The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy denounced the Israeli occupation forces’ storming of the Birzeit University campus and their prevention of a peaceful event dedicated to solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held in occupation prisons, considering this a dangerous escalation in the policy of targeting educational institutions and silencing voices.
The Center explained that banning solidarity activities within universities constitutes a clear violation of international conventions that guarantee freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly, foremost among them the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It also represents an assault on the sanctity of educational facilities, which are supposed to be shielded from military interference.
The Center noted that this raid comes at an extremely sensitive time, amid escalating violations against Palestinian prisoners, including solitary confinement, medical neglect, and arbitrary arrests. This reflects the occupation’s attempt to obscure the truth and prevent the voices of prisoners from reaching local and international public opinion.
The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy warned of the dangers of the continuation of these practices, stressing that they represent a policy of collective punishment against students and academic institutions, and open the door to further violations that undermine the right to education and human rights work.
The Center called on the international community, as well as United Nations and human rights institutions, to urgently intervene and pressure the occupation to halt its incursions into Palestinian universities, ensure the protection of students and peaceful activities, and seriously work to hold the occupation accountable for its crimes against prisoners and the student movement.
The Center concluded its statement by affirming that attempts at intimidation will not weaken the centrality of the prisoners’ cause, and that popular and human rights solidarity with them will remain a national and humanitarian duty that cannot be confiscated by force.
