AMMAN — Princeton and Harvard personnel late
last week issued statements condemning Israeli aggression against Palestinians.
Hundreds of Princeton University students,
alumni, and faculty signed a letter condemning both Israel’s “ongoing attacks”
in the
Gaza Strip and the eviction of families in the
Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
اضافة اعلان
The letter, published in campus newspaper The
Daily Princetonian, expressed support for Human Rights Watch and B'tselem’s
categorization of Israel as an apartheid regime and rejected the “two-sides”
narrative, which “conceals the
meaningful differences between Israel — one of the most heavily militarized
states in the world that receives $3.8 billion in military aid annually from
the United States — and a Palestinian population resisting occupation and
oppression.”
The signatories also endorsed the Palestine and
Praxis open letter –– a call to action that urges academic institutions to
respect the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions of Israel,
support student activism, and amplify Palestinian voices in the classroom.
Harvard University faculty signed a similar
statement, denouncing Israeli actions and calling on President Biden’s
administration to halt support for the “apartheid state”.
“As US-based scholars who oppose racism and
colonial violence in all its forms, we write to express solidarity with the
Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom and self-determination,” the
statement said.
Authors of the Harvard statement recalled recent
reports by human rights watchdogs pointing out Israel’s apartheid dynamic and
condemning the potential expulsion of Palestinian residents in the Sheik Jarrah
neighborhood. The statement criticized “unwavering US financial, military, and
political support” as fueling Israeli discrimination and called for an end to US
support for it.
On May 10, Israeli occupation forces stormed the
Al-Aqsa Mosque following protests against the forced displacement of
Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, prompting Hamas to fire rockets into Israel.
Retaliatory Israeli airstrikes killed over 240 people,
including 66 children, and displaced some 120,000 from their homes in 11 days
of fighting, according to AFP.
Rockets fired by Hamas killed 12 people in
Israel, including one child and a teenager.
The two sides agreed to a ceasefire on Friday.
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