Academic Rights Violations Delay Graduation

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that Palestinian students were graduating over between the 14-16 July 2001 from Bir Zeit University in the Israeli-occupied West Bank despite having suffered persistent and considerable violations of their right to academic freedom. Since the beginning of the so-called Al Aqsa intifada in late September, Bir Zeit University has faced a military blockade that has often prevented students from attending classes and has at times shut down the university completely.

The graduation ceremonies had already been delayed by about one month because of travel restrictions imposed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).Approximately fifty students from Gaza were unable to attend the ceremonies because they were stranded in Gaza, and were no longer authorized by Israel to travel to the West Bank. Another three hundred students from Gaza were stranded at the university and had no way to return home.Many of these students are unable to support themselves because the Israeli military crackdown has greatly worsened economic conditions.

The United Nations Development Program initiated a special emergency fund on 1 May 2001 to solicit donations from governmental and private donors that would allow Palestinian students to continue their studies."The students and faculty of Bir Zeit are suffering a form of collective punishment," said Saman Zia-Zarifi, director of the academic freedom program at HRW. "The Israeli blockade is imposing enormous hardships on the best and the brightest of Palestinian youth.

"Bir Zeit University has a total student population of 5,447, including many foreign students. The university is the oldest and most prominent Palestinian institution of higher education, and has the highest academic standards among the Palestinian universities. Bir Zeit University also offers several graduate (masters level) courses intopics ranging from statistics to water management to women's studies. Many of the276-member faculty are foreign or foreign-trained, and conduct many classes in English. The university was shut down for one month in October 2000, but classes resumed without incident for the next five months.

On March 7, 2001, a few hours after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took office, the Israeli Defence Forces cut off the only road connecting Bir Zeit University to the city of Ramallah, located about five miles away. The blockade was tightened after the bombing of a discotheque in Tel Aviv on 2 June 2001, just as final exams were underway at the university.Several students were subsequently injured during demonstrations in June 2001, and seventeen were wounded on 11 June 2001 when IDF troops fired on a march at Checkpoint Surda.The IDF has not provided any specific security reasons to explain the checkpoint's placement. The IDF declined to respond to requests for information from HRW.

According to faculty and students interviewed by HRW, the normal commuting time along the university road to Ramallah was ten to fifteen minutes, but this trip now regularly takes as long as three hours. When Checkpoint Surda is closed completely, the only means of travel between Bir Zeit University and the outside world is through a narrow, brush-filled trail.University officials confirmed that after the blockade attendance was at an average of 60 to 80 percent of normal, dropping below 50 percent on days when the military checkpoint engaged in strict searches. Classes were cut from fifty minutes to forty minutes to accommodate a shorter study day necessary to allow students the extra time required for reaching and leaving the university.

Alert - Israel / Palestine