Palestinian students host web-link with Edinburgh

Palestinian students told of their daily struggle for education as they communicated over a live feed with students in Edinburgh last week.

The event was organised by the Edinburgh Student's for Justice in Palestine group as part of the EUSA-supported Right to Education Week.

Anan Quzmar, Birzeit’s co-ordinator of the Rights to Education campaign, spoke about the 85 Birzeit students that are currently under arrest by the Israeli authorities. The majority of these students are under what is known as ‘administrative detention’, an old British mandate,  which essentially means that they are held without charge. It has been claimed that the students are targeted for participating in student unions.

A first-hand account was relayed by Sociology major, Omar, who has taken seven years to complete a four-year degree because of repeated arrests. He spoke of the physical and verbal abuse he suffered while in custody.

Omar told The Journal: “The racial discrimination was clear. The abuse varied from ‘Arab dog’ to ‘we will crucify you’. During the second arrest I was in solitary confinement for about 36 days. I was never given a definite reason for my arrest but there were accusations banded around that my sociology degree had ‘helped to organise secular terrorist cells’.”

Omar, who has since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, is one of many students at the university to be affected by the Israeli presence in the region. Those coming from the south of the country must go through five main military checkpoints alone, forcing 3,000 students to stay in dorms on campus.

Third year Economics student Sophia spoke of the numerous arrests that take place, mostly at the beginning of each semester. She believes that these are exercised with the intention of discouraging students from active participation in student unions.

If students do make it to lectures they may find that their lecturers did not. The Birzeit students reported that 50 percent of staff have difficulty returning to the country.

Asked whether they would encourage British students to support a boycott of Israel, similar to the one put forward and rejected at the EUSA AGM last November, Mr Quzmar explained: “For us to have contact with Israeli institutions would be to undermine the boycott. We do not want Israeli students denied from an education internationally. However, we would ask for institutions to boycott connections with Israeli institutions.”

The Right to Education Campaign was established during the first intifada between 1988-1993. The Palestinian uprising caused education to be pushed underground. Anyone caught with books in the street was arrested and both students and teachers were stopped at checkpoints.

While the situation is by no means as volatile now, there are still many obstacles in the way of a safe and consistent education for the students of Birzeit and other educational institutions in Palestine.

In 2005, EUSA was twinned with Birzeit University, although some have claimed that little has been done to improve and develop the link between the two institutions. Last March, members of the Students for Justice in Palestine group occupied Appleton Tower in an attempt to ensure more was done by the university in their partnership with Birzeit.

The event secured one scholarship per year to be given to a student from Birzeit for the next five years. However, as yet no Palestinian students have taken advantage of the scholarship.

Many students from Birzeit have been offered similar schemes worldwide yet find it difficult to leave Palestine in order to take their places. There have been 838 students from Birzeit University who have been unable to join universities abroad. There are now no students from Gaza able to take their places at Birzeit, as they are restricted  by Israeli checkpoints.

Mr Quzmar and his fellow students were intrigued to know the media coverage of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, adding that they felt disillusioned with the lack of reporting on the day-to-day life of the Palestinians. With their fears confirmed, the Birzeit students urged the Edinburgh audience to present the daily struggles of the Palestinian people to other students so that they understand and care more about the situation on the West Bank.

Omar said: “Any pro-Palestinian movement gives us hope. Together, we can create a change for justice.”