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CONCLUSION
At this critical juncture in
Palestinian nation building, when President Arafat has acknowledged the
importance of international human rights standards, the PA has responded
to its commitment to higher education by creating a University Security
Administration and by generally restricting academic freedom. This body,
as well as other security services, are supposed to protect students but
have instead created an atmosphere of fear. Students are aware that their
classmates are monitoring them; many have been arrested and, even after
their release, have been repeatedly visited by the security forces. Campus
publications and activities have been censored or hindered. Faculty have
been reprimanded, arrested, and have suffered significant setbacks to
their professional careers. Furthermore, their families have suffered from
the absence of their livelihoods. As noted throughout the report, the
situation in Gaza is worse than that of the West Bank, but abuses of
academic freedom exist at all the campuses.
When freedom of expression,
association, and movement are restricted, human rights are diminished. One
of the ways freedoms at Palestinian universities continues to be limited
is through Israeli impositions on freedom of movement both between Gaza
and the West Bank and in the West Bank itself. Furthermore, Israeli
pressure on the PA to be "tough on security," results in the arbitrary
arrest of students who in many cases fill a quota and are released within
a few days.
The lack of an open and free
university life is an indicator of the direction the country may take.
Several people have told the PHRMG that the situation at universities is
improving; several others have stated just the opposite. Since the
establishment of the Palestinian National Authority five years ago, much
has been written about national reconstruction and democratization in the
West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian universities have the
opportunity to lead these national processes. The nature and extent of
academic freedom will determine how much they will do so. The PHRMG joins
other voices in calling for the PA to take the following measures to
strengthen academic freedom.
* End the expansion of the
University Security Administration to the West Bank and abolish this
bureau in the Gaza Strip.
* Require Palestinian security
organs to end the practice of student monitoring of classmates and of
arbitrary arrests of student political activists.
* Enshrine academic freedom in any
future legislation protecting the human and civil rights of Palestinians.
Such an act will acknowledge the significance of, and the PA's commitment
to, strengthening academic freedom.
For its part the Palestinian
academic community can improve the level of academic freedom as follows:
* Encourage professors to speak out
in the face of violations against their colleagues.
* Establish and implement a system
at universities that practice fair promotions.
* Review teaching standards and call
on other PA institutions to respect faculty professionalism and not to
interrupt efforts to teach critical thinking.
* Students should be encouraged to
express their points of view and not be singled out and punished for
membership and participation in activities of legal political
organizations.
1 See Fourth Annual Report, 1
January 1998 to 31 December 1998, The Palestinian Independent Comission
for Citizen's Rights, and its discussion of student arrests at Islamic and
al-Najah Universities, and its summary of Dr. Fathi Subuh's arrest.
2 For more information see Ibrahim
Sa’ada's forthcoming book, The Democratic History of the Palestinian
Student Movement at Birzeit University, and Glenn Robinson, The Incomplete
Revolution: Building a Palestinian State.
3 Lima Declaration on Academic
Freedom and the Autonomy of Institutions of Higher Education, 1988 World
University Service. The declaration is an NGO document, supported by a
great number of other organizations, but not by an international body in
which states are represented.
4 The International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights.
5 International Association of
Universities, Working Document---Analysis: the feasibility and
desirability of an international instrument on academic freedom and
university autonomy.
6 Office of the United Nations
Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories, Rule of Law Development
in West Bank and Gaza Strip: Survey and State of the Development Effort,
May 1999
8 "Occupied territories report :
Palestinian Universities Under Occupation", November 1986, Penny Johnson,
Journal of Palestine Studies, Winter 1987, (Washington, DC: Institute of
Palestinian Studies and Kuwait University).
9 All the statistics for current
students in the paragraph come from the Ministry of Higher Education,
Sourcebook, 1996-97.
10 "Occupied territories report:
Palestinian Universities Under Occupation", November 1986 Penny Johnson,
Journal of Palestine Studies, Winter 1987, (Washington, DC: Institute of
Palestinian Studies and Kuwait University).
