British students organize five pro-Palestinian university camps amid growing Gaza protests

On Wednesday, students from five prestigious UK universities established pro-Palestinian encampments, joining the growing wave of international protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Students from Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield universities, all prestigious members of the Russell Group of higher education institutions in the UK, have initiated encampments. More schools are anticipated to join this growing movement.

Pro-Palestinian encampments and protests have sprung up on campuses worldwide, from Columbia University in the US to the Sorbonne in France.

Students at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, Sydney in Australia, and University College London and Warwick in the UK have also established protest camps, with five more British universities following suit this week.

“My message for the people of Gaza is… we’re still fighting, we’re not giving up,” Sophie Smart, 18, an undergraduate biology student at the University of Sheffield, told The New Arab.

“We’re here for you. Everyone’s on your side. The world is on Gaza’s side. And we will free Palestine.”

Along with dozens of others, Smart attended a rally that took place as tents were set up at her university. She said she was considering camping out.

The encampment is led by the Sheffield Campus Coalition for Palestine (SCCP), a group of students, staff, and alumni at Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam universities, which are located in the same northern English city.

Demands for divestment

SCCP is asking the University of Sheffield to comply with three demands in order to end the encampment: divestment from weapons manufacturing, the ending of all ties with Israeli universities, and accountability.

The coalition says it holds the university accountable for its “complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people” and that the academic institution shouldn’t be “aiding in supplying instruments of warfare to a genocidal state”.

A submission for a 2021 UK-wide research assessment programme said the University of Sheffield’s work had “pioneered a novel, fully automated manufacturing process” used since 2015 at a BAE Systems site in Samlesbury, a village in northern England.

The submission said the process had been used at the arms firm’s site to produce fuselage panels for more than 500 F-35 warplanes.

BAE Systems said last year that it produces the rear fuselage for all F-35s globally at its facilities in Samlesbury.

Israel finalised an agreement in 2010 to buy around 20 of the American warplanes.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) took delivery of its first F-35 in 2016, with senior US defence official William LaPlante saying last December that the IAF had more than three dozen of the fighter jets.

The New Arab could not confirm whether the process pioneered at Sheffield had been used in making F-35 aircraft delivered to Israel.

The University of Sheffield was approached for comment but did not respond before publication.

‘Proud of our students’

Demonstrators chanted: “One, two, three, four, occupation no more!” and called for a free Palestine as tents were set up next to the students’ union.

“I’m really proud of our students, to see them standing up for what’s right,” said Lisa Stampnitzky, a 50-year-old politics lecturer who researches terrorism discourse and is involved in SCCP.

“We are seeing now, across the UK, in the US, worldwide, an overreaction and a misnaming of these protests as terrorism, which is just a smear.

“In the US, we’ve seen the government, we’ve seen university leaders sending in SWAT teams and riot cops against peaceful protesters who are simply protesting to stop the violence that’s happening in Gaza.”

Alexandra Hulme, 23, a recent Jewish graduate of the University of Sheffield, came to the encampment to show solidarity with the people of Palestine.

“What the state of Israel is doing is absolutely abhorrent and I will not let them do it in my name,” they said.

“I think it’s important for pro-Palestinian Jewish activists to understand that you are welcome in these camps, you are welcome at the rallies.”

While Hulme was unable to camp out for health reasons, they said they would stay as late as possible to support them.

Israel’s war on Gaza, which is nearing the seven-month mark, has killed at least 34,568 people, according to the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry.

The International Court of Justice found in January that there was a plausible risk of Israel breaching its obligations under the UN Genocide Convention.

Other encampments expected

One student involved in the Sheffield camp, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions, said there were plans for encampments at “a very, very good number” of other universities in the coming days and weeks.

“We follow in the footsteps of Warwick, who began last week,” the student told The New Arab.

“Absolutely, we hope that this will be… a national movement. We’re already part of an international one.”

Stories posted on the Instagram account of Welsh university Swansea’s Palestine Society suggested an encampment was underway there, but The New Arab could not immediately verify this.

British news website The Independent reported that Goldsmiths, a London university, has been subject to occupations of buildings for weeks.

Organisers at Newcastle said on Wednesday they were proud to be joining Warwick, while other universities are expected to follow suit in the coming days. Students in Manchester said their action coincides with encampments in at least four other cities.

“The struggle of the Palestinian people to keep their dignity and livelihood is still going strong,” a spokesperson for the Manchester camp said in a press release.

“We stand in solidarity with all who are fighting for a Palestine free of genocide and occupation, from the River to the Sea,” the spokesperson added, referring to the boundaries of Palestine before Israel was created in 1948 alongside a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The University of Manchester fully recognises students and staff have the right to protest within the law, chief operating officer Patrick Hackett said in a statement.

“However, setting up camp in a city campus raises potential health & safety concerns, risks disruption to staff, students and our wider community and ultimately is an unauthorised and unlawful use of the university’s campus,” he added.

Ukraine

Anna and Ellie, students participating in the Newcastle encampment, compared British universities’ positions on Russia’s war on Ukraine with their approaches to Gaza.

“We applaud the strong stance taken by our university and multiple universities across the UK in response to Russia, strongly condemning what has been happening in Ukraine,” they jointly told The New Arab in emailed remarks.

“We cannot help but notice the lack of similar support for universities in Gaza – none of which remain standing.”

The New Arab contacted Newcastle University for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

May Day

Protesters launched their encampments on Wednesday as the world marked May Day, a yearly observation heralding working people.

“May Day, it’s… a day of change and action,” said Smart, the 18-year-old University of Sheffield student.

“I think it’s really powerful that we come out here today, especially, you know, and gather. It’s… a massive group of people.”

Also on May Day, more than a thousand people blockaded three BAE Systems sites across England, Scotland, and Wales, as well as the UK’s Department for Business and Trade in London, the group Workers for a Free Palestine said.

The Department for Business and Trade is responsible for overseeing arms export licences.

London’s Metropolitan Police Service said on Wednesday that it was policing a demonstration in the area of the British capital where the government ministry is located.

“Officers have made three arrests for assaulting a police officer after protesters blocked access to a building,” police told The New Arab.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) said on Wednesday that it had written to 82 British universities this week, warning them of the possible risk of criminal liability over any investments held in arms companies and Israeli settlements.

“The letters inform universities that profiting off investments made in companies supplying weapons to a military that uses them in the commission of war crimes may be a criminal offence,” ICJP added in a press release.

More than 700,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. All Israeli settlements violate international law.