Demonstrations in support of Palestinians under Israeli siege in Gaza have spread across university campuses in the US and Europe.
Over a dozen faculty members from Princeton University in the US state of New Jersey, joined pro-Gaza hunger strikers on Friday in solidarity with Palestine, the Anadolu news agency reported.
Eighteen students began a fast on May 3, according to US media.
“Our daylong solidarity fast pales in comparison to the efforts of our students who are undertaking this strike to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank, who are being subjected to a forced famine and genocidal assault by the State of Israel,” the faculty members said in a statement, according to Patch News.
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“We urge the University Administration to engage in good faith negotiations with student and faculty representatives and consider the urgent need to divest from Israel until such time as it ceases its genocidal war against the Palestinian people of Gaza and until Israel comes into compliance with international law and ends its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and other Palestinian lands,” the statement reportedly added.
The faculty members also advocated for amnesty for students, faculty, staff, and community members who have faced disciplinary action for participating in the sit-in protests.
“We also urge the University Administration to grant complete amnesty to any students, faculty, staff, and community members facing disciplinary action for engaging in peaceful protests,” the statement said..
Demonstrations in support of Palestinians under Israeli siege in Gaza have spread across university campuses in the US and Europe in recent weeks, sparked by a pro-Palestine encampment of Columbia University students.
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Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 34,971 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,641 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(PC, Anadolu)
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