Qatar University Inaugurates Garden Shaped Like Map Of Palestine From River To Sea, Including Cities Inside Israel, Such As Jaffa, Acre, Beersheba

Amid the ongoing war in Gaza, which broke out following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on southern Israel, Qatar's education system continues to hold activities in solidarity with the Palestinians that ignore the existence of the State of Israel. For instance, in late December, two student organizations at Qatar University (QU) – the Elia Club, an organization of Palestinian students, and the Environment and Sustainability Club – in conjunction with the Student Activities Administration, planted a garden shaped like a map of Palestine on the campus grounds. This "map" represents Palestine as stretching from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea, in complete disregard of Israel's existence, and includes trees representing "Palestinian" cities inside Israel, such as Jaffa, Acre and Beersheba. The Elia Club, whose name is derived from the Roman name of Jerusalem (Aelia Capitolina), often holds Palestinian-themed activities and on more than one occasion has expressed support for terrorist activity against Israeli citizens, as may be seen in its X (formerly Twitter) account. It should be noted that, in November 2023, QU hosted an art exhibition in which similar maps of Palestine from the river to the sea were displayed.[1]

Qatar University students and faculty at the inauguration ceremony for the garden landscaped like a "map of Palestine" from the river to the sea (Image: Qu.edu.qa, December 27, 2023)

This report reviews the inauguration of the Palestine-shaped garden at QU, and posts that appeared on the X account of the Palestinian Elia Club.

The garden was inaugurated as part of an event "to demonstrate the close ties between the QU community and the history and culture of Palestine," held by  the QU Student Activities Administration in conjunction with two student organizations, the Palestinian Elia Club and the Environment and Sustainability Club. [2] The invitation to the event, issued by the university's Student Activities Administration, bore a map of Palestine from the river to the sea wrapped in a Palestinian flag, and said: "The Elia Club and the Environment and Sustainability Club at the Student Activities Administration invite you to an artistic event in solidarity with Palestine titled 'A Green Map Of Palestine on the Qatar University Campus – The Story Of A Country And A People'…"[3]

Invitation to the inauguration of the garden (Image: Instagram.com/aeliapal, December 19, 2023)

At the inauguration event, trees were planted on the QU campus in an area that was landscaped in the shape of a map of Palestine from the river to the sea. The trees represented "Palestinian cities," including cities located inside Israel, such as Jaffa, Acre, and Beersheba. QU Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Eiman Mustafawi, who participated in the tree-planting,  expressed "pride in the university's students for their proactive engagement and positive solidarity with the Palestinian cause. The students," she added, "formed a map on the ground, symbolizing the deep-rooted history and resilient people in every city and neighborhood in Palestine."[4]

Planting the tree representing the city of Acre (Image: Instagram.com/aeliapal, December 27, 2023)

Planting the tree representing the city of Beersheba (Image: Instagram.com/aeliapal, December 27, 2023)

Planting the tree representing the city of Jaffa (Image: Instagram.com/aeliapal, December 27, 2023)

Palestinian Students Elia Club Expresses Support For Terrorist Attacks Against Israelis

As stated, the Elia Club, which was among the organizers of the garden project, is a Palestinian students club at QU. The club promotes subjects related to the Palestinian issue, among them support for Palestinian terrorism, as apparent in the tweets posted on its X account. The following are several examples:

Support For A Stabbing Attack In Tel Aviv: 'Heroic Operation'

On October 8, 2020, the Elia Club posted a photograph of the terrorist Thaer Abu Ghazaleh, who perpetrated a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv in which five Israelis were wounded. The accompanying text read: "Today is the anniversary of the martyrdom of the fida'i [self-sacrificing fighter] [Thaer Abu Ghazaleh], aged 19, from the Shu'afat Refugee Camp in occupied Jerusalem, who carried out a heroic stabbing attack in the city of Tel Aviv on October 8, 2015 – the second stabbing attack in the popular intifada of Jerusalem."[5]

Elia Club Poster Praises Abdullah Barghouti, A Senior Commander Of Hamas' Military Wing, Who Is Responsible For The Deaths Of Dozens Of Israeli And Other Civilians

In 2021, the Palestinian students club shared a poster captioned "Heroes Behind [Bars in] Solitary Confinement." The poster included information about Abdullah Al-Barghouti, one of the commanders of the Hamas military wing, the Izz Ad-​Din Al-Qassam Brigades, who was sentenced to 67 life sentences in Israel for his involvement in dozens of terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada in which 66 people were killed and 500 were wounded.

The poster, which provided information about Barghouti's origins, the year he was imprisoned, and his sentence, claimed that he was accused of "perpetrating acts of revenge that led to the deaths of 66 Israeli soldiers and the wounding of hundreds [of other soldiers]."[6] It should be noted, however, that attacks he planned and produced explosives for were perpetrated against civilians, including the August 2001 bombing of the Sbarro restaurant in downtown Jerusalem, in which 16 people were killed, including two U.S. citizens; a double suicide attack on Ben Yehuda St. in the center of Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered; a suicide attack at the Moment café in Jerusalem in March 2002, in which 11 civilians were killed; a May 2002 suicide attack at the Sheffield Club in the city of Rishon LeZion, where 15 Israelis were murdered; a suicide attack on the Mt. Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in July 2002, in which nine people, including foreign students, were killed, and a September 2002 suicide attack on Allenby St. in Tel Aviv in which six people lost their lives.

Marking The Anniversary Of The Murder Of Israeli Athletes At The 1972 Munich Olympics

In another example of its support for terrorism, on September 5, 2020 the Elia Club's X account celebrated the anniversary of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, in which 11 members of the Israeli delegation were murdered. A post from the club, which included photographs of the terrorists during the attack, read, "September 5, 1972 – the Munich operation: On that day Palestinian [members] of the Black September organization attacked the rooms of the Zionist delegation [at the Olympic village].[7]

Marking The Anniversary Of The Terrorist Attack By The First Female Hamas Suicide Bomber

On January 14, 2018 – the twelfth anniversary of the terrorist attack at the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in which four Israelis were killed – the X account of the Palestinian students club shared a photograph of Reem Saleh Riyashi, Hamas' first female suicide bomber, who perpetrated the attack while carrying a weapon and wearing an explosive belt.[8]