Statement by the Law & Development Research Group after the attacks by the Israeli armed forces of the campus of Birzeit University
It was with shock and dismay that we learned yesterday - on January 6th - that the Israeli armed forces had invaded the campus of Birzeit University in the West Bank of Palestine. There were 41 casualties, some shot with live ammunition. 11 people had to be taken to hospital. This is not the first time that the Palestinian education system is the target of attacks. During the last two years, a ‘scholasticide’ or ‘educide’ has been realized in Gaza, where students have no more universities or schools where to go. On 12 December 2025, another attack took place, which Birzeit University itself describes as the twenty-fifth since 2002. They also expect that these types of attacks will only increase in the coming months.
At the time of the raid, there were 8,000 students on campus, many of them attending classes. Our fellow researchers and lecturers were in their offices or standing in front of their classes. They informed us that they were not injured, but that this had caused trauma and fear.
While Israeli intelligence allegedly pointed to a “gathering in support of terrorism” on campus, it in fact concerned a solidarity action for Palestinian prisoners and the screening of a film about Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by the Israeli Armed Forces in Gaza on January 29th, 2024, while waiting, after her family members had been killed, for emergency services, who were initially prevented from reaching her, and later themselves killed by Israeli soldiers.
The mere rumour, or even existence, of plans to protest cannot justify military action on the campus of an educational institution. Students have a right to freedom of expression and a right to protest, just like all members of society. A university campus is pre-eminently a place for free and critical expression of opinion, even more so in the context of an illegal occupation.
Birzeit is a renowned university, not only one of the best in Palestine and the region, but also known and appreciated internationally. A university is a place of dialogue and learning, and an institution that puts the right to education and critical thinking into practice. Birzeit University, in its own statement following the violence of yesterday, says that
education will remain an act of anti-colonial resistance, and that the University will continue to be a space for knowledge and freedom, despite all attempts at repression and aggression.
They also call explicitly for our solidarity.
Education should not be so difficult that it becomes an ‘act of resistance’. Education is a fundamental right and a pillar of any society.
As the Law and Development Research Group, we have a collaborative project with the Muwatin Institute at Birzeit University that has been ongoing for more than three years. This project is funded by the Belgian development and cooperation agency, ENABEL. The research project focuses on the human rights of young people - including higher education students - in an emancipatory sense. Our research focuses on the struggle for freedom of Palestinian youth and on respect for their rights (both political and social) in the context of an illegal occupation that has been challenging the most basic conditions of human dignity.
At the same time, at the initiative of the Working Group on Global Engagement, the University of Antwerp is raising money to fund scholarship students in Birzeit via the Koen De Feyter Fund, an initiative that consolidates the close connections between our University, Flanders and Birzeit. Flemish and Belgian institutions and political actors cannot stand by and watch as education, students and staff in Birzeit and throughout Palestine becomes a military target. This is contrary to international law, and also to the principles promoted by Belgium and Belgian universities through humanitarian interventions, development aid, and research and teaching collaboration.
We therefore urge the Flemish Minister of Education to:
● Publicly condemn the violence against Palestinian students by the Israeli army and the ongoing ‘scholasticide’. The support and cooperation we maintain are not there to be shot at.
● Require the Flemish Universities to stop cooperating (including within the framework of European cooperation agreements) with Israeli universities and any other public or private actor that is aiding and abetting the illegal occupation or the genocide of the Palestinians. Israeli universities maintain strong ties with the Israeli army and their complicity also makes Flemish universities and Flanders complicit in the violation of international law, human rights and in scholasticide. We must stop being hypocritical and uphold international law.
● Urge the European Commission to desist Israel’s participation in the Horizon funding scheme.
We urge the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs to:
● Publicly condemn the violence against Palestinian students by the Israeli army and the ongoing ‘scholasticide’. The support and cooperation we maintain are not there to be shot at.
● Require all Belgian public institutions to stop cooperating with Israeli institutions that aid and abet the illegal occupation or genocide of the Palestinians. We must stop being hypocritical and uphold international law.
● Denounce the EU-Israel Association Agreement in light of the violation of Art. 2 on the respect of human rights and international law.
We urge all Belgian and Flemish authorities to:
· Develop clear and meaningful mechanisms to support students from Gaza whose educational institutions have been destroyed, including receiving these students, and providing scholarships and tuition fee exemptions.
· Issue clear public statements condemning raids on campuses and affirming the right to education.
· Create and expand dedicated budget lines within Belgian development and humanitarian cooperation for Palestinian higher education.
· Strengthen long-term cooperation agreements between Belgian and Palestinian universities, including research projects, scholarships, and mobility schemes for staff and students.
· Organise regular high-level and parliamentary visits, with participation of Belgian academic representatives, to universities such as Birzeit to signal political backing and deterrence against future attacks.
· Support independent monitoring and documentation of violations against Palestinian higher education institutions. These findings must inform Belgium’s positions in EU, UN and other multilateral fora, and be integrated into a broader Belgian strategy on academic freedom and human rights in the context of occupation, apartheid and genocide.