Palestinian protester at AUC: ‘My Jihad is knowledge’

By: Nagat Hussein
@nagathusseini
Translation: Farah Abdelkader

It’s been a week since engineering sophomore Ihasan Al Bakri was filmed giving an impassioned speech at the university’s main plaza protesting against Israeli occupation forces and their killing Palestinians, burning homes and violating the sanctity of the Al Aqsa compound.

The video, captured and published by The Caravan, has since been seen by tens of thousands of people around the world.

On social media platforms many applauded his courage for speaking, and the sudden worldwide attention caught him by surprise.

“All I did was address what is happening in my homeland,” said Al Bakri. He said that he had his eyes closed for much of his speech, but when he opened them he was surprised to find them full of tears.

“I’m not a hero. I’m just a student who stood in the middle of his university and spoke his heart. The real heroes are those who are fighting in Palestine and who are making a change,” he said.

At press time, the death toll had risen to at least 42 Palestinians and seven Israelis killed in the escalating violence over the past two weeks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Hebron, the West Bank and many other cities in Israel and Palestine.

The heightened violence in Jerusalem and other areas began when protests against Israeli settlers trying to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque in September flared into street fights and attacks.

The Israeli government has relaxed firing guidelines for its security and military forces, and allowed Israeli settlers to be armed, although this has been the case for decades.

Israeli authorities claim this has become necessary because of rampant knife attacks against civilians and armed forces. Palestinians accuse Israel of brutality and extra-judicial killings targeting youth.

This has been the worst violence in the West Bank since the second intifada erupted in 2000.

Bakri says that it may be premature to call the recent violence part of a third intifada, but he says that it will come soon enough. He said that young Palestinians specifically are tired of the occupation and frustrated that Israel’s repressive policies leaves them with nearly no options.

“Imagine a child is arrested with charges of throwing stones on an Israeli soldier? The enemy is killing us daily, taking my land, destroying my house, humiliating me in my own land and I can’t do anything. The Intifada is definitely coming,” he said.

While some lauded his speech, others on social media criticized him for spending money for tuition at AUC.

“Jihad [liberation struggle] is not only by throwing rocks and carrying guns; it varies and I choose to fight by knowledge,” he told The Caravan.

“I study here to go back home and benefit my people. Therefore, when I am done with my education, I will reach out to businessmen or investors and talk to them about building houses to all those who lost theirs [in Gaza and the West Bank], isn’t this Jihad?”

VIDEO: Students Protesting Violence in Israel and Palestine

During his peaceful protest on October 11, New Cairo campus security personnel prevented Bakri from burning the Israeli flag; he chose instead to stomp on the Israeli flag.

Some students took part while security personnel took pictures, but the protest went on without incident.

“The idea of stomping the flag itself did not get us anywhere except raise awareness as it wasn’t planned. But, the good things that came out of this are people’s reaction who watched the video in the West Bank and sending them a message that they aren’t alone and that there are people who feel what is happening to them.”

Mohamed Ebeid, senior security director, told The Caravan, “He [Al Bakri] was practicing freedom of expression in a peaceful way. Nevertheless, they shouldn’t have tried to burn the flag nor distributed flyers.”

According to Ebeid, there are regulations to distribute flyers and bring them in the University. Moreover, he said that “From the security point of view, the situation was controlled especially that nothing has escalated and the entire scene lasted about 10 minutes.”