At daybreak on Tuesday, the occupation authorities stormed the campus of Birzeit College, and amongst what they did throughout the inspection of the college’s services was to decrease the Palestinian flag from its mast on the college’s entrance.
The occupation forces have violated the sanctity of the college by invading, which is condemned based on worldwide covenants that stress the preservation of the sanctity of academic establishments. Nonetheless, reducing the flag just isn’t solely condemned, but in addition a despicable act. The occupation doesn’t realise what the flag means to the Palestinians, not solely to the scholars and the professors on the college, however to tens of millions of Palestinians in each a part of the Holy Land of Palestine. They have no idea what the flag represents for the Palestinians within the Diaspora. The flag is an emblem of their Palestinian id and their existence wherever they’re. Each Palestinian is a flag and a pole, strolling on the street and proudly declaring ‘I’m proud to be Palestinian’.
Greater than 50 years in the past, after I was president of Birzeit College in its small campus within the centre of the city of Birzeit, the variety of the scholars at the moment was no more than 200. The college courtyard was stormed, and when the occupation troopers have been leaving, they discovered {that a} scholar drew a small Palestinian flag, no greater than a postage stamp, on the school gate from the within. The Israeli officer determined on the time that he wouldn’t enable college students to depart the school campus till he knew who drew the flag. I attempted my greatest to persuade the officer that he wouldn’t get such data as a result of each scholar would “confess” to drawing it, so he would not discover out the id of the particular artist. After hours of arguing, the officer was “satisfied”, and his forces left the place, and the scholars have been capable of return to their houses.
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![Birzeit University student stage a protest after Israeli forces take 3 students into custody, near Beit Il Israeli military check point in Ramallah, West Bank on March 27, 2019. [İssam Rimawi - Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/20190327_2_35678712_43030004.jpg?resize=933.5%2C622&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Birzeit College college students stage a protest after Israeli forces take 3 college students into custody on 27 March 2019. [İssam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]
Palestinians are very hooked up to their flag. We see second, third and fourth technology Palestinians in Diaspora carrying T-shirts bearing the Palestinian flag. College college students overseas grasp the Palestinian flag of their locations of residence. The Palestinian flag isn’t just a vibrant piece of fabric. The Palestinian flag is Palestine itself; it’s the image of freedom, it’s the image of the departure of the occupation, it’s the image of battle, it’s the image of every little thing we aspire to sooner or later.
On Wednesday, Birzeit College raised the Palestinian flag as soon as once more, on a flagpole larger than earlier than. Thus, Birzeit College will stay a secure place for college kids, professors and staff, no matter their political or partisan affiliation. They meet and differ of their opinions and typically quarrel over it, however all of them agree that nobody will contact their Palestinian flag.
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This text first appeared in Arabic in Al-Ayyam on 15 December 2021
The views expressed on this article belong to the writer and don’t essentially mirror the editorial coverage of Center East Monitor.
