Israel has a problem with education

One of the unique things about attending a Palestinian university is the proximity you feel towards the conflict with the Israeli occupation. For decades, Palestinian universities were at the center of the resistance-where popular movements and social programs were pioneered, and where a large majority of political (and military) activists were recruited. Admittedly, since the end of the first intifada and the disaster that was Oslo, student activism has receded notably, though in no way has it ended.

The first time I realized that I’d be having a pretty different college experience than that of my friends in the US or the Arab world is when, a couple of months into my first semester at Birzeit University, I noticed a new student in my Arab Society class. Naturally, the professor asked him what he was doing showing up two months late. It turns out the student had just spent two years in the notorious Naqab (Katziot) desert prison for political activism, and had just gotten out.

The current head of the Student Union at Birzeit, Fadi Hamad, has been in an Israeli prison for the last 4 months without charge. His deputy, Abdallah Oweis, was arrested barely a month after taking over. He too is being held without charge. The Israeli occupation can ‘legally’ imprison Palestinians for up to six months at a time without charge, placing them in ‘administrative detention’. This can and usually is renewed every six months without any legal process. Some prisoners languish in administrative detention for years on end.

Of course, Israel doesn’t reserve its punishment to activists only. In 1987, it closed down every Palestinian educational institution, from kindergartens all the way to universities, for an entire year. For a whole year, students and children were not allowed to receive their education, a clear violation of international law. Palestinian society responded by setting up local educational committees that organized classes in ordinary homes. These had to take place in secret-if the Israeli army found out the time and place of these classes, all those taking part were arrested.

Although the 1987 closure was the most comprehensive, the universities, particularly Birzeit, Alnajah and Bethlehem, all faced independent closures for varying periods of time. Student dorms are frequently invaded by the army in the middle of the night, and road blocks are set up arbitrarily to impede the ability of students to reach their classes. From 2001 until 2004, the Israeli army set up a permanent checkpoint in Surda, between Ramallah and Birzeit. The route is used mostly by Birzeit students, and the checkpoint made a 15 minute trip an hour long nightmare. Students were turned back randomly, and many had to trek through the muddy hills in winter to get to school. Those that tried to go by road faced humiliation; at times, the soldiers would let students of a certain religion pass through, turning back the rest. Other times, the soldiers would line up the female students in two groups-those they deemed attractive, and those whose looks didn’t quite do it for the occupiers.

Birzeit University was set up in the 70’s as a liberal university, and it has played a leading role in developing social and political activism in support of the Palestinian cause. As such, it is known here as Jam’at al-Shuhada’, the University of Martyrs, in honor of the many alumni that have been killed by Israel since the university's inception. I’ve been at Birzeit for three and a half years – in that time, two students have joined that list.

Last year, Omar al-Thafer was killed by an undercover Israeli force in the heart of Ramallah in a botched assassination attempt that targeted a man eating at the same restaurant as he. Yesterday, Abdellatif Huroob, 20, from the village of Kharas near Hebron, was killed by an Israeli settler on a road near the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo north of Ramallah. The Israeli army says Huroob was killed in self-defense when he tried to attack the settler. The autopsy revealed that he had been shot in the head at close range, execution style. Today, the Israeli army attacked his family home and ransacked it.

Omar and Abdellatif won’t be the last Palestinian students killed in cold blood by their occupiers, just like Fadi and Abdallah won’t be the last to be imprisoned for months at a time without charge. The truly tragic fact in all this is that such things have become an accepted part of the college experience in Palestine. I wonder if all those squealing in indignation about how Palestinian textbooks do not instruct Palestinian students to recognize the legitimacy of their occupier and oppressor (because plenty of American and Israeli studies have found that there is a shocking absence of anti-Semitism in these books) will ever be willing to raise their voices at the constant abuse of Palestinian students and educational institutions.