Birzeit—In graduation ceremonies at the university on 5-6 July, 72 Gazans will receive their baccalaureate degrees among the 708 young Palestinian men and women graduating from Birzeit University. Their graduations continue a tradition of insisting on a right to education and development despite Israeli efforts to make their education "illegal". The students defied illegal Israeli laws intended to keep them locked in Gaza and risked arrested and imprisonment in order to continue their studies. By insisting on working for the development of the best future Palestinian society these students stand as a symbol of hope for better days.
In contrast, the large number of Gaza students who were scheduled to complete their courses in 1997 and have been forced to delay or suspend their studies strikes a somber note for the current state of the political process. Likewise, Israeli authorities refused to allow families of the graduates to travel to the West Bank to attend graduation ceremonies.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Israel has increasingly blocked university students from Gaza from studying at universities in the West Bank by means of restricting freedom of movement and rights of residence. The permit system imposed by Israel on the students is arbitrary and discriminatory, and fails to consider the calendar of the academic setting. Permits are often canceled for the entire population. The system outlaws students collectively and without recourse.
The structure of Palestinian higher education mandates that students from Gaza study at universities in the West Bank. Not all specialties are offered in Gaza and there is insufficient space for all graduates. Additionally, Palestinian students should be allowed to select the university most suitable for them.
Despite the transfer of responsibility for education to the Palestinian National Authority in 1994 and the designation of the West Bank and Gaza as "a single territorial unit" in the Oslo Accords, 1,300 university students from the Gaza Strip are still regularly prevented by Israel from studying at their universities in the West Bank. In the 1996-97 academic year no student were ever issued permits. Any student who obeyed the illegal permit system would have missed the entire 1995-96 academic year and the 1996-97 academic year to date.
Israeli authorities have branded Gaza students "illegal" and subjected them to harassment, arrest, and fines for nothing more than residing in the West Bank to pursue their education. In 1996 at Birzeit University alone sixty-six students from Gaza were arrested and imprisoned after being caught studying "illegally" in the West Bank.
Gaza students residing in the West Bank do not pose a greater threat to Israeli security than those residing in the Gaza Strip. It is possible to address Israel's security concerns adequately without interfering with the students right to education.
Students today will form the leadership of Palestinian society in the years to come.
For more information check the Academic Freedom First--International Campaign for Gaza Students Homepage.
BZU HRAP Press Release #2/97
For more information contact the Human Rights Action Project, hrap@admin.birzeit.edu.
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