Spanish universities plan to stop collaborating with Israeli institutions

Numerous Spanish universities plan to suspend cooperation with Israeli universities that have not called for peace in the occupation regime’s ongoing genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

The plan was announced in an open letter on Thursday by the Rectors’ Conference of Spanish Universities, which oversees 50 public and 26 private universities.

The universities, the letter said, planned to suspend cooperation with Israeli universities that “have not expressed a firm commitment to peace and compliance with international humanitarian law.”

In addition, the universities committed to “intensify cooperation with the Palestinian academic and higher education system and expand our cooperation, volunteer and mentoring programs for the refugee population.”

The schools expressed solidarity with “the feelings at our locations and the demand that comes from them”.

They were referring to the ongoing pro-Palestinian camps and rallies that took place at many universities across the European country in protest against Israel’s war on Gaza.

At least 34,904 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed so far in the war, which began after the Al-Aqsa storming, a reprisal by coastal resistance groups.

The letter also called for a permanent ceasefire in the war and the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory, which is simultaneously under siege by Israel.

In recent weeks, student protests have gained momentum across Western Europe. Participants protested the brutal Israeli military attack and urged their schools to divest from Israeli companies that contributed to the genocide.

The demonstrators took their cues from pro-Palestinian student protests across the United States, which have spread to numerous American colleges.

More than 1,000 people have reportedly been arrested on US campuses since April 18, when a pro-Palestinian camp at Columbia University in New York was forcibly cleared by police.

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