Alerts in Israel / Palestine
Islamic University in Gaza Attacked
Alert
Date: 28 December 2008
The Islamic University in Gaza, an independent Palestinian university established in 1978, has been bombed by Israeli warplanes. The attack took place on Sunday 28th December and while the scale of the damage is still not known, reports suggest that a science laboratory was targeted. Fortunately, the university was evacuated before the Israeli assault began and there were no casualties.
UK Academic Union ‘Abandons Boycott’ of Israeli Universities
Alert
Date: 12 December 2008
The UK’s University and College Union (UCU) has apparently abandoned attempts to ‘boycott’ Israeli universities, according to opponents of the motion passed in May this year. The motion endorsed a call to ‘consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned, including Israeli colleagues.’ According to The Guardian, the leadership of the UCU has quietly dropped plans to implement the motion, after facing a substantial legal challenge.
Israel/Palestine: Hamas Seizes Al-Azhar University
Alert
Date: 08 April 2008
NEAR has received reports that the Hamas regime has taken over Al-Azhar University, one of the last Fatah-controlled institutions in the Gaza Strip. The university, located in Gaza City, has been a Fatah stronghold for nearly 30 years and resisted the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
Israel / Palestine: Bradford Student Released from Gaza
Alert Update
Date: 17 December 2007
Khaled AlMudallal, a student at Bradford University School of Management, has been released from Gaza and is back in the UK. The Palestinian Business and Management student had been detained since July and unable to resume his degree, despite having a British resident permit valid until November 2010.
Action Alert
Date: 31 October 2007
NEAR is deeply concerned about reports that more than 670 students from the Gaza Strip are being prevented from leaving the territory to pursue their studies in universities abroad. According to Gisha, the Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement, restrictions on travelling to and from Gaza have been further tightened, and a shuttle bus service taking students out of Gaza has been discontinued.
Palestinian Minister of Education Seized
Alert
Date: 04 June 2007
In the past weeks Israeli forces have seized numerous Palestinian representative and members of the government. Dr. Nassereddine Shaer, the Palestinian Minister of Education and Dean of Faculty of Islamic Law of the An-Najah National University (Palestine) was amongst those abducted. During a speech at the Israeli Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, the speaker of the European Parliament, last week urged Israel to free the Palestinian legislators and “and other politicians, including Education Minister Nassereddine al-Shaer" Please find below an open letter for the Israeli Minister of Education.
Israel/Palestine: Teachers on Strike
Alert
Date: 06 November 2006
Palestine’s 165,000 civil servants –including teachers- have been unpaid since March. For the last three months there has been a general strike among the workers. However, the teachers’ union has announced that some teachers will begin teaching voluntarily, beginning 4 November 2006, in order to continue the education of their students, who have already lost two months of their school year because of the strike.
Al-Quds University President Criticised by Palestinian Teachers Union
Alert
Date: 20 July 2005
The Palestinian Union of University Teachers and Employees (PUUTE) published an article attacking Al-Quds University President Dr. Sari Nusseibeh and calling for him to be fired, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) reports. AAAS commented that the article by PUUTE, a sister union to Britain's Association of University Teachers (AUT), came after Dr.
UK Academics to Vote on Ending Academic Boycott of Israel
Alert
Date: 25 May 2005
The UK Academics to Vote on Ending the Academic Boycott of Israel The UK’s Association of University Teachers (AUT) has called and emergency conference the 26 May 2006 to discuss its decision to boycott Israeli Universities. In April 2005 the AUT voted to close links with the universities of Haifa and Bar-Ilan claiming they were complicit in the abuse of Palestinians in the West bank and Gaza.
Palestinian Students Fight For Access To Education
Alert
Date: 09 March 2005
The Right to Education Campaign at Birzeit University has launched a campaign for the right to education of Palestinian students. The organisation focuses on the cases of the four Gaza students detained and released last November and on the general issue of access to education in the country. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: In November 2004 four students of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Birzeit University, West Bank were arrested and detained for three days.
Birzeit University Students Arrested and Held for Three Days without Charge
Alert
Date: 02 December 2004
Four students of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Birzeit University, West Bank have been arrested and detained for three days with no charges. The Right to Education Campaign at Birzeit University has launched an appeal calling human rights organisations and institutions to write and ask that these students should be granted permission to return to Birzeit University and it is also calling to the attention of the public the problems that Palestinian students face in order to pursue further education.
Calls for Investigation Following Killing of Journalism Student
Alert
Date: 30 March 2004
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz to open an investigation into the death of journalism student Mohammad Abu Halimeh, who was killed on 22 March 2004 while covering clashes at the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. The organisation said in its letter to the defence minister.
Released UK-Students Plan to Sue Israeli Authorities
Alert Update
Date: 12 June 2003
Ayaz Ghani and Tahseen Chaudhry have returned to Great Britain. The two, medical students at Birmingham University, were reported disappeared after being arrested and then released by Israeli officials on 9 June 2003. Israeli authorities detained the students for 11 days, reportedly in separate detention cells, and continuously interrogated them.
