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Amid Middle East peace plan, some students express unease over shaky process

Students set up an encampment on UC Merced campus grounds in 2024 just before the UC Regents meeting.
Rachel Livinal
/
KVPR
Students set up an encampment on UC Merced campus grounds in 2024 just before the UC Regents meeting.

MERCED, Calif. — The attacks in Israel by Hamas two years ago on Oct. 7th sparked a fresh conflict in the Middle East and a fresh wave of protest over war interventions by the United States.

The protests were largely led by students at college campuses who called for the U.S. to negotiate a ceasefire in the conflict.

Now, with a peace plan moving forward through its early phases, students are watching closely. That includes students at UC Merced, who say they have lingering doubts about true peace.

Students at UC Merced were among those who staged mass protests at college campuses nationwide over the last two years in support of the people in Gaza.

Students and community members even set up an encampment last year as regents of the University of California system met on campus. The student government also passed a resolution in 2023 that called for companies and the UC system to divest from companies that support Israel.

As the Trump administration celebrates having negotiated the peace plan and Palestinians in Gaza return home, protests over the war have quieted down. But activism around peace in the Middle East remains.

“Although the bombs have stopped falling, Gaza is still in rubble and millions of people are traumatized with hundreds of thousands most likely deceased,” said Carlo McCallick, a member and previous leader of UC Merced’s chapter of the “Students for Justice in Palestine” group.

The student sentiment shows how the peace plan is being received more widely by those who protested the war in the Middle East. Students from other universities, including Columbia and Georgetown expressed similar uneasiness and mixed emotions. Those campuses also faced heavy protests and crackdown by authorities.

The 20-point peace plan calls for a ceasefire, a drawdown of military presence in Gaza, and the return of hostages and prisoners held by Hamas and Israel respectively.

Both sides agreed to this first phase of the plan, however, the implementation has not been straightforward. For instance, Hamas missed an Oct. 13 deadline to return deceased hostages. Israel was also accused of killing seven Palestinians during clashes with Hamas members.

Further parts of the plan, including full aid to Gaza “without interference” have been on shaky ground because of tensions regarding the hostage release. Later phases of the peace plan call for reconstruction and negotiations on governance in Gaza.

“There's a very significant amount of mutual distrust that indicates that this probably won't last long and in addition to that the trauma that all the Palestinians have endured from the bombing,” McCallick, of UC Merced said.

Soon after the peace plan was announced, some wondered whether the student demonstrations may have helped Israel and Hamas to reach this point. McCallick said the demonstrations worked by bringing attention to the devastation. He said the demonstrations that spread nationwide harkened back to mass protests against the Vietnam War.

“We've seen this in many different circumstances in the fight against apartheid in South Africa when college students protested then, in protests against segregation and for civil rights, in all these in protests against the Vietnam War,” McCallick said. “But ultimately all of those did end up being vindicated historically and ultimately that did result in systemic change.”

Rachel Livinal reports on higher education for KVPR through a partnership with the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative.