WASHINGTON: More than 30 Harvard University student organisations have issued a signed statement blaming Israel “entirely responsible” for Hamas’ rocket attacks into the Jewish state that killed hundreds of Israeli citizens this weekend.

In a letter titled “Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine,” 31 student organisations blamed Israel for creating a situation that led to the ongoing conflict.

The signatories also urged “the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.”

The letter’s contents were published in the US media on Monday and since then many commentators and public officials have condemned the Harvard organisations for ‘endorsing’ the ‘mass slaughter’ Hamas committed on Saturday.

Several US lawmakers have also condemned the authors, accusing them of committing an “abhorrent and heinous” crime by supporting the “evil (of) terrorism.”

But the Harvard groups claimed that the Hamas’ attack “did not happen in a vacuum,” adding that the Israeli government has forced Palestinians to live in an “open-air prison for over two decades.”

“We, the undersigned student organisations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the letter declared. “The apartheid regime is the only one to blame.”

The groups claimed that “Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years — from systematised land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions, to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings.”

The authors claimed that the “Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden” and today, the Palestinian ordeal entered into uncharted territory.” The groups warned that “the coming days will require a firm stand against retaliation.”

The letter sparked almost immediate condemnation from US lawmakers and scholars.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2023