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DISRUPTIONS OF STUDENT
LIFE:
ARRESTS, CENSURE, AND CENSORSHIP
"They may be arrested on security
affairs for pamphlets that they distribute. Inside the university they
don't allow distribution against the authority. If it happens they must be
punished. I don't open files [on students], but I interfere with a
manifesto - you limit the political activity - political freedom is one of
his rights. But if [an activity] is not certified by the student council,
I cannot permit it in the university. This would be dangerous. It's my
duty to collect those that are against the authority."
-- University Security
Administration Official, Gaza
Palestinian universities are
characterized by a high level of national political activity compared to
their counterparts in Europe, North America, and other parts of the Arab
world. The activities of the students unions reflect less the concerns of
students regarding tuition or student clubs and more the Palestinian
political situation. Student life on Palestinian campuses consists mainly,
though not exclusively, of political activities, and it is precisely these
activities which sometimes aim to undermine support for the Palestinian
Authority that the security seeks to monitor and suppress. Furthermore,
students' lives are affected by the system's inequitable distribution of
grades, scholarships, and even travel permits.
The most common infringement on
academic freedom is the reports that undercover students and others are
writing on their classmates. This has created an atmosphere of fear.
Almost all students are aware of this phenomenon, which has led many
students to be afraid to share their opinions on politics and on the PA.
Others are not deterred. These are student leaders and activists who are
aware of the consequences of criticizing the PA but feel that it is their
duty to publicize their point of view. Nonetheless, many students who
spoke frankly with the PHMRG did not want their names used.
"I'm not afraid to criticize the PA
and its activities and attitudes when I'm not satisfied especially about
Oslo. But others are afraid. They are afraid of the PA because they know
it is the authority, and that it able to imprison. It is a real threat. We
are trying to make that fear vanish in the minds of the students - that
they shouldn't be afraid of the PA's punishments or threats. The
university should become more democratic."
(Nd), 31, sociology student 22
It is not only the student
activists speaking on the campus microphone who are watched. One example
of why students might be afraid to broach sensitive subjects in class is a
Bethlehem University student majoring in sociology, who wrote a paper on
the conditions in Palestinian prisons. As part of the requirements for his
class, he gave an oral presentation on the subject. Following his
presentation, students in the class who work for the security service
asked him for a copy of the paper to present to their supervisors.23
In addition to reporting on
students, there have also been incidents of banning of student pamphlets
and posters, interference with student elections, and arrests of student
activists. Many people who do speak out have been arrested or questioned.
In general there is less interference with university life in the West
Bank than in the Gaza Strip, though there are numerous examples of arrests
and other violations in the West Bank. However, in the West Bank, even
student activists who have been arrested and interrogated about their
campus activities assert that they are free to express political dissent
on the campus microphone. There is even greater consensus that pamphlets
and posters are not prohibited or censured in the West Bank. While the
human rights situation in the West Bank is less troublesome than in Gaza,
students nevertheless suffer from violations of their civil and political
rights. Students feel that their freedom of expression is threatened.
Furthermore, there are several cases of arrest and imprisonment without
charge. There are also examples of the police efforts to limit students'
freedom of association.
The freedom of association is most
often curtailed in response to disturbances in the general society.
Following the assassination of Mohyi al-Din al-Sharif, a leader of Hamas'
military wing, on 29 March 1998, the PA banned student activities at
al-Najah University for one month, and the security forces attempted to
prevent student memorial rallies. Since the Islamic Bloc had previously
obtained a permit for a rally, it held one anyway which resulted in
security forces searching student dormitories to find one of the rally
organizers. Two days later on 13 April 1998, (M.S.) and (A.H.) were
arrested when leaving the university. Both students were told that they
needed to turn themselves into the patrol guards in front of the
university. 24 They are both still in prison.
In response, students planned a
press conference. The Youth party (Fatah) circulated a pamphlet objecting
to politically motivated arrests of their fellow students, and the Islamic
Bloc circulated one calling for sanctions for students who worked for the
security services. On 12 April 1998, ten students were arrested when
12-armed PSS officers invaded student dormitories to arrest two students,
(M.M.), and (B.T.). A force of 50-60 officers arrived to help with the
arrests, most of the officers were masked and searched the house for two
hours and then took all ten students present to jail. Most of the students
were released within two days.
