Moroccan Universities Erupt in Pro-Palestinian Protests, Challenging Israel Ties

Like American and European universities, Moroccan universities are experiencing massive protests condemning the war in Gaza. The Organization for Student Renewal in Morocco (OREMA) has organized student marches in several Moroccan universities, as part of the "Week of Support and Relief" under the slogan "The student movement... the voice of the peoples to liberate Palestine", thus engaging in the global student movement calling for the cessation of the genocide in Gaza. For its part, the National Secretariat of the National Union of Moroccan Students, led by the faction of students of Justice and Charity (Adl Wal Ihhsane), has also organized marches and student activities in several Moroccan universities, as part of an ongoing movement since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza. These organizations call for the cancellation of the normalization of relations between Rabat and Tel Aviv.

The professors are also taking the stage. The National Union of Higher Education (SNESup) has decided to wear unified badges and symbols to support the Palestinian cause within higher education institutions and regional centers, with the wearing of the Palestinian keffiyeh during the next exams.

In a statement of which Al3omk has a copy, the national office of the union called for "maintaining the spirit of solidarity with the inhabitants of Gaza and Palestine in general, living, continuous and lasting, by publishing statements, organizing demonstrations and sit-ins, and various events on a regular and permanent basis". It also urged academic researchers to provide material, medical and food support to the people of Gaza, through the country’s official legal institutions, "to relieve the conscience and contribute to alleviating the suffering of our brothers in Palestine". In this sense, it called for the innovation of practical means and the search for effective means to participate in the reconstruction of the Palestinian universities that have been destroyed, and to support the students of the universities in Gaza. Stressing the need to counter normalization in all its forms, the union called for "boycotting and denouncing all similar programs and partnerships involving transactions with the criminal Zionist entity, through the vigilance of academic researchers and their representatives in the councils of institutions and university councils and management councils and various structures of higher education".

The union also asked the supervisory ministry to "cancel and reject any academic program or cooperation partnership that could bind them to any party requiring the involvement of the name of the occupying Zionist entity". This includes the framework agreement for academic cooperation signed on September 12, 2022 between the Abdelmalek Essaâdi University and the University of Haifa in Israel, including the exchange of researchers and students and the organization of joint scientific conferences, in addition to the development of joint research projects in health, environment, water, marine sciences and agricultural sciences. The union did not fail to praise the movement of universities and higher education institutions in the United States and European countries. In total, 50 public universities and 26 private universities in Spain have decided to break off cooperation relations with Israeli universities and research centers.