(Exclusive photos.)

Campus scenes yesterday at Al-Quds University. The Western-funded university authorities have on at least three occasions so far this academic year tolerated such Fascist-style displays by students. Scroll down below for more photos.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES FOR PEACE SO LONG AS THE PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT ENCOURAGES THIS AND WESTERN GOVERNMENTS CONTINUE TO FUND HIM WITHOUT CRITICISM?

[Note by Tom Gross]

During his press conference in Jerusalem today on the peace process, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized Israel again, but did not place any emphasis at all on the fact that the Palestinian Authority tolerates (and in many cases actively encourages) incitement to kill Jews.

One hopes that U.S. diplomats who subscribe to this list will draw his attention to the shocking photos below.

They were taken yesterday afternoon by a subscriber to this list that I know well and whom was at Al-Quds University yesterday. They were taken on the university campus and it has been confirmed to me that the persons in them are current university students.

(The student demonstration yesterday was organized by the Islamic Jihad student faction, but other students at the university joined in. There have also been at least two similar military-style demonstrations praising suicide bombers by the Hamas student faction at Al-Quds so far this academic year.)





On the other side of Jerusalem, Kerry met Israeli PM Netanyahu today



Al-Quds is a Palestinian university in east Jerusalem. It is often hailed as a liberal or moderate university by western diplomats and journalists.

It was established with the help of Israel in 1984, along with other universities Israel helped set up for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with the aim of increasing the educational level of Palestinians.

Academics and students (including, quite possibly, some in these photos) have received and continue to receive grants from European governments, charities and foundations. Al-Quds University is also currently in partnership with liberal (and largely Jewish) institutions in the U.S., including Brandeis University and Bard College.

I would urge you to take a quick look at these photos. These kinds of scenes can be seen regularly at Palestinian universities and elsewhere in the West Bank but Western news organizations strenuously avoid reporting on them.

As long as the Palestinian Authority encourages such demonstrations and the university authorities tolerate them, it is doubtful there can ever be peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Peace which presumably we all want.

I am sure that the president of Al-Quds University, Sari Nusseibeh, who is a relative moderate, as well as one of the universitys founding trustees Saeb Erekat  who is the chief Palestinian negotiator with the Israelis in the current peace talks  dont exactly approve of these demonstrations by students. But the fact that they are helpless to stop them doesnt bode well for the future of Israeli-Palestinian co-existence. Nor does it make it easy on campus for those moderate Palestinian students that actually want to foster peace with Israel.

-- Tom Gross

(There is an update note at the foot of this webpage.)

(There is a follow-up dispatch with a reply from Al-Quds University here. There is a further update including a reaction from Brandeis here.)

A student parade yesterday at the prestigious Al-Quds University. Students were encouraged to give what other students at Al-Quds described as Hitler-style salutes

Students are not allowed to bring guns on campus, hence the students used fake guns in the rally

Palestinian student heroes

Note the map in the photo above shows not the West Bank and Gaza, but all of Israel

UPDATE (November 8, 2013):

This dispatch has been viewed many thousands of times during the last two days, and linked to in at least 200 news-sites and blogs.

I am glad that European diplomats have been in touch with me about it.

It is disappointing, however, that left-wing and centrist media are still refusing to cover this story, and only right-wing media seem interested.

Continuing to ignore the widespread and growing Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, as the more liberal international media do, does not bode well for peace.

I have consistently supported the creation of an independent Palestinian Arab state alongside Israel. But to be viable and successful it is not only a question of what Israel will give the Palestinians, but of the Palestinians themselves engaging in good governance. There is no point in creating a new Palestinian state if it will primarily be used as a launching ground for armed attacks on Israel, which would be likely to in turn lead to a much bloodier war between Israelis and Palestinians than anything we have witnessed in the past. The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 resulted in much more violence between Palestinians and Israelis, not less, and we surely dont want a repeat of that if Israel leaves the West Bank.

It is also disappointing that the Brandeis University administration that partners with Al-Quds are refusing to respond to journalists, who tell me they have emailed and phoned Brandeis for a comment about the rally but Brandeis have refused to speak to them.

Surely the aim of Brandeis partnering with Al-Quds is to produce a more liberal atmosphere on campus, not one where extremists dominate and threaten violence and moderate Palestinian students feel intimidated. One hopes that the president of Brandeis might have a quiet word with the president of Al-Quds.

I would also like to make it clear that while it is good these sites are covering this issue, I disassociate myself with the use of language in some of the reports linking to this page that use the term Nazi salute or Nazi style or Hitler-style or genocide.

I believe that such terms should only be used in the context of World War Two, and I avoided using them myself on this webpage, as I have elsewhere.



A more apt term would be Fascist-style.

***

The dispatch has been reproduced in other languages around the world, for example, here in Spanish.

Or here in German.

Or French.

Or in Polish if you scroll down here.

***

Update, Nov. 11: The rally has now been covered in Hebrew by Maariv, with quotes from me.



(Again I disassociate myself from some of the readers comments on Maarivs website which I think are unpleasant and unhelpful for the cause of peace.)

-- Tom Gross

UPDATE: There are further dispatches on developments in this story here:

* Al-Quds: Fascist-style rally by our students last Tuesday was totally unacceptable

* Update: Al-Quds photos receive attention from Netanyahu through to Al Jazeera

* Brandeis suspends partnership with Al-Quds after (they appear to defend) Fascist-style rally

* Finally, the New York Times covers official Palestinian Authority praise for Hitler

* Postscript: Murder

* You can comment on this dispatch here: www.facebook.com/TomGrossMedia. Please also press Like on that page.