Similarly, at Birzeit University the
security forces pursued students from the Islamic Group and illegally
arrested them without arrest warrants or summons. Students were
interrogated regarding religious lessons, the results of the elections,
and their relations with the followers of Izz Addin al-Qassam. When
memorial rallies occurred, students who participated in them were summoned
for questioning and others were arrested.
Many defenders of the Palestinian
Authority claim that the PA has learned from its mistakes and that the
number of arbitrary arrests has decreased. But arrests without charge
continue. Students from Birzeit and al-Najah Universities were arrested in
the Spring of 1999. Furthermore the security forces' practice of looking
for a particular student and then arresting all the students they find on
the premises continues.
Student groups in Gaza do not enjoy
the same degree of freedom as their counterparts in the West Bank. The
PA's proximity to the universities in Gaza as well as the higher
concentration and suspicion of Islamic organizations have led to greater
infringement on students rights to organize and to speak freely in Gaza.
At a festival held at al-Azhar University during the 1998-99 academic
year, the Female Students' Islamic Bloc were given permission to
distribute their pamphlet.25 However, on the day of the festival, the
Student Council maintained that the pamphlets were not approved. Guards
came and put the leader of the Islamic Group and her deputy in the
security room and began interrogating them. They asked them what they were
doing at the Festival. However, they did not arrest them. 26
One student in Gaza who has been
working for a security force for four years told the PHRMG that he had
outlined a political map of all student clubs at al-Azhar University. He
designed a diagram for his supervisors who were interested exclusively in
the individuals inside the university. While some undercover security
students claim that their goal is to monitor the university as a whole,
others believe that the security departments are not interested in any
academic matters. That is to say, they are not concerned with the content
of the teaching but rather with the people who cause them trouble.
"Six months ago I was asked to be a
security guard at Al-Azhar University. The department I belong to is
interested in the nature of the activities of the political parties. They
asked for names and for the nature of the work people do. We don't try to
harm them. We just monitor. I have written about certain individuals. At
al-Azhar university the security department is interested in having
Shabibeh be the strongest so if others are climbing, there is
interference."
--Fourth Year Student from Jabalyah
Camp who works for the Palestinian Security Services (Force 17)27
At the Islamic University during the
Fifth Islamic Art Fair on 11 April 1998, at least seven uniformed security
officers entered the campus, accompanied by others dressed in civilian
clothes holding walkie-talkies. A university employee tried to find out
what they were doing but they made their way to students who were
distributing pamphlets. There were no arrests but students were questioned
about the source of the pamphlet entitled, "The Self-rule Authority...Be
Fair or Resign." Two days after the rally the General Intelligence (GI)
arrested all nine members of the student council without charge; they were
told that their arrests were among the many political arrests taking
place. The following Saturday, students held a strike to protest student
arrests. At a rally organized by Islamic University Students on April 22
1998, thousands of students and guests attended for release of nine
members of student council. Security officers sought to arrest the Dean of
Islamic Jurisprudence at the Islamic University that day for making a
speech at the al-Markaz mosque in Khan-Yunis about the al-Sharif
assassination. However, he was not home when they arrived, but he later
turned himself in and was imprisoned for 4 days. 28
In Gaza, some students are given an
unfair advantage over their classmates. Students' marks are also changed
at the request of the university president or the dean of the faculty. The
students who benefit from this policy are usually those who work for
security services or who have family connections to the PA. On one
occasion, eight law students who were also members of the Preventative
Security Service obtained exam books ahead of time and filled in the
correct answers before the test was administered. Once they were caught,
the President of the University insisted that the event not be exposed to
the entire university so as not to embarrass the PSS or the Authority.
