Cornell students protesting Israel dismantle encampment on their own

The student encampment at Cornell University is disbanding, in a rare instance of a campus pro-Palestinian protest against Israel dissolving on its own.

Cornell University’s protesters agree to take down their tents voluntarily, well in advance of the school’s May 25 commencement and days after the school’s president, Martha Pollack, announced her impending retirement.

No deals were struck and no arrests were made, with the students simply leaving of their own accord.

“Our Liberated Zone is closing, but the fight continues,” Cornell’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine announces on Instagram. The post doesn’t elaborate on the decision, but a participant says that the protesters wanted to end their demonstration on their own terms.

“It’s coming down because we wanted to take this into our control,” Sivan Gordon-Buxbaum, a Jewish graduate student at Cornell who is a member of the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace, tells WENY, a local station.

“We are making the choices, and we don’t want to be at the whim of the administration,” Gordon-Buxbaum adds. “So this is us being like, this is our choice. We’re taking this down. It will give us an opportunity to regroup, refocus, restructure, potentially in preparation for next fall.”