Two UK-Students Disappear in Israel
Action Alert
Date: 09 June 2003
The Guardian (UK) reported today that Mr Chaudhry and Mr Ghani, two Medical Students from the University of Birmingham, have been reported missing after being arrested and then released by Israeli officials. BACKGROUND: Ayaz Ghani and Tahseen Chaudhry, both 23, who had been working in South Africa as part of their course, were detained on 24th May 2003 as they tried to enter Israeli-controlled land.
British Activist Shot by Israeli Troops
Alert
Date: 12 April 2003
Tom Hurndall a student and a British peace activist was shot in the head the 11 April 2003 as he tried to help a Palestinian woman and her children flee Israeli gunfire. Tom Hurndall was shot as he moved towards the family in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. He was wearing a fluorescent orange vest, and witnesses say that there had been no exchange of fire between the Israeli army and Palestinian gunmen that day.
Israeli Army Closes Palestinian Universities
Alert
Date: 17 January 2003
Two Palestinian universities were closed down by the Israeli army on 16 January, the British newspaper the Guardian reported today. The army alleged that Hebron University and Palestinian Polytechnic University had been used as "training grounds" for terrorist attacks. According to a nine-page statement by the Israeli army leaders of the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas had used a chemistry lab in the faculty of science at the Hebron University to train students to make bombs.
Appeal for the Liberation of a Palestinian University Professor
Action Alert
Date: 25 October 2002
Various organisations have launched an appeal for the liberation of Yousef Abdul Haq, a Palestian University Professor. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Yousef Abdul Haq was born in Salfit (Palestine) in 1944. He went to Ein Shams University (Egypt) to study Economics and in 1980 was among the founders of the Department of Economics of the recently established Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at An-Najah National University (Nablus, Palestine).
Alert Update
Date: 15 August 2002
According to the Al-Quds University website (see associated URLs), the administration building of the University has now been re-opened. Israeli military forces raided and closed the University on 9 July 2002 on security grounds removing boxes of files, student and personnel records and research (see associated NEAR alerts).
Peace Education Continues Despite the Violence
Alert
Date: 01 August 2002
The following Statement from the Israel Palestine Centre for Research and Information (IPCRI) was circulated on the Human Rights Education listserve on the 1 August 2002. The statement follows below and additional information about the listserve can be found at the end of the alert. On the 1st August 2002, 80 Israeli and Palestinian teachers, participants in IPCRI's Peace Education Program returned to Israel/Palestine after participating in a 5-day training workshop held in Turkey.
Israeli Raid Targets PLO Moderate
Alert
Date: 11 July 2002
The following article written by Suzanne Goldenberg a reporter based in Jerusalem appeared in the Guardian (UK) on Wednesday 10 July 2002. The online version of the article contains several links relating to the current situation (see associated URLs). The full report follows. Ariel Sharon's government moved yesterday to silence a Palestinian peace activist who commands the trust of many Israelis, as intelligence officers carted away boxes of files, student and personnel records and research, and shut down the administration bloc of the university that is his base.
“I Think They Are Trying to Erase Us”
Alert
Date: 15 April 2002
The cycle of violence - Palestinian suicide bomb attacks in Israeli cities and Israeli tank attacks on Palestinian cities - has taken its toll on students and universities on both sides reports Helena Flusfeder in the THES of 12 April 2002. Palestinian students are often unable to reach their universities because of Israeli checkpoints, and Israelis have been called up as reservists in the army, with their studies interrupted.
“I Think They Are Trying to Erase Us”
Alert
Date: 15 April 2002
The cycle of violence - Palestinian suicide bomb attacks in Israeli cities and Israeli tank attacks on Palestinian cities - has taken its toll on students and universities on both sides reports Helena Flusfeder in the THES of 12 April 2002. Palestinian students are often unable to reach their universities because of Israeli checkpoints, and Israelis have been called up as reservists in the army, with their studies interrupted.
“I Think They Are Trying to Erase Us”
Alert
Date: 15 April 2002
The cycle of violence - Palestinian suicide bomb attacks in Israeli cities and Israeli tank attacks on Palestinian cities - has taken its toll on students and universities on both sides reports Helena Flusfeder in the THES of 12 April 2002. Palestinian students are often unable to reach their universities because of Israeli checkpoints, and Israelis have been called up as reservists in the army, with their studies interrupted.
Alert
Date: 22 March 2002
Lecturers and students at West Bank universities are assessing the damage caused during the week-long incursion by the Israeli Defence Forces reports Helena Flusfeder in the THES. Ghassan Khatib, director of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre, said that the universities in the West Bank were officially open during one of the most violent phases of the 17-month-old intifada, but were "functioning to different extents".
Academic Rights Violations Delay Graduation
Alert
Date: 16 July 2001
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.