Paramilitary procession with posters of terrorists at Birzeit University
Text and picture posted on the Facebook page of the Democratic Student Alliance
Posted text: “Pictures from the #Unity_and_defiance procession for the 52nd anniversary of the breakthrough of the ‘Red Rebel’ of the [Popular] Front [for the Liberation of Palestine] (PFLP)
We send a blessing to all the faculty members of the student movements at the university, and to the students at the university, who have stood unhesitatingly with the student movement’s decision. As we have accustomed you, we are always the headline of resolve and defiance.
#Unity_and_defiance_procession
#Student_Alliance”
The pictures shows masked Birzeit University students in military uniforms carrying red PFLP flags and posters and marching in lines.
The pictures show Birzeit University students holding Palestinian flags and red PFLP flags and posters with pictures of terrorists on them. In the bottom row from left to right are posters with pictures of PFLP founder George Habash, PFLP Secretary-General Abu Ali Mustafa, Hamas founder and former head Ahmed Yassin, and former PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. In the upper row from left to right are posters with pictures of PFLP leader Ahmad Sa'adat, George Habash, Islamic Jihad founder Fathi Shaqaqi, PFLP member Wadi' Haddad who was responsible for many of its most prominent attacks including a number of plane hijackings, and PFLP member Samer Arbid who is one of the murderers of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb.
The image shows masked students in military uniform performing the Nazi salute.
The picture shows a masked student holding a picture of terrorist murderer Samer Arbid. In the upper right corner of the poster is the PFLP logo which includes the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” together with the PA areas.
Text at top of poster: "The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine"
Text on bottom left of poster: "The Progressive Democratic Student Alliance"
Text on bottom right of poster: "Samer Arbid"
Students at Birzeit University protested in December 2019 and January 2020 over the cost of tuition and other financial matters, and over the university’s ban on military expression on campus, leading the university to suspend classes. According to Birzeit University Vice President Ghassan Al-Khatib, students violated the university’s policy by “marching in military uniforms or clothing (kufieh) [parentheses in source, i.e., Arab headdress] symbolizing the Palestinian struggle, and by displaying cartoon models depicting resistance weapons and tools.” [Al-Monitor, Dec. 30, 2019]
The university’s ban has existed for years; Birzeit University Dean of Advanced Degrees Mahdi Arar said: “Years ago, the student blocs signed a charter of honor [under which they] refrained from all types of militarism at the university." [Alaraby.co.uk, Dec. 11, 2019]
However, its recent strict implementation is apparently based on pressure from Israel and foreign donors, as noted by various university faculty members. “University Employee Union Secretary Sameh Abu 'Awwad explained: ‘The university is subject to pressure from the occupation... and from donors who are yielding to its dictates’ … He added that, in recent years, some countries had already stopped funding the university, and others were threatening to do so.” [Alaraby.co.uk, December 16, 2019]
The protest ended on Jan. 9, 2020, with an agreement between the university administration and student council. Its first nine clauses discussed tuition and other financial matters, and the tenth and last clause noted in a general manner that other issues will be discussed. Its first nine clauses discussed tuition and other financial matters, and the tenth and last clause noted in a general manner that other issues will be discussed.
George Habash - Founder of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding in 1967 and throughout the Palestinian terror campaign between 2000- 2005 (the Intifada).
Abu Ali Mustafa - Secretary-General of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP, which rejected the Oslo Accords (1993), has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding in 1967 and throughout the Palestinian terror campaign between 2000-2005 (the Intifada).
Ahmed Yassin - Founder and former head of the terror organization Hamas. The Hamas movement is responsible for numerous terror attacks and the murder of hundreds of Israeli civilians. Yassin was killed by Israel in 2004.
Yasser Arafat – Founder of Fatah and former chairman of the PLO and PA. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s Arafat was behind numerous terror attacks against Israelis. Although he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the Oslo Accords peace agreement, Arafat launched a 5-year terror campaign - the second Intifada (2000-2005) – in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Arafat died of an illness in 2004.
Ahmad Sa’adat - serving a 30-year sentence for heading the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. A song at a PFLP event also praised him for planning the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001, but he has not been tried for this crime.
Fathi Shaqaqi - Founder of the terror organization Islamic Jihad, which has carried out more than 1,000 terror attacks, murdering and wounding hundreds of Israeli civilians. Shaqaqi was killed in 1995 in an operation attributed to Israel but for which Israel never took responsibility.
Wadi' Haddad - member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who was directly responsible for many of the PFLP's most prominent terror attacks, including a series of hijackings of Israeli EL AL planes in the 1960s and 70s. These included the hijacking of an EL AL plane flying from Rome to Tel Aviv on July 22, 1968 - the plane was forced to land in Algiers, where the 32 passengers were held as hostages for 39 days; the EL AL Flight 253 attack in Athens on December 26, 1968; the hijacking of 3 planes on September 6, 1970, which were forced to land, after which the passengers were released; and the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 on June 27,1976, whose passengers were freed in Israel's Operation Entebbe.
Samer Arbid - Palestinian terrorist arrested with two others for detonating a bomb which murdered 17-year-old Rina Shnerb and injured her father and brother near the Dolev Spring, on Aug. 26, 2019. Arbid is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).