This is contrary to the policy at many universities around the world,
which withhold the names but nonetheless publicize the event in order to
prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. 29
A. Elections Abuses
"If I run for election as a
political contributor, I will immediately have a file. A friend of my
brother who is working at the security department told his sister that
they have a file on me. I also have a cousin who works for the PA, and he
told my brother that he needs to look out for me – there are no civil
rights. When I graduate and apply for a civil job, I will have trouble
getting one...This happened to my sister. She was a former representative
of the Islamic Bloc, and her grades were very high."
-- (S.D) 3rd Year student, Leader of
the Cultural
Committee of the Islamic Bloc,
al-Azhar University30
"There are threats. Fatah knows that
I can win the Chair of Secretary. On the day of elections, a five person
group - all of whom are security – told me 'you are destroying yourself.'
Another said, 'Go to the microphone and say 'I'm not PFLP and that I’m
Fatah.'' If I did this, they would give me a star in the security forces."
-- Former Student at Bethlehem
University 31
Student Council Elections at
Palestinian Universities are basically democratic and proceed without much
interference from the University Administration or from the PA. However,
there is a trend at some of the universities to work on behalf of the
Fatah groups either by directly supporting them or by employing measures
to block the success of the Islamic groups. One mechanism for doing this
is for security officers to arrest students who run for office. Students
are aware that security officers are present at the elections and that
these officers take note of the activists. The employees of the University
Security Administration monitor elections on the campuses in the Gaza
Strip. They only monitor the male student elections, since there is no
risk of violence among the female students. Also, female students are not
arrested due to social and societal constraints. The University Security
Administration does not send people to monitor elections in the West Bank,
but it receives reports from police in the West Bank.
Student elections at al-Quds Open
University in Gaza in June 1998 were postponed by the Administration. In
the absence of new elections, students requested the dissolution of the
student council whose term had expired. which resulted in disorder on the
campus among students affiliated with the different student blocs. This in
turn led to the Preventive Security to intervene and arrest one student.
After a series of meetings with University Administrators, students
distributed press releases. This was followed by a meeting between
students. Similarly, at a peaceful gathering organized to protest the
undermined the date of student elections, violence again broke out between
rival student groups. As a result, on 27 June 1998, the university
administrative board issued an administrative order which prevented the
distribution of all press releases and publications from any bloc, if such
distribution took place without permission. The order also included a
prohibition on the distribution of information by alternative means. Two
days later, the PSS summoned some of the leading members of the student
blocs, including one student leader of the Popular Front bloc and two
Islamic Bloc student activists. Two of the three were arrested and later
released. According to the student press release, warnings had been sent
by the Administration without forming an investigation committee to
determine the reason for the events and to identify the participants; some
of the names which were mentioned in the warning were not present at the
university when the events happened; all the students belong to different
student blocs, and no warning was sent to any student from the Fatah Youth
Movement, which, according to the students, is the group responsible for
the postponement of elections. Elections were held finally on November 11,
1998. 32
B. Student Arrests
The first students to be arrested by
the Security Forces did not set the tone for those who followed them.
Arrested by the security forces in March of 1996, the seven Birzeit
students were imprisoned in Ramallah, accused of engaging in illegal
activity on behalf of Hamas. No formal charge was filed, and they were
never questioned. A suit was filed in the High Court of Justice against
the Attorney General and Yasser Arafat, in his capacity as Minister of the
Interior. The High Court ordered the defendants to formally issue the
reasons for the students' incarceration. The PA then challenged the
court's jurisdiction and called for the order to be repealed. In response
the High Court issued a final order in August 1996, ordering the immediate
release of the students. The court's final decision stated that the
incarceration of the students was an abuse of power. The court order was
ignored, and the students were not released until President Arafat issued
a decree on 7 October 1996, ordering release of 25 detainees including the
seven Birzeit students.33 Following the Court's decision, the Chief
Justice, Amin Abdul Salam was fired.
The difficulty of Palestinian state
building undoubtedly is increased by internal opposition and by Israeli
pressure to show quantitative results from Palestinian security efforts.
