US student body calls for boycotting Israel over occupation of Palestine

The student body at Wellesley College of Liberal Arts in the US has called for the liberation of Palestine and listed companies supporting the Israeli occupation in an effort to encourage students to boycott them.

In an editorial published by the student body established at the liberal women's university, the group called for the liberation of Palestine and for boycotting the occupation, especially in Boston, Massachusetts, where the university is located.

The student body expressed support to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS), the Mapping Project in particular, which puts pressure on the Israeli regime through non-violent means.

According to the independent student newspaper of Wellesley College, Wellesley’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) raise awareness on campus of the mistreatment of Palestinians and the illegal nature of Israel’s settlements.

The editorial said that the student body “unequivocally supports Palestinian students on campus, especially international students who may hesitate to speak in fear of retribution.”

Touching on the Mapping Project, the editorial said it provides a vital service through collecting data about institutions that support Israeli apartheid, tracing their financial and political activities, and publicizing the information,” and stressed that it is of great importance.

The Mapping Project, unveiled earlier in June 2022, identifies policing institutions, universities, weapons manufacturers, and Zionist lobby groups in the New England region that work in tandem to fortify structures of oppression and occupation in Palestine and across the world.

The hallmark of the project that is creating ripples is an interactive map that shows the physical locations of pro-Zionist groups in the Massachusetts area, sparking fears and concerns among pro-Israel lobbyists.

According to key members of the project, the idea is to build a knowledge base of institutions, corporations, and other entities that contribute to the colonization of Palestine, US imperialism, policing displacement, and other forms of oppression.

Giving an example on such institutions, the editorial read “The Mapping project notes that MIT is complicit in the militarization, propaganda/normalization, surveillance and US imperialism and has an active role in developing the technologies used to harm Palestinians.”

Moreover, the student body journalists wrote that they have an obligation to document the truth, and that they are fortunate so far for being able to do it without facing violence, unlike journalists covering Israeli atrocities committed in occupied Palestine, such as Shirine Abu Akleh who was killed in May by Israeli occupation forces fire while covering an Israeli raid on Jenin.

The student body also expressed they are disheartened “to witness Wellesley’s administration refusal to acknowledge the occupation of Palestine and the brutality that has been occurring under Israel’s settler-colonial regime for decades.”

“Wellesley’s News Editorial Board called on our fellow students, professors and the Wellesley’s administration and board of Trustees to acknowledge the atrocities of the Israeli regime and call for the liberation of occupied Palestine,” the editorial concluded.

Following a widespread Israeli media attack, which slammed the College and claimed it was "a beacon of anti-Semitism, the university administration said it did not support the project.

However, the student body explained in the editorial, “We believe that support for a free Palestine is in no way anti-Semitic.”   

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