In October, Mohammed Khatib also spoke via a livestream on the Radboud University campus. Photo VOX/Johannes Fiebig The Wageningen pro-Palestine WUR Encampment movement has invited Samidoun leader Mohammed Khatib to speak in an online livestream on Friday. Whether that will take place on campus is still unclear. WUR is considering its position.
Student and spokesman for the encampment (the occupation of the bridge between Forum and Orion) Boris says that it will take place (‘Khatib has promised’), but that indeed it is not yet clear where. ‘WUR hasn’t made a decision yet. There has been an informal and open conversation about arrangements between our spokesperson and WUR’s.’ The livestream can be shown outside, according to Boris. But he worries that the livestream on campus will be rejected because Khatib is controversial. ‘But this is precisely why we want him to speak and address why he is criminalized. We want, especially at a knowledge institution like WUR, to discuss how that view on terrorism and criminalization works.’
Terrorist organization
Khatib lives in Belgium, where he founded Samidoun, a pro-Palestinian organization that he says consists of an ‘international solidarity network for Palestinian prisoners in Israel’. Among other things, he advocates the dismantling of the state of Israel and does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization. In October, Khatib was invited to Radboud University to speak live there, but the cabinet put a stop to that: he was denied entry to the Netherlands. In the end, he spoke via a video link.
Samidoun is banned in Germany. In the Netherlands, there is no ban yet. Belgium declared Mohammed Khatib an undesirable alien because he was said to be an ‘extremist hate preacher’. Boris: ‘We believe that when you talk about terrorism, you should not look at Khatib, but at Israel. That country is committing genocide and causing water shortages and famine for the people in Gaza. Those are terrorist acts. If you live under an apartheid regime, like the Palestinians, you have the right to defend yourself. But if you say that, you are considered a terrorist. We want to talk about the meaning of that word. We see Khatib as an example of someone who is criminalized. And it goes even further: when I speak to the press, I sometimes get the idea that I am seen as someone who glorifies terrorism.’
No lecture
WUR spokesman Vincent Koperdraat says that there is now a formal request from Wageningen Encampment for the protest: ‘We are going to talk about it today. What is clear is that Khatib has not been invited by WUR, but that our campus is being used for the live video stream. This is not a scientific lecture, but a protest.’
Should WUR ban the livestream on campus, Boris does not yet know how to proceed. ‘We would regret it, but look for another solution. We would like to hear WUR’s concerns, though. And what also remains important to us, is that WUR has still not cut all ties with Israeli knowledge institutions. The bridge between Forum and Orion may seem a bit dilapidated now, but we are still combative. Through this protest we hope to return to the fundamental issue: what is happening in Palestine is not okay and WUR must speak out.’
Translated using DeepL