The Wye Memorandum calls for the Palestinians to eliminate the entire
infrastructure of the groups that incite violence or terror.34 This
international commitment and obligation does not, however, mean that the
PA can arrest students without any evidence of their involvement in
supporting, planning, or carrying out violent acts. The International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights severely limits the range of
permissible interference with these rights.35 The PHRMG agrees that
individuals that incite violence should be arrested and punished according
to the law. However, under the PA, many students particularly those
affiliated with the Islamic Bloc, are arrested and detained with no charge
and with no court proceedings. The vast majority of them are arrested
outside of the campus in their student houses, at their parents homes, or
elsewhere. While these arrests do not necessarily come under the guise of
the abuse of academic freedom, many are subsequently interrogated about
their activities and about their peers in the Islamic bloc or other
student opposition blocs.
In many instances, the police
suspect that students involved in the Islamic Bloc --the umbrella group of
Islamic organizations at universities -- have ties to Hamas or to other
Islamic political organizations. To a certain extent, students use the
umbrella appellation, Islamic Bloc, to distance their university
activities from Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Moreover, since neither of these
groups' political organizations has been banned, legally the police must
have evidence in order to arrest such students. Furthermore, legal
obligations require the police to respect legal procedure, when accusing
anyone of incitement to violence or terror. However, only in the rare case
has legal procedure been followed. Students usually are not permitted to
enlist lawyers defend them. In most of the cases, their parents are not
even told immediately or are deliberately misinformed about their
children's whereabouts. When the parents are finally notified, they are
frequently prohibited from visiting. Without the ability of a lawyer to
challenge the arbitrary arrests and short-term (up to 48 hours)
imprisonment, the multitude of arbitrary arrests contributes to the
ongoing violation of political and civil rights of Palestinian university
students. Moreover, the nurturing of a healthy civil society cannot take
place in an atmosphere where students are afraid to use the critical
thinking they are learning in the university to respond to the societal
change. In such cases, freedom of opinion and association are violated.
Sometimes students are arrested
around a particular event, often in conjunction with Israeli security
needs. Prior to the May 1999 Israeli elections, the Palestinian
Intelligence raided a house in Nablus where students from al-Najah
university live. The force of 9-10 men searched the house for over 90
minutes, during which they confiscated a huge load of books and papers.
They arrested two men for whom arrest warrants had been issued as well as
six other men. The eight students were interrogated about their relation
with "al-Jihad" Islamic Movement and about their academic and social
activities inside and outside of the university. Two students were kept in
custody, while the others were released. Those that remained in custody
stayed five days. Their families were allowed to visit on Friday, 14 May
1999. 36
Other arrests are not as concretely
tied to one particular event. Nonetheless, they show the PA's eagerness to
please the Israeli authorities. On 8 September 1997, (M.K.) was arrested
by the Palestinian Authority for "political reasons," and was detained for
nine months. He was mistakenly arrested along with a group of students
known for being Islamic bloc activists. (M.K.) was a teaching assistant in
education, and now advises masters' students creating their proposals. He
said that his treatment while in prison in Ramallah was not bad. His case
is unique because three months into his detention, two other students and
he were allowed to leave the district building from 8 am until 4 p.m. each
day to conduct field research in Ramallah and al-Bireh and finish their
studies. (M.K.) emphasized that he was not a member of the Islamic bloc,
that his arrest was a merely a mistake, and that his detention was
prolonged due to bureaucracy. He asserted that he was not released because
his name had already been submitted to the Israelis and to President
Arafat. According to (M.K.), "They wanted numbers of arrests to show the
Israelis that they are against terrorism. I was just a number."37
A student activist with the Islamic
Bloc was arrested with no charge by PSS on the 30 April 1999 at his house
at 1:00 A.M. with no charge. "I did not know why, maybe because activities
in the University, maybe because I had experience with organizing." He was
brought to the Bethlehem jail. They said to him to come for five minutes.