11 For more general information on
Palestinian Universities see Gabby Barrack, "Palestinian Education under
Occupation," Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics and Economics, Winter
1996, 37/42.
12 For information on Egyptian
universities see, Haggai Erlich, Students and University in 20th Century
Egyptian Politics, (London: Frank Cass and Co.,) 1989 and Ahmed Abdallah,
The Student Movement and National Politics in Egypt, (Teheford, Nofold:
Teheford Press Ltd) 1985.
13 Interview with Ali Jarbawi,
February 2, 1999
14 Interview with Colonel Khalil
Arafat, March 25, 1999.
15 Interview with Dr. Sa’ati, March
23, 1999.
16 Shabibeh is the student movement
of Fatah youth
17 Interview with Fatah students at
Bethlehem University, February 1999.
18 Interview with Colonel Khalil
Arafat March 25,1999.
19 The PHRMG gave the final draft of
this report on 2 June 1999 to the Minister of Higher Education, Munther
Salah, for his comments. See appendix.
20 Interview with Colonel Khalil
Arafat, March 25, 1999.
21 Interview with (A.A.), February
1999.
22 Interview with Bethlehem
University students, February 1999.
23 Interview with Bethlehem
University students, February 1999.
24 "Muffled Voices," PHRMG Monitor,
V.2 issue #4, June 1998.
25 In Gaza, there is a separate
student council for male and female students at both al-Azhar University
and the Islamic University.
26 PHRMG Interview, March 23, 1999.
27 PHRMG Interview, March 23, 1999.
28 "Muffled Voices," PHMRG Monitor,
Volume 2, #4, June 1998.
29 Field interviews conducted by
Cecilia Beyer for the PHRMG.
30 PHRMG Interview, March 23, 1999.
31 PHRMG Interview, February 1999.
32 Palestinian Center for Human
Rights, 1998 Annual Report.
33 “The State of the Judicial System
in Palestine,” PHRMG Monitor, Issue #4, August 1997.
34 See Wye River Memorandum (1988),
IIA.1.c "The Palestinian side will inform the U.S. fully of the action it
has taken to outlaw all organizations (or wings of organizations, as
appropriate) of a military, terrorist, or violent character and their
support structure and to prevent them from operating in areas under its
jurisdiction."
35 Human Rights Watch, "An analysis
of the Wye River Memorandum, " New York, November 1998
36 PHRMG Interview, May 1999.
37 PHRMG Interview, 1997.
38 PHRMG interview, March 1999.
39 PHRMG interview, March 1999.
40 Lima Declaration on Academic
Freedom and the Autonomy of Institutions of Higher Education, 1988, World
University Service.
41 PHRMG Interview, March 1999.
42 The American Arab Discrimination
Committee figures give the number of students with permits at 40. The
Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education stated that 500 students lacked
permits, whereas the spokesman of the Occupied Territories Coordinator
Office, Shlomo Dror, stated in February 1999 that 300 now have permits and
that no one is lacking them. For more information consult Birzeit Human
Rights Action Project and B’Tselem.
43 See "Birzeit Human Rights Action
Project Press Release No. 4/98" at the Birzeit University Web site:
http://www.birzeit.edu/press/1998/980316.html
44 Article II of the Palestinian Law
of the Press, issued on June 25, 1995, states: "Press and printing are
free. Furthermore, the freedom of opinion should be entitled to every
Palestinian individual who attains the absolute right to express his
opinion in a free manner either verbally, in writing, photography, or
drawing as different means of expression and information."
45 Field interview conducted by
Cecilia Beyer.
46 Field interview conducted by
Cecilia Beyer.
47 Field interview conducted by
Cecilia Beyer.
General Director
Assistant to the General Director
Secretariat & Archives
Field Officer - South
Field Officer - Gaza
College of Education War Police
al-Azhar Main
Palestine Technical College
al-Azhar Squadron
College of Education - Gaza
Islamic Univ. Gaza
College of Education –Khan Yunis
College of Science & Technology
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