we didn’t act,” the 25-year-old said.
“At the very least we can show that there was resistance” to what is happening in the Gaza Strip, the student added.
“The horrors in Gaza are really beyond imagining. These small acts of resistance, these are small sacrifices — [they] are nothing compared to what is happening on the ground in Palestine.”
‘Scholasticide’ in Gaza
Like other protesters across the US, many American students have said they felt an impetus to act given the US government’s long-standing support for Israel.
The US gives Israel $3.8bn in military assistance annually, and President Joe Biden has continued to provide staunch support to the country amid the Gaza war. On Wednesday, Biden signed into law a massive funding package that will provide an additional $17bn to Israel.
The Israeli military’s attacks on Palestinian students, teachers and academic institutions across Gaza during the war also have acted as a catalyst for the university protests, the students said.
Last week, a group of United Nations experts noted that 80 percent of schools in the Palestinian enclave have been damaged or destroyed since the war began in early October. Nearly 5,500 students have been killed, alongside 261 teachers and 95 university professors.
“It may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as ‘scholasticide’,” the experts said in a statement on April 18.
“These attacks are not isolated incidents. They present a systematic pattern of violence aimed at dismantling the very foundation of Palestinian society.”
Students protest on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin, April 24 [Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP]
Etta, a senior at NYU who also asked to only be identified by her first name due to a fear of reprisals, told Al Jazeera that it was “appalling” to see her university fail to acknowledge the destruction of Palestinian academic institutions.
“As an institution that should have a function of education, of shaping minds, of academic freedom, they can’t even take the time to acknowledge, to mourn, to discuss the destruction of those institutions in Palestine,” Etta said.
“There’s a refusal to even acknowledge that this is going on when we’re all bearing witness [to it].”
‘Bigger than us’
As uncertainty swirls around the future of the US university encampments amid threats they will be dismantled, the students say they remain committed to continuing their protests — and to keeping the focus on what’s happening in Gaza.
“Palestine is the centre, liberation is the centre of this conversation,” said Etta.
That was echoed by Rue, the student at The New School.
“I feel like there’s a moral imperative that everyone does everything that they can to the best of their abilities to protest and fight against and end this genocide,” Rue told Al Jazeera.
“We’re a part of something that is bigger than us,” she added.
“We are part of a global movement right now and we’re really inspired and strengthened by the incredible solidarity [we’re] seeing across the United States, across different college campuses, across the world.”
As the genocide in Gaza rages on, various European countries, including Spain and Ireland, have indicated that they are moving towards recognising the State of Palestine.
The new Irish prime minister, Simon Harris, argued that a group of like-minded countries officially recognising a Palestinian state would “lend weight to the decision and … send the strongest message”.
Meanwhile, Spanish officials argued that this could create momentum for others to do the same. Currently, most countries in the Global South, but only very few in the West, recognise the State of Palestine. As it stands, recognition of the State of Palestine is a political and symbolic move – it signals the recognition of the Palestinian right to sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza. In reality, no such sovereignty exists – rather as an occupying force, the Israeli regime maintains de facto control over both territories and effectively controls everything that goes in and out, including people.
Recently, some moves have also been made towards granting Palestine full membership to the United Nations, and thus recognising its statehood at the UN level. In mid-April, a resolution was put forward at the UN Security Council that would have paved the way for full Palestinian membership. Twelve members of the UNSC voted in favour but, unsurprisingly, the United States blocked the initiative using its veto power. Rather predictably, the United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained. Prior to the vote, the Biden administration offered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a meeting at the White House in return for suspending the bid. Abbas declined, probably still stinging from last year when he reportedly accepted a similar offer and never received the invitation to the White House. Indeed, it has been the case many times before that the Palestinian Authority suspended action at the UN at the bequest of the Americans in return for a measly payoff, or no payoff at all.
Some Palestinians and international human rights organisations argue that recognition is a crucial step towards securing Palestinian fundamental rights and one that offers more legal avenues to hold the Israeli regime accountable. Yet it is difficult to envision how recognition of a state that does not exist would change the reality on the ground for Palestinians facing systematic erasure.
In fact, it is pertinent to ask whether some states are pushing for this symbolic political move amid an ongoing genocide to avoid taking much more tangible actions, such as arms/trade embargoes and sanctions on the Israeli regime, to support Palestinians and reaffirm their right to sovereignty.
For example, Spain – one of the leading voices calling for recognition – in November exported $1m worth of ammunition to the Israeli regime, which by that time had already killed thousands in Gaza. Meanwhile, Ireland’s exports of restricted “dual-use” goods that have potential military purposes grew nearly sevenfold in 2023, from 11 million euros ($11.8m) to more than 70 million euros ($75m). Despite growing calls for an end to all trade relations between Ireland and the Israeli regime, these exports continue to this day. It thus begs the question; What does recognition of a people’s statehood mean when you remain complicit in funding, arming and equipping the regime that is destroying the very people of that state?
