{"id":98707,"date":"2025-10-15T17:52:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T17:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98707"},"modified":"2025-10-15T17:52:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T17:52:43","slug":"us-campus-activists-relieved-and-anxious-after-gaza-ceasefire-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98707","title":{"rendered":"US campus activists relieved \u2013 and anxious \u2013 after Gaza ceasefire deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>5 Minute, 34 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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For months last year, protests swept across major college campuses in the US as tens of thousands of students called for an end to the Israel-Gaza war.<\/p>\n

The protests hit their peak in the spring, when pro-Palestinian activists staged sit-ins and launched encampments. Many of the demonstrations were peaceful, but others saw violent clashes with armouredpolice as students occupied buildings. More than 3,000 people were ultimately arrested.<\/p>\n

The most common chantat these protests was \u201cceasefire now!\u201d. More than a year later, a ceasefire deal was inked,prompting US President Donald Trump to declare on Monday that \u201cthe war is over\u201d.<\/p>\n

For many college students who had called for this moment since the war began on 7 October 2023, the news of a peace agreement triggered mixed emotions.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy initial reaction was relief, knowing that my extended family, or all the people of Gaza, would be able to breathe,\u201d said Khalid, a student activist at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, who, like others, asked the BBC not to use his last name.<\/p>\n

Dozens of his family members in Gaza were killed in the war, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand, there is a certain level of apprehension and feeling a bit hesitant to be fully optimistic for what comes next,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When Georgetown University student Ahmad first heard the news of the peace agreement, he said \u201ca sense of joy rushed over me\u201d.<\/p>\n

But he quickly added: \u201cYou always have that uneasy feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe this is the end. All I can do is hope,\u201d Mr Ahmad, who is of Palestinian descent, said.<\/p>\n

Thomas, a graduate student at Columbia University in New York, where protestserupted last year before spreading nationwide, also expressed some scepticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if there is a ceasefire right now, there\u2019s still so much work to be done,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

He added that, even though the biggest Columbia protests had long died down, the war in Gaza remained a difficult subject on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are now afraid to speak out,\u201d he said. \u201cThey think if they speak out about what they believe in, no matter what side they\u2019re on, that it\u2019s going to create more conflict in the social atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elisha Baker is also a student at Columbia University. A self-described Zionist, he told the BBC he \u201cprotested against the anti-Israel movement\u201d on campus last year. He welcomed the return of hostages held in Gaza following the peace agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we got 20 living hostages home, after two years in tunnels in captivity \u2013 that is cause for nothing but celebration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also pains me to think about the murderers and terrorists that are being released,\u201d he added, referring to the Palestinian prisoners and detainees freed by Israel under the terms of the peace agreement.<\/p>\n

The release involved about 250 prisoners who had been convicted of crimes including murder and deadly attacks against Israelis \u2013 and about 1,700 detainees from Gaza who had been held by Israel without charge.<\/p>\n

Long before the recent ceasefire announcement, pro-Palestinian protest activity, which at one point engulfedan estimated 500 US universities, had mostly cooled.<\/p>\n

Universities had come under pressure from the president, and Republican lawmakers, to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests. They argued universities were failing to fight antisemitism on campus.<\/p>\n

Three university presidents \u2013 from Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania \u2013 resigned in the wake of heated congressional hearings about the protests.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration froze billions of dollars in funds from universities deemed non-compliant, and plainclothes agents detained pro-Palestinian student activists such as Mahmoud Khalil and R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk.<\/p>\n

While the momentum and energy behind the protests may have waned, some students said their efforts had been worthwhile. Mr Ahmad, the student activist at Georgetown University, welcomed the announcement of a peace deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking online, getting to see the smiles of people knowing that the crisis is over and that the war has been stopped \u2013 it\u2019s joyous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past few years, all you saw was carpet bombings, buildings destroyed and families lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr Ahmad added that \u201cthe threat of violence is never away\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always this uncertain feeling that (the war) is going to reignite again,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

At least\u00a0seven people in Gaza were killed on Tuesday\u00a0by Israeli drone strikes for crossing a boundary established by the ceasefire plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hesitant to fully accept that this is the end of the mass killing and the violence,\u201d said Mr Khalid from Earlham University.<\/p>\n

Mr Baker, the pro-Israel student from Columbia University, also shared concerns about the fragility of Trump\u2019s 20-point peace plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the innocents that were killed by Hamas whose bodies are still being held in captivity deserve to be laid to rest in a dignified way with their families paying their final respects,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that Hamas hasn\u2019t done it is a violation of the agreement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some bodies of deceased hostages were returned to Israel this week, but about 20 are believed to still be in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Mr Baker, who is co-chair of Columbia\u2019s pro-Israel public affairs committee Aryeh, said the advocacy for Israel must continue even after the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jewish student movement, the Jewish people, we\u2019re going to continue to stand up for the Israel that we love, and for our right as a people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Khalid, too, said that activism for Palestinians in Gaza must not waver.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that there\u2019s a ceasefire, we\u2019re able to breathe a little bit and, of course, celebrate the immediate victory that is a ceasefire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it doesn\u2019t change the fact that we\u2019re going to continue working towards the rest of our goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jadd Hashem, a student of Palestinian descent at the University of Texas, said: \u201cPeople can be perhaps pessimistic\u2026 but I think if anything, this is the most amount of optimism that any of us have felt in over two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

He believes this will be the start of a lasting peace.<\/p>\n

Mr Hashem is a member of the University of Texas chapter of Atidna International, an organisation focused on promoting Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.<\/p>\n

He believes that cross-cultural communication is going to be key.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow is the opportunity we have to talk to one another, to have conversations, and ultimately, to push for dialog between Israelis and Palestinians, between Jews and Arabs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to get to know one another and humanise one another to ensure that something like this conflict that we saw the last two years cannot happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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