Checkpoint on Ramallah-Birzeit Road Evacuated

For the first time in over five months, Birzeit University staff, faculty and students were able to travel between Ramallah and Birzeit today without being stopped, humiliated, or harassed by Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint that was erected along the road last May.  The Israeli occupation forces manning the Surda checkpoint on the Ramallah-Birzeit Road evacuated their post on Monday, October 15, 2001. As a result students and staff were able to travel to the University using public or private vehicles without having to stop and walk across the over 500 meters that spanned the length of the Israeli checkpoint.

While there is cause for celebration, the road to education is still an arduous one for individuals traveling from areas other than Ramallah. Numerous roadblocks and checkpoints are still erected throughout the West Bank entailing that the majority of staff, students and faculty are forced to cross at least one checkpoint before arriving to the University.  At the same time, University community members from the Gaza Strip are still being denied entry into the West Bank. 

At this time we would like to thank all the people who contributed in our campaign to open the Birzeit-Ramallah road through letter writing, participating in peaceful demonstrations and exhibiting other forms of solidarity with the Birzeit University community and the residents of the 35 villages surrounding Birzeit. 

We hope that pressure will continue to be mounted on the Israeli occupation forces until all the roads to education, civil society, democracy and human rights are opened.

For further information about Birzeit University, please visit the University Website at http://www.birzeit.edu