What can you do as a SOAS student to #FreePalestine?

SOAS Palestine Society

Do you really care about Palestinians? Or did you quieten down when the momentum faded after the world forgot about Sheikh Jarrah and Gaza last summer? 

Do you really care about Palestine? Or do you just wear your kuffiyeh, turn up to your Palestine module, and call it a day? 

If you want to know how to show your solidarity, then here’s what you can do. The simple answer is to respond to what Palestinians have collectively asked from you. 

“Palestinian civil society has called on the international community to support our cause by doing three basic things.”

Palestinian civil society has called on the international community to support our cause by doing three basic things. These are to boycott Israeli institutions and products, divest from Israeli companies and corporations and sanction the Israeli state. 

So, you may want to know how you can apply this at SOAS. We, at the  SOAS Palestine Society, are taking the ‘B’ from BDS and campaigning for SOAS to commit to an academic boycott. This would mean that SOAS ends its complicit partnerships with any and all Israeli institutions. 

Despite SOAS branding itself as a decolonised university, it has a history of partnering with Israeli institutions. Previously, SOAS had a partnership with the Hebrew University where they sent students studying Modern Hebrew during their year abroad. Once they ended this contract, they immediately entered into a five-year contract beginning 2020/2021 with Haifa University. This is the institution we are now calling for SOAS to cut ties with. 

So, why boycott Haifa University? Haifa University takes a political stance and actively upholds Israeli violence in several ways. In fact, its very existence is reflective of what Israel was founded on: the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and the destruction of their land. 

Haifa University, located in the city of Haifa which saw its population reduced from 61,000 to 4,000, was built on the old Palestinian village of Al-Khureiba, which was attacked by Zionist troops and reduced to rubble in April 1948 during the Nakba. 

Haifa University also has a very friendly relationship with the Israeli military. It grants special benefits to student soldiers, manages three military colleges, and recently secured a tender with the IOF to organise higher education courses for future military intelligence officers, offering them direct support by having a military base on campus. 

It institutionally discriminates against Palestinian students through racist housing policies, expelling Palestinian students for political activism, and banning them from raising the Palestinian flag during events and demonstrations. So, what have we done as the SOAS Palestine Society to combat this?

We have actively been pushing for SOAS to end this relationship with Haifa University since we learned of its formation. We have been in conversation with members of the academic board to discuss the possibility of an academic boycott since last summer. So far, the meetings have been very debate-oriented, which we deem to be a pathetic excuse for solidarity and action on the part of the institution. 

This is proof that our university sees solidarity with the Palestinian people as something that can be theoretically discussed, not actually implemented. We have been working on mobilising students across campus to raise consciousness about our campaign. While we find it important to continue to make the case for academic boycott, we want to emphasise the power that we hold as students. 

There are things that you can do to show your solidarity at SOAS – these may seem small but will speak volumes. You can start by joining the Palestine Society and come along to some of our weekly meetings where we organise for the campaign. You can also buy one of our #BoycottHaifaU T-shirts and wear them around campus.

Our campaign stickers are also available to be stuck around SOAS, emphasising our presence as a society and what we stand for. You can also sign our petition in favour of an academic boycott, which we will be presenting to the Board of Trustees. The more signatures we obtain, the more it shows SOAS that we do not stand for this blatant normalisation with Israel and insulting disregard for Palestinian lives. 

There is no excuse. This is the bare minimum. Join us in demanding that SOAS #BoycottHaifaU.

Photo Caption: Students demonstrate solidarity on SOAS’ campus  (Credits: SOAS Palestine Society)