But for most diplomats and foreign officials, the crux of the recognition argument is that it will revive the “two-state solution” amid what is being framed as a political impasse. A solution which, premised on the partition of the land of historic Palestine, does not recognise Palestinian fundamental rights in their entirety and effectively accepts Israeli apartheid. Indeed the two-state solution demands that Palestinians world over forgo their rights to their lands and properties in historic Palestine and accept a truncated state in the 1967 occupied lands instead. Further, it demands that Palestinians accept Zionism as a legitimate ideology rather than one of settler-colonial domination.
Today, in addition to the genocide in Gaza, which has seen Israeli forces kill more than 34,000 Palestinians and destroy 70 percent of the enclave’s infrastructure, the West Bank is facing unprecedented land theft, settlement building, destruction of homes and violence at the hands of both soldiers and settlers. This reality is a rather predictable outcome of decades of pushing a flawed solution framework which favours colonial partition of justice and freedom.
That’s why what Palestinians need from the international community at this moment is not the symbolic recognition of a non-existing state, but tangible action, including trade embargoes on and sanctions against the Israeli regime to hold it accountable for its ongoing crimes across colonised Palestine.
As the genocide rages on, Gaza continues to teach the world many things, and among them is that the Palestinian people cannot be “siphoned off into Bantustans” and forgotten about. Indeed, partition will never be a sustainable or long-term solution and the international community needs to come to terms with this.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Protesters accused police of excessive force during arrests at an anti-war protest camp at Emory University where one female professor hauled to the ground and detained and another demonstrator tasered.
Palestinian group Hamas has said it remains committed to achieving an agreement with Israel to end the war on Gaza, but only if its conditions including a lasting ceasefire are met.
Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the group’s political bureau, said that Hamas “is serious about releasing Israeli captives within the framework of an agreement” that also ensures the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
He told Al Jazeera Arabic in a televised interview on Thursday that Hamas will not accept a truce without a permanent ceasefire and a complete halt of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 34,000 people – mainly women and children – since the current conflict started in October.
An “unhindered return” of Palestinians across the besieged enclave to their homes, along with the reconstruction of Gaza and “an end to the crippling siege” imposed on it were among the four conditions that al-Hayya reiterated.
Hamas had submitted its response to a United States amendment on April 13 and is still waiting for a reply from Israel and the mediating parties, he said.
Talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been in limbo with the two sides showing few signs that they are ready to compromise on their demands, but international mediators – Qatar, the United States and Egypt – have been engaged in intense behind-the-scenes talks to secure a deal.
Top Israeli officials have repeatedly called Hamas’s demands “delusional” and have said an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would amount to losing the war.
Egypt has asked for a follow-up meeting with Israel in renewed efforts to mediate a deal, two Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency.
Egyptian, Israeli and US officials reportedly held in-person and remote meetings on Wednesday that sought concessions to break the deadlock in the months-long negotiations, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli officials is expected to take place on Friday in Cairo.
The US and 17 other countries issued an appeal for Hamas to release captives as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza.
“We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza now for over 200 days,” read the statement on Thursday by the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
It said that the “deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities”.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna pointed out that the statement appears to be trying to step up pressure on Hamas amid ongoing attempts at negotiation.
“There’s no mention whatsoever of any concomitant release of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel by the Israeli government, but this is stepping up pressure on Hamas, it would appear, as these negotiations grind forward,” he said.
The renewed effort to continue the talks is shaping up as Israel has significantly increased its military activities across the enclave and is proceeding with plans for a ground invasion of Rafah in the south, where some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are taking shelter.
The humanitarian situation in Rafah – bordering Egypt – and across Gaza remains dire, with the United Nations and others repeatedly stressing the need for Israel to allow more aid in.
Eleven-year-old Husam is one of more than 600,000 children who have sought refuge in Rafah which was designated a “safe zone” even as the Israeli military continues to pound it from the air in preparation for a ground assault.
“We’re afraid people will resort to killing each other for food,” he told Al Jazeera.
“A person’s psyche wears out with fear. It’s a slow death.”
Washington, DC – Chants of “free Palestine” were interrupted by ululating and cheers as dozens of Georgetown University students arrived at a protest at the neighbouring George Washington University (GW) campus in the heart of the US capital city.
Students, professors and activists from across the Washington, DC, area gathered on Thursday to show solidarity with Palestinians amid the war on Gaza and demand an end to what they call their colleges’ complicity in Israel’s human rights abuses.
“We’re here to show support for the students at GW and also to raise the demands of all the students in DC, which are to divest from companies that are involved in weapons manufacturing and Israeli apartheid, and to cut ties with Israeli universities because of their complicity in the Israeli genocide in Palestine,” Anna Wessels, a Georgetown student, told Al Jazeera.
The GW encampment brought college protests that have gripped the country to a campus that is blocks away from the White House and the Department of State.
Wessels stressed the significance of the protests taking place in the seat of the federal US government, where President Joe Biden approved $26bn in aid to Israel days ago.
“If we weren’t doing anything in DC, then we’re not living up to our moral responsibility,” Wessels said.
