New York CNN  —  The nuance and history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains difficult to capture succinctly, particularly during escalating turmoil among groups with deep-held — and entrenched — views on the issue. Students inside campus encampments that have spread across the United States over the past week are from a variety of backgrounds — including Palestinians, Arabs, Jews and Muslims, joined by students of other religious and ethnic backgrounds. They hold a spectrum of political and social views too: liberal and heterodox, progressive and absolutist. Many have been motivated by the reports and video coming out of Gaza that is often unbearable to watch. Many of these students see the actions of the Israeli military in Gaza as a continuation of a more than 70-year-long oppression of Palestinian rights, land and culture. Protesters say they want their schools to stand against what they believe is genocide in Gaza. Texas state troopers try to break up a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas in Austin on Wednesday, April 24. Jay Janner/Austin Statesman/USA Today Network/Reuters Georgia State Patrol officers detain a demonstrator on the campus of Emory University during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Atlanta on Thursday, April 25. Mike Stewart/AP An activist leads chants during a pro-Palestinian protest April 24 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News/Getty Images Students at the University of Texas at Austin watch a protest from a classroom window on April 24. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Students are arrested during the protest in Austin on April 24. There were dozens of arrests. University police had warned students in an email that they faced more arrests if they didn't disperse from the site. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Protesters link arms at Emerson College in Boston on April 24. Brian Snyder/Reuters House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to the media on the campus of Columbia University after meeting with Jewish students on April 24. He called on the school's president to resign during a tense news conference where the crowd repeatedly interrupted him and at times loudly booed him and other Republican lawmakers who were with him. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Demonstrators' tents are set up on Columbia's campus in New York on April 24. The school is also preparing for graduation ceremonies. Alex Kent/Getty Images Demonstrators work on a banner April 24 at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images Protesters demonstrate at the University of Texas in Austin on April 24. Nuri Vallbona/Reuters Demonstrators and Texas state troopers face one another in Austin on April 24. Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg/Getty Images Police stand near protesters at the University of Southern California on April 24. Zaydee Sanchez/Reuters New York police officers stand near protesters outside the main entrance of Columbia University on April 24. Caitlin Ochs/Reuters Columbia students prepare to camp overnight on Tuesday, April 23. Caitlin Ochs/Reuters A group of Jewish and non-Jewish students gather at the Columbia encampment to celebrate Seder, a ritual feast at the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Columbia student Cameron Jones told CNN: "I am Jewish and, to me, Passover symbolizes perseverance and resilience. I think this encampment represents those two ideals because we have seen the university take countless measures to try to suppress our student activism, and here is us persevering through that." Caitlin Ochs/Reuters A makeshift memorial at Columbia, seen on April 23, pays tribute to Jewish hostages taken by Hamas in October. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images Students protest near New York University on April 23. Andres Kudacki/The New York Times/Redux Students at the University of California, Berkeley, set up an encampment at Sproul Hall on April 23. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu/Getty Images Pro-Palestinian demonstrators sit at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, on April 23. University police arrested at least 45 protesters the day before and charged them with criminal trespassing after they refused orders to leave. Joe Buglewicz/Bloomberg/Getty Images Police and protesters face off at New York University on Monday, April 22. Fatih Aktas/Anadolu/Getty Images Police officers clear away tents from an encampment at New York University on April 22. Alex Kent/AFP/Getty Images People watch from a window as New York University students set up a tent encampment on April 22. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Students and pro-Palestinian supporters rally at The New School in New York on April 22. Mary Altaffer/AP Students rally at an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge on April 22. Scott Eisen/Getty Images A pro-Palestinian protest is held at the steps of Columbia's Lowe Library on April 22. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images Some Columbia professors rally in support of their protesting students on April 22. Stefan Jeremiah/AP Israeli flags are reflected in the sunglasses of a demonstrator in front of Columbia University on April 22. Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg/Getty Images Student activists set up camp at a New School cafeteria on Sunday, April 21. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside a Columbia building on Saturday, April 20. Selcuk Acar/Anadolu/Getty Images Police officers stand near barriers as pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside of Columbia on April 18. Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Pro-Palestinian protests spread at US colleges Prev Next Columbia University students participate in an ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment on their campus following last week's arrest of more than 100 protesters on April 25, 2024 in New York City. In a growing number of college campuses throughout the country, student protesters are setting up tent encampments on school grounds to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for their schools to divest from Israeli companies. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) Stephanie Keith/Getty Images Related live-story Columbia president faces key vote of censure from faculty as protests continue nationwide CAIR has reported record incidents of Islamophobia on campus, and the Anti-Defamation League has recorded a historic number of incidents of violence and threats against Jewish students. Some Jewish students have said they were threatened by protesters and encountered antisemitic rhetoric at some of the rallies over the past week, and those concerns were amplified by pro-Israel (and some American) politicians. The White House and multiple governors have voiced support for Jewish students and urged protesters and universities to exercise restraint. As antisemitism has surged to record levels since Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, many Jews feel Israel requires more support now than ever – as a refuge for Jews, who have long been an oppressed minority. Even if they oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies and the country’s actions in Gaza, many Jews believe anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiment and even peaceful protest of Israel is itself antisemitic, because the concept of Israel as a Jewish homeland is core to Judaism. And some support the Israeli government’s efforts to crush Hamas in Gaza. CNN reporting on the ground has largely described students inside the encampments engaging in activities like poetry readings, painting and completing school assignments. There have also been examples of multi-faith prayers and group dancing. Yet hundreds of protesters have been arrested for trespassing and for violating school rules, including blocking access to campus buildings or other disruptions on campus. The protests and some protesters’ social media posts have made some Jewish students feel unsafe, even as most university administrators have largely resisted taking action against protesters exercising their right to free expression in an unobtrusive, nonviolent manner, as the vast majority of the protests have been. Advocates of the protesters, including some politicians, have criticized the universities’ responses, including the arrests.