This letter was written by Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization at Penn State dedicated to fighting for the liberation of Palestine and the freedom and self-determination of the Palestinian people.
The ceasefire in Gaza officially ended on March 18, early in the morning, when the Zionist entity, otherwise known as Israel, carried out an airstrike campaign across all of Gaza while Palestinians and their children were sleeping. Between March 18 and March 26, it is reported that at least 830 Palestinians have been murdered and 1787 wounded; many of those killed in the attacks were children. Many are also still stuck under the rubble. This recurrence of violence contributes to what the globe witnessed for the past 15 months as the most live-streamed genocide in history. After the ceasefire in Gaza began on Jan. 15, Gaza’s Government Media Office reported over 350 ceasefire violations, including military incursions, gunfire, air strikes, obstructing and withholding aid and increased surveillance. During the two-month ceasefire, the Zionist entity decided to block all humanitarian assistance from entering Gaza, including medicine, supplies and goods. This action, condemned by the United Nations, reveals the continuation of crimes perpetrated by the Zionist entity against the Palestinian people in Gaza beginning in 1948, separating families and creating internally displaced refugees. This colonization continued into their occupation in 1967 and escalated further with the implementation of a total blockade in 2007 that isolated Gaza from the rest of Palestine and the world. Nonetheless, we see the people of Gaza stand resilient in defiance of the occupation. Despite claims that it would be uninhabitable by 2020, in 2023, or today, Gaza is truly unbreakable.
The Palestinian people in Gaza refuse to be erased, demonstrating sumud or steadfastness as active confrontation against colonial violence. After the ceasefire began, we saw one of the most significant events of Palestinians returning to their homes and land in history — an event that the world has historically dismissed as an impossible hurdle to Palestinian liberation. While coping with some of the most devastating violence many of us have witnessed in our lifetimes, Palestinians cleared rubble to clean their homes in preparation for other family members and painted the streets as an act of reclaiming space and asserting their right to exist, even as occupation forces attempt to erase them. Even as Palestinians struggle to reclaim and rebuild their lives, Israel enforces its blockade with impunity — denying essential aid, food and supplies in a continuation of its colonial siege on Gaza — underscoring the importance of a complete and total end to Israel’s blockade on Gaza as we continue on the path to Palestinian liberation.
As part of recognizing and standing up against Zionist crimes and in support of Palestinian sumud, resilience and resistance to their occupation, Students for Justice in Palestine will be hosting Gaza is Unbreakable: Week of Rage from March 31 to April 5. During this Week of Rage, we invite all students, faculty, staff, workers, and community members to attend our events to learn more and support the people of Gaza and the Palestinian liberation cause, alongside other causes for freedom and liberation that are under threat today.
On March 31, we will be tabling for Gaza at the HUB-Robeson Center. On April 1, we will host a protest at Old Main from 12-1 p.m. to assert that Penn State must do better. The university has failed its marginalized students on issues such as graduate student unionization, racial justice initiatives, protecting its immigrant and undocumented students and investing and/or partnering with war profiteers, which have supplied the weapons for Israel’s genocide in Palestine. On April 2, we will host Palestinian lawyer and activist Huwaida Arraf at 6:30 p.m. in Susan Welch Building 114 to speak to us about her experience organizing to end the blockade in Gaza through the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which sailed to Gaza in 2008, 2015, 2016 and 2018. On April 3, we invite everyone to our “Genocide in Gaza” display on the Pattee and Paterno Lawn all day to learn more about the everyday experiences of genocide in Gaza. On April 4, from 5-7 p.m. in HUB 233, we will host a solidarity gathering to come together, reflect on the ongoing struggle, get more involved with SJP and discuss ways to continue resisting Zionist and imperialist violence.
To receive updates on Students for Justice in Palestine’s Week of Rage and other events, follow us @PennstateSJP on Instagram. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
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