Friends of Palestinian Universities

📚Despite the devastation, students & academics in Gaza are finding ways to keep education alive. Watch their powerful accounts of resilience and hope on this #InternationalEducationDay. 🎥Watch the full film: youtu.be/G5MmIDc1LXE

🚨 Final days to double your impact 🚨 As higher education faces its greatest emergency, your support matters more than ever. All donations before 31 March are matched – helping us carry out our work to support Palestinian universities and students. 💚bit.ly/40zQRmC

📚 As part of our Our Universities Live On series, we spoke to Prof. Rifa Al-Khozondar for #IWD – reflecting on the resilience of Gaza’s universities, women’s leadership in science, and students’ unwavering commitment to learning. 🔗Read the full feature: bit.ly/4lEFvYa

On 5 Feb, building on a legacy of 47 years, we launched Friends of Palestinian Universities at the British Academy. We are deeply grateful to Prof Karma Nabulsi, Prof Sudhir Hazareesingh FBA and our sponsors @Sage_Publishing for making this launch possible.

On #InternationalDayOfEducation2026, watch highlights from our webinar with @ucu, where academics and students in Gaza reflect on teaching and learning despite destroyed campuses, widespread displacement, interrupted research, and psychological trauma: bit.ly/4pVrtlm

Despite ongoing attempts to undermine, isolate and silence them, Palestinian faculty and students continue their educational mission, resisting this systematic assault on their universities. 👉Email your MP & urge the UK gov to act now: bit.ly/4aQKemm

Between 2002–2017, Birzeit University faced repeated Israeli military raids, including live fire at students, abductions by undercover units, assaults on campus guards, and raids during exams. Documented raids occurred in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017.

Birzeit University has been raided 26 times since 2002. Here’s the breakdown from @Right2Edu Campaign’s latest report:

Immediate action is needed to protect the future of Palestinian education. Use our quick template below to take action now: bit.ly/4aQKemm

On 6 Jan 2026, Israeli forces raided Birzeit University while classes in session. Several students were injured. ‼️ Silence and inaction risk abandoning the most vital foundations of Palestinian society. 👉Email your MP & urge the UK gov to act now: bit.ly/4aQKemm

On Tuesday, the Israeli military invaded Birzeit University, attacking students with live ammunition. Israel's scholasticide is a core part of its attempt to obliterate the collective life of the Palestinian people. @DrJoGrady has written to @YvetteCooperMP urging the British government to take action 👇 @PSCupdates @fpu_org @BirzeitU

Statement from Birzeit University on the Israeli military invasion of its campus and shooting of students birzeit.edu/en/news/statem…

Today, Israeli regime forces stormed the University of Birzeit campus- academic home to 15,000 Palestinian students. Reports indicate that 41 students were injured, at least 4 were shot with live bullets. Ambulance crews were deliberately prevented from reaching the campus.

Birzeit President Dr Talal Shahwan called today’s attack “an unprecedented act of brutality,” part of a strategy to undermine Palestinian education and academic freedom, and urged the international community to protect Palestinians’ right to education.

This is the 26th Israeli military raid on the campus since 2002, and the 7th since October 2023. It coincided with the start of the new semester as students prepared a protest for Palestinian prisoners, including the 150 Birzeit students currently held in Israeli detention.

Today, Israeli forces stormed @BirzeitU for the second time in less than a month, breaching the campus with a convoy of 20 military vehicles. Witnesses reported soldiers firing live ammunition and tear gas at students attending lectures, injuring 41.