Israel Destroys Memorial for Students Killed at Birzeit University

At dawn on Monday, Israeli soldiers accompanied by 10 military vehicles raided the campus of Birzeit University near Ramallah. A bulldozer destroyed a stone pillar known as the Martyrs' Memorial, which bore the names of 38 students and alumni of the university killed by Israel. Soldiers took away the marble plaque, leaving behind a small fig plant with a label reading: "Water twice."

The incident brought back the pain of loss for Rania Washaha, 47, a university employee. Her brother, Fadi, 34, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier near the northern entrance of el-Bireh in the central West Bank in May 2021. His name was among the 38 students inscribed on the memorial.

According to Nardeen al-Memi, the university's media officer, during the brief moments of a raid 10 days earlier, Israeli soldiers approached the memorial for the first time and photographed it.

The Martyrs' Memorial was built between 1994 and 1996, engraved with the names of Birzeit students and alumni killed by Israeli forces. The list begins with Sharaf al-Tayyibi, who was shot dead on campus in 1984. Names of other students and alumni were added in subsequent years.

"The last name engraved on the memorial was that of student Omar al-Naasan, who was killed by soldiers in al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, on September 2 while confronting settler incursions," Nardeen said. "A few days after his death, his father came and personally wrote his son's name on the memorial."

On Tuesday afternoon, students held a protest at the site of the destroyed memorial. Most of them viewed it as an act of intimidation by Israel.

A Birzeit student, speaking to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity for fear of arrest, said the memorial held a special place in the hearts of those who studied at the university since the 1990s. In recent years, Israel has sought to suppress any student activity commemorating the martyrs. "Three weeks ago, soldiers detained me for hours and threatened that if I participated in any political activity on campus, I would face a long and harsh prison sentence," the student said.

The demolition of the memorial is part of a broader Israeli policy targeting monuments to Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank. Israel's far right has made this issue part of a campaign to erase signs of Palestinian identity.

In August, lawmaker Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionism party used a sledgehammer to destroy a similar memorial in the village of Madama, south of Nablus. The Israeli military later said it routinely removes "inciting symbols."

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich submitted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a list of about 40 Palestinian memorials, proposing their destruction. Cultural and civic symbols across the West Bank, particularly in Jenin, have also been targeted. "The Jenin Horse," a memorial made from the wreckage of cars after Israel's incursion into the city, was dismantled. The memorial to Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin was also targeted in 2023. A cemetery containing the remains of Iraqi soldiers killed in the 1948 war in Jenin was raided by people from illegal settlements. Other landmarks tied to the city's collective memory, including the "Watermelon Roundabout," have also been targeted.

Israel's targeting of Palestinian collective memory goes hand in hand with a broader crackdown in the West Bank. Palestinian universities are a particular target, with campuses raided, students arrested, and on-campus activities severely restricted.

Political analyst Mohammed al-Qeeq, a former president of the Birzeit University Student Council in 2006-2007, told Al Jazeera that Israel targets writers, influencers, activists, and students to prevent any resistance. Universities have long been a "fundamental pillar" of Palestinian resilience and identity. "Israel also seeks to weaken Palestinian political and social cohesion at universities by deepening divisions between factions and creating chaos," he said.

For Rania, the memorial played a role in engraving the names of martyred students into the minds of subsequent generations of Birzeit students, including her brother. "I cannot deny that I feel immense pain at the destruction of the memorial," she said. "I realize the goal is not just to uproot a physical object; I feel the suppressed violence that Israel inflicts on us."

The memorial built in 1996 still stood on campus when Fadi studied at Birzeit University. He was arrested multiple times, serving a total of eight years in prison, and Israel never gave him the chance to wear a graduation gown. "He didn't even finish two years of study because of repeated arrests and injuries from soldiers' bullets," Rania said. "Yet he loved Birzeit University deeply, often standing by the memorial, looking at the names of the martyred students, never knowing that one day his own name would be added."

This year, Rania's son enrolled as a freshman at Birzeit University. Shortly before classes began in September, an Israeli officer called him, threatening that if he participated in any student activities on campus, there would be consequences. "Remember what we did to your uncle," they warned.