Decampment at York takes place after 10 weeks of encampment for Palestine outside Heslington Hall, after the camp claims to have met 4 / 5 of their demands.
The York encampment for Palestine released its Decampment Statement via an Instagram post on the morning of the 29th of July, in which they announced their decision to officially decamp from the University after 75 days of protest. The York Palestine Encampment claims that they have achieved four of their five demands and, therefore, that ‘the period in which the encampment is needed has come to an end’.
The encampment does not believe that the University has met its final demand to ‘cut research & institutional ties with Israel & the arms trade.’
In their post, the encampment wrote that:
- ‘The Uni has refused to prohibit research related to the arms industry.’
- ‘The Uni has refused to prohibit research cooperation with arms companies.’
- ‘The Uni has refused to stop accepting money from individuals and companies that directly support the Israeli military.’
However, the encampment also stated that the University will now ‘include student assemblies in the review of its Research Reputation and Social Responsibility Framework’.
The York encampment continued: ‘The Uni has always refused even our most modest requests towards our last demand, cutting research ties’. The encampment maintains that whilst they can still achieve this goal, it will be a ‘long-term process, requiring extensive cooperation with the Uni, in the form of student assemblies.’ Therefore, the decision has been made to decamp from the University.
A representative from the encampment has said: ‘The first demand will be a longer process that we are still working on with the University of York.’
An anonymous member of the encampment said: “The University has been uncooperative, disrespectful and the results that we got, in some senses can be seen as victories, but are overall unsatisfactory.
We reached out to the University for comment, and were directed to Charlie Jeffrey’s email which he sent out to all staff and students on the 26th of July for a response. In this email, Jeffreys affirms his ‘personal horror at the scale of civilian deaths and the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s military action in Gaza’ and ‘condemn[s] violations of international law’.
Jeffreys states ‘We join a global community in calling for an end to this devastating violence, the unconditional release of hostages, an immediate and sustainable ceasefire, and rapid and comprehensive access to desperately needed humanitarian support.’ The full email is available online at https://www.york.ac.uk/about/sanctuary/israel-gaza-response/vc-email-260724/
York Palestine Encampment stated “At times like this when a genocide is happening, it shouldn’t be this hard. This response has come far too late after far too many deaths. In ten months, 186,000 Palestinians have been murdered.
“It has taken camping on Charlie Jeffrey’s back lawn for 75 days for the University to give in to demands. They may be celebrating their status as a ‘University of Sanctuary’ but they do not deserve that title.”
Another anonymous member of the encampment stated:
“We will not stop here. We will keep holding the University to account. This is not a final win; this is an ongoing protest. The encampment has been effective but now we continue to fight for the Palestinians whose voices have been silenced. One day, the world will see a free Palestine, until then we cannot rest.”
Over the past month, other University decampments have taken place. Durham University’s encampment vacating on 21st of June, following the University’s agreement to raise their concerns with senior University representatives. The University of Sussex decamped July 21st and are set to return as a student movement in the new academic year and the University of Bristol announced their decision to decamp on the 11th July (their 72nd day).