Blocks from the White House, US students stand steadfast with Gaza

Chants of “free Palestine” were interrupted by ululating and cheers as dozens of Georgetown University students arrived at a protest at the neighbouring George Washington University (GW) campus in the heart of the US capital city.

Students, professors and activists from across the Washington, DC, area gathered on Thursday to show solidarity with Palestinians amid the war on Gaza and demand an end to what they call their colleges’ complicity in Israel’s human rights abuses.

Chants of “free Palestine” were interrupted by ululating and cheers as dozens of Georgetown University students arrived at a protest at the neighbouring George Washington University (GW) campus in the heart of the US capital city.

Students, professors and activists from across the Washington, DC, area gathered on Thursday to show solidarity with Palestinians amid the war on Gaza and demand an end to what they call their colleges’ complicity in Israel’s human rights abuses.“This entire encampment was made with every single messaging to be around the genocide in Gaza and to revolve around centring all of the demands on Gaza,” said Mimi Ziad, an activist with the Palestinian Youth Movement.

“This isn’t about the students. This is about Gaza. This is about all of Palestine.”

Students draped in keffiyehs had congregated on a GW grass lawn dotted with tents around a statue of George Washington, the first American president.

“George Washington says free Palestine,” read a paper sign that was taped to the statue.

The protesters raised their voices in unison to the beats of a drum in support of Palestinians, condemning Israel for its violations.

“The students, united, will never be defeated,” they chanted, as Palestinian flags waved alongside signs calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Student organisers, sporting yellow and pink vests, directed foot traffic within the demonstration and handed bottles of water to people.

“It feels great to be around other people who see the reality we see and who share the outrage and frustration and also share the energy to solve the problem,” said Elliott Colla, a Georgetown faculty member who joined the protest at GW.

Several demonstrators said pushing universities to divest from Israel can have a tangible effect on the conflict, as boycotts of South Africa helped end the apartheid system in the early 1990s.

College activism around Gaza has taken centre stage in US politics in recent days.

A Palestine solidarity encampment at Columbia University in New York faced a police crackdown and arrests last week as the college administration called on law enforcement to clear the protest. The university has now set a Friday deadline for the protest to disband.

But students continued to demonstrate. Their campaign spread to other colleges across the country, including the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), Boston’s Emerson College, Georgia’s Emory University and the University of Southern California (USC), with dozens of students also arrested at the institutions.

A Palestine solidarity encampment at Columbia University in New York faced a police crackdown and arrests last week as the college administration called on law enforcement to clear the protest. The university has now set a Friday deadline for the protest to disband.

But students continued to demonstrate. Their campaign spread to other colleges across the country, including the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), Boston’s Emerson College, Georgia’s Emory University and the University of Southern California (USC), with dozens of students also arrested at the institutions.

“When you’re accusing anyone who’s against genocide in Gaza of being anti-Semitic, you’re losing the actual meaning of the movement against anti-Semitism,” Donia, who chose to be identified by her first name only out of fear of reprisal, told Al Jazeera.

She added that pro-Israel advocates were “freaking out” and trying to repress the student movement with anti-Semitism allegations because they know it is effective.

“A lot of the future generation of politicians in this country are at these universities, and they’re not buying their lies any more. That’s what’s really scaring them,” Donia sai