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28-5-2007
 Introduction
The Palestinians have always placed a high
value on education. Long before Israel
was created, the Palestinians had excellent schools and an impressive list of
intellectuals who had taken out degrees in Arab universities and the hallowed
halls of learning in the West. When a national university was eventually
established in Birzeit, it was soon recognized as the premier Palestinian
university, but it was not long before the full weight of Israel’s occupation
brought down on it intermittent months-long closures and restrictions that
still threaten its existence today. Other Palestinian universities also face
continual punitive action from the Israeli military, all deliberately designed
to create fear and uncertainty in the students and academics in order to undermine
the universities themselves. What is clear is that Palestinian education is
being directly targeted. The incidents of lethal military attacks, raids, harassment
and forced closures at all levels of education are well documented and occur on
a regular basis. Birzeit
University reports an
average of 1-2 incidents of this nature every week. This puts enormous pressure
on Palestinian society because one third of the Palestinian population in the
West Bank and Gaza
are students and education is pivotal in the lives of the majority. For many, education
has been a way to resist and survive the occupation. It is a way of creating
confidence, realising a person’s full potential and encouraging achievement, initiatives
and development that are essential for building a strong, independent and
healthy society. That is precisely what Israel
seeks to destroy and what 11 Palestinian universities seek to preserve in this
year’s “Break the Siege” campaign initiated by Birzeit University.
Financial burdens
The current financial crisis induced by the
sanctions imposed last year has now directly hit the universities. Normally, Birzeit University receives USD$1.5 million from
the Palestinian Authority (PA) every year, but since the sanctions have been
imposed, the university has received only USD$300,000 leaving them USD$1.2 million
short. Teaching standards, educational facilities and the working environment
have all been badly affected and students whose families are suffering
financial hardships are finding it impossible to pay their fees or travel to
attend their classes. No longer are universities able to provide support for
students in financial difficulties, and in fact, are relying more and more on
student fees just to meet the basic budgetary requirements, such as salaries
and general maintenance. In the last academic year, Palestine’s national university had allowed
students to register and pay their fees in instalments, but when 43% of the
students (some 3,000), were unable to pay their fees by the end of the second
term, many were not able to continue their studies. If the current conditions
continue, the situation will certainly get worse and students who were prepared
to navigate Israel’s
onerous obstructions to and from university will then simply have no money to
travel at all.
Movement restrictions
The other serious problem is the restricted
movement in and out of the Occupied
Palestinian Territory
(OPT) for Palestinians and non-Israelis. Just as the money dried up, thousands
of foreign passport holders of Palestinian and non- Palestinian origin living
or working inside the OPT found themselves unable to enter, re-enter or
threatened with deportation even if they have lived in Palestine for years. At least 5 academic and
university staff were denied entry to the West Bank last year and numerous
international students were turned away at the borders, unable to register or
continue their studies in Palestine.
Trustees of various university boards have been issued final permits and have
been given notice to exit the country. Other universities are grappling with
similar cutbacks and restrictions and the overall effect of that will be
teaching institutions that will find it impossible to maintain their academic
standards and students whose education opportunities will be further diminished.
Even more serious, will be the complete breakdown of civil society, since the
educated class so necessary for building democratic governing institutions will
be completely compromised.
International indifference/Israeli collusion
There has been a blanket of silence on the part
of Western academics and intellectuals about “the criminalisation of
Palestinian teaching and learning” as Edward Said put it. Equally, Israeli
academics have been silent making no demands of their government to allow
Palestinian scholars access to international academic networks in the ordinary
pursuit of scholarship. Almost all Israeli academics serve in the Army reserves
and have, therefore, perpetrated and witnessed the crimes committed by the
military. Aside from the few who have spoken up, the rest are colluding with
the government. And Westerners, they only help to maintain that system of
injustice with every exchange they enjoy with universities and academics in Israel. The
irony is that calls for academic boycotts are decried by Israeli and Western
academics because they violate academic freedom and punish those who disagree
with Israeli policies. There is no such protest for the academic freedom of
Palestinian scholars and their right to education.
Israel’s breaches and obligations
Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian
education violates a number of human rights, especially the right to education.
This is unequivocally stated in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Also, the Fourth Geneva Convention makes the
Occupying Power responsible for ensuring that the people under its control are
able to exercise their right to education.
Furthermore, Israel
has signed agreements of reciprocity in diplomacy and immigration rules with
other countries, and by refusing entry, re-entry and threatening deportation
without a legitimate reason, Israel
is violating people’s basic rights of access to justice, transparency and state
accountability.
Australian action
• DEMAND THAT ISRAEL
ALLOW THE TOTAL FREEDOM OF ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND OTHER ACTIVITIES IN PALESTINE
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