My real name is Adel but my friends just call me Trouble (short for trouble waiting to happen). It may sound like a funny name, but after I tell you my story you’ll find it the proper name for a person like me.

I come from a middle class family which wanted me to study in Gaza so I would be near my widowed mother and my younger siblings. I debated what to do for a long time. It seemed too hard to kill my dream of studying at Birzeit University and having my own life in Ramallah, but at the same time sometimes it is important to sacrifice for the sake of others. Finally, I decided to try a university in Gaza to see if I could manage.

I studied there one semester then I found that I just could not let go of my dream. So, I enrolled in Birzeit in 1992. I’ll graduate this semester in only four and one-half years—despite the numerous efforts by the Israeli military to keep me from my studies.

The first time I got arrested for studying without permission didn’t occur until April 1994—almost two full years into my studies. I was arrested (in the middle of the night, of course) from my apartment in Abu Qash village (right next to the university). The soldiers had made a special trip that night to all the houses of Gazan students. When they came to our door they asked the ridiculous question, "Where is your permit?" It was really funny somehow, because they knew we didn’t have permits. If we had permits they wouldn’t have had to come. So we were arrested and locked up in the Ramallah Prison (at that time run by the Israeli military). Three days later they sent us back to Gaza, as if our presence alone in the West Bank threatened "security".

By October 1994 we had managed to get permits again. I decided one weekend to go from Birzeit to Gaza for a holiday. Since we had permits this did not seem to be a big problem. It is always hard to predict what may lay on the road. About halfway to Gaza we had to take a secondary route through the village of Ramle, the most direct one was closed to traffic. In Ramle Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint stopped us. As usual, we managed to get arrested—even with permits in hand. Of course, at the end of our 24-hour detention for traveling on the wrong road, they 'deported' us to Gaza.

In early April 1995 they came again to the same house for the same purpose again. It was like a rerun of the same play. Only, this time the conclusion took a wild detour. Instead of sending me to Gaza, they sent me directly to Al Far’a Military Prison. Instead of being stuck in Gaza, where at least I can spend time with my family, I spent 20 days being interrogated with the now infamous use of "moderate physical pressure" (sleep deprivation, position abuse, some beating, threats …). After 20 days they must have changed their minds, as they put me back on the regular course and released me in Gaza … once again.

By the end of May I had found my way back to the university just in time to be present when the new Israeli military agent decided to "introduce himself" to the area. He organized a raid on both Bir Zeit and Abu Qash villages, arresting eight students without permits. This time we were all sentenced to 20 days in prison before being transferred to Gaza. By now the semester was lost.

When the Israeli military raided student houses in the villages near the university on 28 March 1996, I was sleeping in Ramallah not at my house, so they did not arrest me. For me and my friends it was an unusual surprise. It was one of the first times in a long time that Israeli military had raided Abu Kash without catching me! I hoped this would mark the turning point for my luck, and geared up for the rest of the semester.

Some things just don’t change, in the middle of July, I was on my way to Ramallah to take money out of the bank. From about 100 meters away, I noticed a military checkpoint at the intersection with the new Israeli settler road. When I noticed the checkpoint it was already too late to jump out of the car.

The soldiers asked the driver to pull over to the side of the road, and told the passengers to line up along the curb with their identity cards in hand. I felt certain that if they saw my identity card they would arrest me, so I decided to throw it away. I glanced behind me and noticed that a field lay down the hill behind me and I tossed my identity card into the field.

Unfortunately a soldier saw me and came running, "What did you throw?" First they thought it must be something dangerous like a gun. The soldier went and found my identity card and read aloud that I come from Gaza. Without pause they tied my hands behind my back, blindfolded me, and transferred me to the temporary prison at the Beit El military base.

In a "quicky trial" I was sentenced to 20 days with a two-month suspended sentence for studying without a permit. The judge noted in particular that I had been caught three times (I am not sure where he got that number!) and therefore must be punished. Yet another semester went past without me, first in jail and then in Gaza.

And then there were the near misses. … an evening spent in the tree outside my apartment window … a week spent lurking in the shadows of an old house far from the edges of the villages …

The important thing is that I have finally reached my last semester at Birzeit University. I am happy I will graduate at the end of the semester, finally reaching the goal I set out. The funny thing is, if I had the choice to continue for my masters degree … I would chose Birzeit again.