Arabic version: هدم نصب تذكاري في بيرزيت يثير إدانات

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli soldiers raided Birzeit University near Ramallah at dawn on Monday and demolished a stone memorial dedicated to students killed by Israel. The Martyrs’ Monument listed 38 students, including Fadi Washaha, who was shot in the head near el-Bireh in May 2021.

The raid involved 10 military vehicles and a bulldozer, which demolished the pillar before soldiers removed its marble stone. A planter with a fig sapling was left at the site, bearing the inscription, “Water it twice.” Students later rewrote the names that had appeared on the memorial and held a protest at the location on Tuesday afternoon.

The university said the demolition violated international law and constituted an attack on education and national memory. It said the latest operation was the fifth Israeli incursion onto the campus since the beginning of 2026 and the 28th since 2002. The monument, erected between 1994 and 1996, carried the names of students and alumni killed by Israeli forces, beginning with Sharaf al-Tayyibi in 1984.

University public relations officer Nardeen al-Memi said Israeli soldiers had photographed the monument during another incursion 10 days earlier. She said the final name added was that of student Omar al-Naasan, killed in al-Mughayyir east of Ramallah on September 2 while confronting settler incursions.

Al Jazeera reported that the removal forms part of a broader targeting of Palestinian memorials and civic symbols in the occupied West Bank. Political analyst Mohammed al-Qeeq said universities have historically been a fundamental pillar of Palestinian resilience and identity, while Rania Washaha said the demolition caused renewed anguish over the loss of her brother.