‘This is about Gaza’
Several students and organisers told Al Jazeera on Thursday that they remained focused on Gaza and Palestine, where the Israeli military has killed more than 34,000 people, and mass graves continue to be discovered.
“This entire encampment was made with every single messaging to be around the genocide in Gaza and to revolve around centring all of the demands on Gaza,” said Mimi Ziad, an activist with the Palestinian Youth Movement.
“This isn’t about the students. This is about Gaza. This is about all of Palestine.”
Students draped in keffiyehs had congregated on a GW grass lawn dotted with tents around a statue of George Washington, the first American president.
“George Washington says free Palestine,” read a paper sign that was taped to the statue.
The protesters raised their voices in unison to the beats of a drum in support of Palestinians, condemning Israel for its violations.
“The students, united, will never be defeated,” they chanted, as Palestinian flags waved alongside signs calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Student organisers, sporting yellow and pink vests, directed foot traffic within the demonstration and handed bottles of water to people.
“It feels great to be around other people who see the reality we see and who share the outrage and frustration and also share the energy to solve the problem,” said Elliott Colla, a Georgetown faculty member who joined the protest at GW.
Several demonstrators said pushing universities to divest from Israel can have a tangible effect on the conflict, as boycotts of South Africa helped end the apartheid system in the early 1990s.
College activism around Gaza has taken centre stage in US politics in recent days.
A Palestine solidarity encampment at Columbia University in New York faced a police crackdown and arrests last week as the college administration called on law enforcement to clear the protest. The university has now set a Friday deadline for the protest to disband.
But students continued to demonstrate. Their campaign spread to other colleges across the country, including the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), Boston’s Emerson College, Georgia’s Emory University and the University of Southern California (USC), with dozens of students also arrested at the institutions.
Protesters are demanding that their universities withdraw investments from companies linked to arming the Israeli military [Ali Harb/Al Jazeera]
Anti-Semitism accusations
Pro-Israel politicians from both major parties have been condemning the protesters and accusing them of anti-Semitism – a charge that Palestinian rights activists reject.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson visited the Columbia campus and accused the protesters of intimidating and threatening Jewish students. He also suggested withholding funding to universities that allow pro-Palestinian protests.
“If these campuses cannot get control of this problem, they do not deserve taxpayer dollars,” Johnson, who was met with “Mike, you suck!” chants, said.
But student protesters across the country have condemned anti-Semitism, noting that many of the demonstrators are themselves Jewish. Donia, a protester at GW, said such accusations of anti-Semitism are hurting the fight against bigotry.
“When you’re accusing anyone who’s against genocide in Gaza of being anti-Semitic, you’re losing the actual meaning of the movement against anti-Semitism,” Donia, who chose to be identified by her first name only out of fear of reprisal, told Al Jazeera.
She added that pro-Israel advocates were “freaking out” and trying to repress the student movement with anti-Semitism allegations because they know it is effective.
“A lot of the future generation of politicians in this country are at these universities, and they’re not buying their lies any more. That’s what’s really scaring them,” Donia said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed on the protests on Wednesday, calling them horrific. “Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over leading universities,” he said.
His remarks prompted a rebuke from progressive US Senator Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish.
“No, Mr Netanyahu. It is not anti-Semitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in a little over six months your extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – 70 percent of whom are women and children,” Sanders said in a statement on Thursday.
‘How can I be afraid?’
Zaid Abu-Abbas, an 18-year-old GW student, said the protesters are simply calling for the rights of Palestinians to be protected, dismissing accusations of anti-Semitism as bogus.
He said he was encouraged by the turnout at the protest, expressing hope that the student-led demonstrations can bring about change beyond campus.
“We are in DC near all these government buildings and politicians; they have no other choice but to see what we’re doing,” Abu-Abbas told Al Jazeera.
The joyous atmosphere at GW on Thursday drew a stark contrast with footage of violent arrests at other campuses.
However, students interviewed by Al Jazeera played down the prospect of a law enforcement push to clear the encampment.
Ziad, the Palestinian Youth Movement activist, said she is worried about the students, but she herself is not scared. “How can I be afraid if I’m Palestinian?”
Outcry after the discovery of mass graves in two Gaza hospitals.
Hundreds of bodies have been found in mass graves in Gaza after Israeli forces withdrew from the Nasser and al-Shifa medical compounds they had besieged for weeks, according to Palestinian authorities.
The Palestinian Civil Defence says there is evidence the Israeli army committed crimes against humanity by carrying out summary executions.
Israel said claims that Israeli forces buried the bodies were unfounded.
The United Nations and European Union are calling for urgent, independent investigations.
The United States says it wants answers, too.
How will Israel respond? And how will it be held to account?
Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom
Guests:
Mansour Shouman – Gaza citizen journalist who took refuge at Nasser Hospital
Andreas Kleiser – Director for policy and cooperation at the International Commission on Missing Persons
Kenneth Roth – Visiting professor at Princeton School for Public and International Affairs
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