UvA activists won’t stop demonstrating with peace in Gaza
When the war between Israel and Hamas eventually ends, pro-Palestinian activists will continue demonstrating at the UvA. According to protest groups, Palestinians will remain oppressed even under a peace agreement. “Until they have self-determination, we will not stop.”
This morning, both Israelis and Palestinians took to the streets with relief: a ceasefire has been reached, and peace between Hamas and Israel may follow. Yet, the activist group Amsterdam Encampment, responsible for the occupations at the University of Amsterdam, remains cautious. According to a spokesperson for the group, peace “is not the end of the road.” “It would of course be wonderful if the bombings stopped, but this treaty is not going to be fair anyway. As long as Israel continues to oppress Palestinians, demonstrations will go on.”
Mass protest
Last Monday, three hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a protest march on campus, calling on the University of Amsterdam to cut ties with Israeli institutions. The protest was organized by the Activistenpartij, the largest political party and activist movement at the university. A peace agreement does nothing to change their call to sever ties, a spokesperson for the party said.
“Israeli universities are intertwined with the oppression of Palestinians, for example by supporting the army,” says the Activistenpartij. According to the party, Israel continues to oppress Palestinians by colonizing the West Bank and carrying out arbitrary arrests within its own borders. “And we’ll have to see how Israel behaves toward Gaza after a peace deal.”
All ties
The activist groups do not fully agree on whether, in the event of peace, only ties with certain institutions or all ties with Israel should be severed. Earlier, a number of UvA researchers called for cutting all ties with Israel. The Activistenpartij supports this position as well, since it sees no Israeli universities that are “unproblematic” in relation to the oppression of Palestinians.
Amsterdam Encampment is now focused only on the university’s ties with institutions that specifically contribute to the oppression of Palestinians. The University of Amsterdam collaborates with, among others, Bar-Ilan University, Technion University, the University of Haifa, and the Weizmann Institute — all of which have been shown by researchers to have links with the Israeli military. Six out of ten ongoing research collaborations between the UvA and Israel are with one of these institutions.
Palestinian state
Amsterdam Encampment argues that Palestinians still lack self-determination, especially since a Palestinian state has not yet been recognized by Israel. The Netherlands does not recognize it either. France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom did so last month. Therefore, the organization believes pressure must be applied through the University of Amsterdam.
Regarding the form and scale of future protests, both Amsterdam Encampment and the Activist Party say they are waiting to see how the situation in Gaza develops. “But,” says Amsterdam Encampment, “until Palestinians have self-determination, we will not stop.”
