A statement supporting Palestine posted in universities, triggering a heated debate

Amid the escalating armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, a militant group in Palestine, a statement supporting Palestine was posted in universities in Seoul, starting a heated debate on the pros and cons among students.

On October 12, a statement in support of Palestine was posted in the name of the Workers Solidarity Youth Student Group on bulletin boards in the campuses of Korea University, Seoul National University, the University of Seoul, and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. The Workers Solidarity also held an emergency demonstration calling for solidarity with Palestine at Cheonggye Plaza in Jongno-gu, Seoul the previous day.

In the statement, the group argued, “Israel was founded in 1948 with ethnic cleansing, massacring and deporting a massive number of Palestinians, and the country has insisted on a discriminatory policy of racial segregation,” and claimed that resistance to Israel, in whatever form it took, was the just right of the Palestinians. The group further said, “The attack by Hamas is also a response to the atrocities by Israel, which have recently escalated. Just last week, Israel attacked a refugee camp.” The group argued, “Palestine’s arrows of resistance are aimed at the oppressive state of Israel and the Western imperialism that supports Israel,” and suggested that the young South Korean students stand in solidarity and show support for Palestine.

Students who saw the statement showed mixed responses. Yi (25), a student at the University of Seoul said, “We can’t just see the single aspect of attacks by Hamas. The incident that is occurring now is important, but I think we need to examine and see why it occurred.” Another Yi (26), who majored in international relations, said, “It (the statement) sounds as if they’re saying it’s okay to kill civilians,” and added, “Even if Israel did oppress Palestinians, it can’t justify the massacre of residents.”

There was a similar debate in online communities. In Everytime, an anonymous online community at Seoul National University, one person wrote, “It’s true that Hamas is a b####, but I could never defend Israel.” The post continued and said, “From the lobbying of the partition of Palestine to the war in the Middle East to seize land and the failure to abide by the Oslo Accords, the deeper I look into the history of this region, I can’t shake the thought that the problem in Palestine is because of Israel’s original sin.” Another student wrote, “The war between Israel and Hamas is the self-destruction of Palestine,” and argued, “Palestine influenced by nationalism gave parliamentary seats to Islamic fundamentalists. It (the latest war) is an evil at the most extreme level caused by nationalist populism.”