“The students of GW join the international call to reaffirm the sovereignty of Palestine as an indivisible territorial unit, and call on the university administration to fire Joseph Pelzman,” the GW SJP chapter wrote in a statement. [Brooke Anderson/TNA]
A protest was held this week by students at George Washington University, the institution of Joseph Pelzman, who wrote the plan for US President Donald Trump‘s proposal to ethnically cleanse and redevelop Gaza as a US-run resort.
The gathering, which was held at the university and publicly announced afterwards on Tuesday, was organised by the GW chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.Â
The students placed a mock eviction notice on the door of the economics professor, in reference to his plans to displace the more than two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip for his Build Operate Transfer (BOT) framework, essentially rendering the enclave unrecognisable culturally, politically and economically.
“The students of GW join the international call to reaffirm the sovereignty of Palestine as an indivisible territorial unit, and call on the university administration to fire Joseph Pelzman,” the GW SJP chapter wrote in a statement. Â
They continued, “GW provided institutional and financial support for the report via Pelzman’s positions in the economics department and the School of International Affairs.”Â
Unlike previous reporting on Pelzman’s plan, the students went into detail about the professor’s vision for destroying what remains of Gaza and preventing Palestinians from accessing basic services.
They noted that the enclave would be leased by foreign investors, who would control the local institutions; Palestinians would be relocated away from the most scenic coastal area; Palestinians would be prevented from accessing traditional banking; Palestinians would work as service workers for foreign investors in the Strip; and Palestinians would be restricted from owning private vehicles.
Pelzman, for his part, described these ideas in his 50-page document as “a continuation of innovative thinking which was manifest when former President Trump perused the groundbreaking and successful  ‘Abraham Accords’ in complete rejection of the outdated and unsuccessful ‘Washington Consensus.'”
The students are vowing to continue protesting until the university severs ties with Pelzman and ends what they see as discrimination against Palestinians following the institution’s multiple crackdowns on protesters.
