{"id":7249,"date":"2026-10-06T15:42:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T15:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7249"},"modified":"2026-10-06T15:42:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T15:42:57","slug":"birzeit-university-memorial-destruction-aims-to-crush-palestinian-memory-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7249","title":{"rendered":"Birzeit University memorial destruction aims to crush Palestinian memory | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After Israeli soldiers stormed Birzeit University near Ramallah to demolish a stone memorial dedicated to dead students, Rania Washaha, 47, felt the pain of bereavement again.<\/p>\n

Her brother, Fadi, 34, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier near the northern entrance to el-Bireh in the central West Bank in May 2021.<\/p>\n

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His name was among the 38 students from the university killed by Israel and listed on the stone pillar known as the Martyrs\u2019 Monument.<\/p>\n

Israeli soldiers raided the university campus at dawn on Monday, accompanied by 10 military vehicles. A bulldozer demolished the pillar, and soldiers took away the marble stone. In its place, the Israelis left a planter containing a fig sapling, bearing the inscription: \u201cWater it twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Targeting the University<\/h2>\n

This raid marks the fifth Israeli incursion into the campus since the beginning of 2026 and the 28th since 2002.<\/p>\n

Birzeit University\u2019s administration condemned the recent raid, describing the destruction of the Martyrs\u2019 Monument as a violation of international law and an attack on education and national memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cBulldozers won\u2019t erase the memory of the martyrs, military vehicles won\u2019t extinguish the light of knowledge, and these assaults won\u2019t break the university\u2019s resolve to pursue its academic and national mission,\u201d a statement by the university pledged.<\/p>\n

\"Birzeit
Birzeit University students again wrote the names of martyrs that were inscribed on the memorial [Mohamad Turkman\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It came 10 days after another incursion by Israeli forces during the daytime, a day before the start of the new fall semester.<\/p>\n

Nardeen al-Memi, the university\u2019s public relations and media officer, told Al Jazeera in the brief minutes of their incursion, Israeli soldiers approached the monument for the first time and photographed it.<\/p>\n

The Martyrs\u2019 Monument was erected between 1994 and 1996, bearing the names of students and alumni at Birzeit killed by Israeli forces. The list starts with Sharaf al-Tayyibi, who was shot dead by Israeli forces on the campus in 1984. The names of other students and alumni were added during the years that followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last name inscribed on the monument was that of student Omar al-Naasan, whom soldiers killed in al-Mughayyir east of Ramallah on September 2 while he was confronting settler incursions,\u201d said Nardeen. \u201cDays after his death, his father came and personally wrote his son\u2019s name on the monument.\u201d<\/p>\n

University students organised a protest at the site of the destroyed memorial on Tuesday afternoon, most viewing it as an Israeli attempt to intimidate them.<\/p>\n

Sami Adel, a Birzeit student who wanted to use a pseudonym due to his fear of being detained, told Al Jazeera the memorial holds a place in the heart of everyone who has attended the university since the 1990s.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Israel has tried to suppress any student activity dedicated to commemorating the martyrs, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoldiers detained me for several hours three weeks ago and threatened that if I participated in any political student activity on campus, I would face a long and harsh detention,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Erasing memory<\/h2>\n

The removal of the memorial is part of a broader Israeli policy targeting memorials dedicated to Palestinians killed by Israel in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

The Israeli far-right has made the issue part of its campaign to erase markers of Palestinian identity.<\/p>\n

Zvi Sukkot, a member of the Knesset from the Religious Zionism Party, destroyed one such memorial in the village of Madama, south of Nablus, with a sledgehammer in August. The Israeli military later said that it routinely removes \u201csymbols of incitement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"The
The location of the demolished memorial in Birzeit University [Mohamad Turkman\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich submitted a list of approximately 40 Palestinian memorials, proposing their destruction, to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

There has been a wider targeting of civic and cultural symbols across the West Bank, particularly in Jenin, by Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cJenin Horse\u201d, a monument constructed from the wreckage left behind by an Israeli incursion into the city, was removed. A memorial dedicated to Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin was also targeted in 2023.<\/p>\n

A cemetery containing the bodies of Iraqi soldiers killed during the 1948 war, also located in Jenin, has been raided by Israelis from illegal settlements.<\/p>\n

Other landmarks embedded in the city\u2019s collective memory, including the \u201cWatermelon Roundabout\u201d, have also been targeted.<\/p>\n

Crushing resistance<\/h2>\n

Israel\u2019s targeting of Palestine\u2019s collective memory has coincided with a wider campaign of suppression in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

Palestinian universities have been a particular target in this pressure campaign, with campuses raided, students detained, and strict restrictions on activities and events within university grounds.<\/p>\n

Israeli authorities are likely focusing on Palestinian universities because they hold a special significance for Palestinian resistance. They historically served as spaces for anti-occupation activism and have been an integral part of the Palestinian political landscape for decades.<\/p>\n

\"Rania
Rania Washaha looks at her brother\u2019s photo in her office inside Birzeit University [Mohamad Turkman\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Political analyst Mohammed al-Qeeq, who served as president of the Birzeit University Student Council between 2006 and 2007, told Al Jazeera that Israel has targeted writers, influencers, and activists, along with students, to deter any resistance to the occupation.<\/p>\n

Universities have historically served as a \u201cfundamental pillar\u201d of Palestinian resilience and identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael had also sought to weaken Palestinian political and social cohesion inside universities by deepening divisions between factions and creating chaos\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Remembering Fadi<\/h2>\n

For Rania, the memorial served to cement the names of the martyred students in the minds of the next generation of Berzeit students, including her brother\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot deny that I felt a pang of anguish when the memorial was demolished,\u201d she told Al Jazeera. \u201cI realised the goal wasn\u2019t simply to uproot a physical object; I felt the suppressed violence Israel inflicts upon us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The memorial, constructed in 1996, stood on the campus when Fadi studied at Birzeit University. He had been arrested multiple times, spending a total of eight years in detention, and Israel denied Fadi the chance to wear a graduation gown.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t even complete two years of study due to repeated arrests and injuries from soldiers\u2019 gunfire,\u201d Rania said. \u201cYet, he loved Birzeit University dearly and would stand by the memorial, contemplating the names of the student martyrs, never knowing that his own name would one day be added to theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, Rania\u2019s son enrolled at Birzeit University as a first-year student. Shortly before classes started last September, an Israeli officer phoned him, threatening him if he participated in any student activities on campus. \u201cRemember what we did to your uncle,\u201d they warned him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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After Israeli soldiers stormed Birzeit University near Ramallah to demolish a stone memorial dedicated to dead students, Rania Washaha, 47, felt the pain of bereavement again. Her brother, Fadi, 34, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier near the northern entrance to el-Bireh in the central West Bank in May 2021. Recommended Stories…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t