The Politics Society

The Palestinian human rights campaigner Musheir El-Farra and Ramy Abdu, one of the university students trapped in Gaza visited the university on Wednesday evening to raise awareness about the Gaza crisis in the Middle East. In a two-hour session, El-Farra and Abdu talked about their personal experiences of the Israeli occupation and called for more justice and freedom to ‘put an end to the horrible human suffering of the Palestinian people.’

Since the closing of Rafah crossing last year, 722 Palestinian university students studying abroad were trapped in Gaza. They are part of the 7,500 Gazans who need permission to continue their work, education or medical treatment outside of Gaza. There certainly is a consensus that the blockade of the Gaza Strip has worsened levels of poverty and unemployment and deteriorated education and health services. Musheir El-Farra started off his talk by criticising the inaction of the West despite those facts and declared that ‘selfish economic interests’ should not take priority over basic human rights including freedom of movement. The human rights campaigner said that ‘we must get rid of such hypocrisy.’

Although the event focussed on the Gaza Strip, El-Farra pointed to the ‘severity’ of the situation in general and reminded the audience not to forget about the West Bank and the plight of Palestinian refugees. The Chair of the Sheffield Palestine Campaigns rejected the notion of a purely racial or religious nature of the conflict. He emphasised that ‘we are not in a religious war with the Jewish people; we are in a political war.’ The so-called ‘rotating door policy’ allows Israeli soldiers to go to Palestinians’ homes and arrest them if they are suspected of fleeing. He referred to Israeli prisons as ‘concentration camps.’

Ramy Abdu told the audience his story about life in Gaza as a student. His words were translated from Arabic into English by El-Farra. The student explained that the blockade infringes on their right to education. The closing of crossings prevents over 1,700 students from joining their universities. Ramy highlighted that instead of going to lectures and seminars, they had no choice but to study at home or even on the streets. He disclosed that students were blackmailed by Israeli intelligence organisations when they turned to human rights organisations for help. ‘It’s difficult for me to find the right words to express my despair about my people’s suffering,’ said Ramy. ‘It’s a human tragedy’.

A range of issues were discussed and criticisms made in the Q & A session that followed the talk including the need for better Muslim leadership and refugee rights. The panel responded that the reason for the rejection of the two-state solution by the Palestinians is that there is ‘no mention of such rights in the small print.’ The suggestion to boycott Israeli goods to ‘hit them hard’ met with some approval.

The discussion steered into an even more emotional direction through the panel’s personal stories about friends and family affected by poor medical conditions. ‘Two of my relatives have died because they were not allowed to leave to get medical treatment,’ said El-Farra. About 270 patients have passed away so far as a consequence of the blockade. El-Farra also pointed to the psychological effects on the population including trauma, panic and, most importantly, aggression. The audience picked up on this point, asking questions about his standpoint towards violent organisations including Hamas and Hezbollah. El-Farra denounced the targeting of civilians but added that he would ‘never ever condemn our freedom fighters in the name of the oppressors.’ It remains to be seen if the Palestinians will eventually achieve their ‘justice in the cause of freedom’; but at the heart of the conflict lingers the dilemma that both sides see it as an ‘us- against- them’ problem.