From Rafah to Jenin Liberated Zone: The Second Occidental College Palestine Solidarity Encampment
For four days, Occidental Students staged a direct action on campus which culminated in a protest demanding the college's full divestment.
On Friday, April 24, students at Occidental College relaunched their Palestine solidarity encampment on the campus quad. Their demand was simple: that the college divest from all funds related to Israel, weapons manufacturing, ICE prisons, surveillance, and other systems perpetuating state violence.
Several protests against the college’s investments in weapons manufacturing have occurred at Occidental since 2024. This iteration of the Palestine Solidarity encampment was organized in order to pressure the board of trustees into accepting and enacting the students’ divestment proposal during one of the board’s biannual in-person meetings on campus. For three days and nights, the encampment remained standing despite constant threats from campus safety that tents and materials would be removed and cleared out if students did not dismantle them.
On Monday, April 27, students participating in the encampment staged an action outside of the building where the board’s meeting was scheduled to take place. At the last minute, the meeting was moved to Zoom, and all in-person board activities on campus were cancelled in an effort to avoid any contact with protesters. Despite the board’s retreat, students were successful in centering Palestine once again, while making clear that they will not stop organizing until Occidental College fully divests from financial holdings that fuel genocide, violence, and fascism.
