Interview with An Nahdah student representative

"What are the main aims and goals of your bloc?"

I would like to start by introducing the election coalition "The Student Awakening Bloc" as a coalition of the Islamic Bloc and the Bloc of The Martyr Fathi Shiqaqi. This election coalition combining two Islamic streams at the university came as a reaction and rejection to the situation that we have found ourselves in as Palestinians. The name of the bloc reflects this, Awakening. We want to provide an alternative to the desperate situation the Palestinians have reached.

As a new election bloc we are committed and proud of our history in both of the blocs. Our beliefs, aims and goals are a continuity of the aims, goals and beliefs of the two blocs and are based on Islam as our ideology.

In addition to Awakening opposing the desperate situation the name of the bloc reflects its student character and is intended to be a bloc of all the students.

Political aims: a detailed electoral manifesto will be issued. Our main political stance is to oppose Oslo and what followed it from an Islamic point of view. The occupation of Palestine from the point view of Islam is a strategic occupation by the enemies and we see no way of getting rid of this occupation without the use of force.

Student issues: a detailed manifesto on student issues on campus will be issued. One of our main aims concerning the students on campus is to unite all students and the student movement and we see An Nahdah bloc as the best option for students to unite under.

A main issue is the arrest campaigns by both the Israeli occupation troops and the Palestinian Authority aimed towards students who have points of view other than the signed political agreements.

An Nahdah sticker

"What do you think are the main issues facing students on campus?"

The student situation is a combination of pure student concerns and the political reality. From the political side Birzeit has been a pioneer in defining the political reality of the Palestinian people and we will try to keep it so.

We are very sincere towards students and concerned for their interests. We are willing to serve them without awaiting any rewards apart from Allah since this is what Islam asks us to do, to serve people.

During the last year, and previous years as well, we managed to conduct several activities for the sake of students as a bloc and through the student council. Listing but not naming: an information technology exhibition was conducted and the outcome of this activity went towards helping students in need; a diary notebook was issued for the same reason; a campaign was held to generate financial aid for those students in need.

On the academic level we helped students in joining the study streams they wanted and solved their problems with majors and minors. Also, we helped in making available books and building a student library to help students save money.

Several social, cultural and creative activities were conducted as we think they form a very important part of students' life. We proposed several projects to the university administration that may help in creating student job opportunities and generate some income for the student council that will help in serving students more effectively.

"What is your opinion on the Oslo and Wye Agreements?"

We absolutely oppose them. When the political process first started we warned that these agreements are leading nowhere. We see now what we tried to warn against back then. All these agreements are made and conducted to legitimize the Israeli occupation over land and man and to get Israel out of the international boycott that was falling in place before this process started. The Palestinians on the other side are suffering more discrimination and their situation is worsening daily. With all these political, security, and economic results it's hard not to oppose these agreements.

"How do you see the role of women in Palestinian society?"

The world looks at us, the Moslems, as the ones who are discriminating against women and preventing them from getting their rights but its not Islam that was the reason for the recent situation of women in our society. The reason is a misunderstanding of Islam, which leads to taking the role of women in society mistakenly.

We, as Muslims, believe that women forms half of the society and should take their role and responsibility in building the society. On her relies the role of bringing up the generations, which is a heavy role and the woman should take on responsibly.

We are trying to make the Islam's view of women clear and obvious for our society thus helping in changing the way the society understands the role of women.

There is no place in our beliefs for preventing women from work or participation in political or social activities. On the contrary, we encourage women as a human being to take her role courageously and effectively, as can be seen from our activities on campus and the participation of female students in it. The female students even conduct their own organized and prepared activities.

We are trying to encourage the female students to participate and take their role in students life and you could see some results when the last year the Public Relation Committee in the student council was handled efficiently by one of our female students.

When asked to give the blocs 'word to the world', the student representative stated:

The whole world is responsible towards the Palestinian case in one way or another so we ask these people to get close to the reality of this case and not satisfy themselves by the news and media coverage. They should try to know more to look for the real story as the media covers only the surface in the rare cases it does not tell lies.

To know more about this case means to see the real face of the Israeli occupation and their violations of the very simple basic human rights on a daily basis. We ask them to come down and see how bad the reality of the Palestinian people has become as a result of the Israeli occupation.

If you look at the Palestinian student's reality you will see an overwhelmed person with financial and economic concerns on one side and the feel of insecurity from the other. You'll see students being targets for political arrest campaigns either by the Israeli occupation troops or by the allied Palestinian Authority.

We would like the whole world to know that we have the right to live on our own land as we see it without the right of any party to interfere. They need to know that we are a nation willing and wishing to live in peace and see no blood. But our suffering at the hands of the Israelis does not give us the chance to do so.

We as Muslims are not in any way anti-Jewish and we think that the Israeli occupation must be fought as an occupying force. As Islam is a message to humanity in general, and is not regional or racial, we are opening our hands wide to those who are willing to understand our ideology and beliefs, our struggle and the rights that we are determined to achieve.