Resilience Landing — Joseph Ciembroniewicz

Resilience: The Struggle for Palestinian Liberation at the University of Rochester

After roughly 200 days of war in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, student organizers at the University of Rochester established a pro-Palestinian encampment. The students demanded that their administrators call for a ceasfire and divest from Israeli institutions. I began photographing the first day that the encampment was established. Over the next year, I would continued this work, taking a character driven approach to a story that is often mischaracterized and sensationalized. The full breadth of this work can be viewed on the site linked below.

Enter Site

Laith Awad, a Palestinian-Puerto Rican student organizer leads participants in the University of Rochester pro-Palestine encampment in a call and response chant of “Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe,” during the nightly encampment meeting on May 2, 2024, in Rochester, NY.

Karam Aldahleh, a Palestinian-American University of Rochester student drives to buy groceries on Feb. 23, 2025, in Rochester, NY.

Sarah Aljitawi, a Palestinian-American student organizer at the University of Rochester sits during a vigil for the tens of thousands of dead in Gaza, on Oct. 5, 2024, at Martin Luther King Park, in Rochester, NY.

A statue of George Eastman streaked with fresh paint stands on the edge of Eastman Quadrangle, the University of Rochester, on April 4, 2025, in Rochester, NY. This act of civil disobedience was carried out in the early hours of the morning and was purportedly intended as a reminder of Palestinian lives lost since Oct. 7, 2023.

Participants in the University of Rochester pro-Palestine encampment pray during a peaceful sit-in inside the UR administrative building, Wallis Hall, on May 1, 2024, in Rochester, NY, as Peace Officers from the UR Department of Public Safety look on. The sit-in was intended as a means to bring administrators back to the negotiating table for divestment from Israel.

A participant in the University of Rochester pro-Palestine encampment works on a Spanish essay in her tent on April 25, 2024, in Rochester, NY.

University of Rochester juniors Miller Gentry-Sharp, left, and Mowaz Alvi talk in their apartment on the evening of Feb. 9, 2025, in Rochester, NY. Gentry-Sharp is Jewish, and Alvi is Muslim. Both students were participants in the encampment, and since it’s removal have remained active pro-Palestinian organizers.

Palestinian-American University of Rochester sophomore Saafa Tahboub stands in front of Monroe County Jail, on March 23, 2025, in Rochester, NY. The jail is where four of her peers were held after they were taken from campus and charged with felony misdemeanors for their alleged role in the distribution of “wanted” posters.

People at the University of Rochester walk the patch of grass on Eastman Quadrangle where the pro-Palestine encampment stood earlier that day, on May 14, 2024, in Rochester, NY. The encampment was present on campus for 22 days until it’s forcible removal was facilitated by members of the University of Rochester Department of Public Safety.