For the first 8 days he was put in a small room the size of a closet
without a blanket or a mattress, and with his hands cuffed behind his
back. For the first four days, "I couldn't sleep." When they improved the
conditions, they took off the handcuffs and gave him a blanket and
something on which to sleep. They interrogated him, asking him about who
told him to do such activities and about the members of his family. For
the last seven days he was put with the other people. There were only a
few other students. One was from al-Quds University. The first eight days
no one was allowed to visit him. The police told his parents that he was
in jail. When his parents inquired at the Bethlehem jail, the police said
no one with that name is in this jail. The student believes it was his
Islamic activities which were the main cause of his being arrested. It was
during the time of the Student Senate Election. 38
Another case is told by an older
student in the West Bank.
"A friend who had been in jail with
my brothers and who now works for the security services came to me and
said, 'The Israeli Government wants to take you -- if not, something will
happen to you and to us.' I wanted to stay in Bethlehem, but they wanted
to take me to Jericho. They told me it was an order from the leader of the
Palestinian Authority, so I went in a Palestinian Jeep, with an Israeli
(Shabak) vehichle leading in the front and one follwing us from behind.
They put me in a small room. Two leaders from the Palestinian security
came and told me about the situation now in Palestine and about PA policy
and about what they think is going on and about what they think is good
for us. They told me, 'Tell us something dangerous that will happen,' and
I said –'How can I tell you?' They imprisoned me for 30 days. They put me
in a closet with no light. After asking friends of mine who were also in
jail, the police said I have nothing, so they released me. (At that time
(I.Z.) was a student on the campus.) Another time, two weeks ago, the PSS
came and took me for seven hours. They asked me, ‘Why, and how, can a
student get involved in political activity based on an event that has
happened outside of the university?’"
-- (I.Z.), 27 Bethlehem University39
When students are arrested and put
in prison, their studies are interrupted. They are hindered from
completing their degrees as scheduled, which is costly both in terms of
money and time. It also causes them an unfair disadvantage vis-a-vis their
classmates. In most instances the University Administrations have done
little to nothing to help the arrested students. Many administrators
prefer to view the arrest of campus students as matters outside of their
purview. The Lima Declaration insists that "states are under an obligation
not to interfere with the autonomy of institutions of higher education as
well as to prevent interference by other forces of society" (Article
18).40 In the West Bank and Gaza, the organs responsible for Higher
Education have not aided in blocking state interference. Despite the
Ministry of Higher Education's role in serving as the central address for
matters concerning Palestinian Universities. It has also not played an
active role in defending students.
"Students who were arrested by the
PA are mainly members of the PFLP and the Islamic Bloc. We try to help. We
are against these arrests. We are always told this is a security matter;
when they are at home or at a café you're not responsible. You can't know
what people are doing in relation to national security. Because we have a
security agreement with Israel and the PA guarantees security to Israel.
Therefore, there is only so much we can do. We tell the Minister to make
it a high priority with the Chairman. We also try to do something by
making telephone calls and by sending letters to the Security Services.
But, honestly, we haven't done so much."
-- Director of Student Affairs,
Ministry of
Higher Education Ibrahim Sa'ada41
C. Obstacles for Gaza Students
As mentioned above, the Israeli
occupation hindered academic freedom in a number of ways. One critical
violation that persists until today is that of freedom of movement. In the
past both students and faculty from Gaza were denied the right to study or
lecture in the West Bank. The Oslo process has not eased the difficulties
Gaza students face in receiving permits to study in the West Bank. Because
there has not been a provision of safe passage from Gaza to the West Bank,
as stipulated in the Oslo Agreement, Gaza students face difficulties in
obtaining the permits necessary for leaving Gaza to study in the West
Bank. While it is difficult for all Palestinians living in Gaza to obtain
permits, it is even more difficult for students because they fall in the
age group which Israel regards as the highest security risk.
According to the Birzeit Human
Rights Action project, in September 1998 approximately 500 Gaza students
had finished their studies in the West Bank. 1400 more students were
attending without permission. Only 40 students accepted official permits.
The rest of the students refused permits out of solidarity with their
colleagues. 42
One Gaza student, (S.S.), applied
for a permit to study in the West Bank in 1995. He was forced to miss his
first semester while he waited for a reply from Israel. He was not
actually refused a permit, but he did not receive an answer. In order to
go to Birzeit to study, (S.S.) traveled through Egypt to Jordan, from
Jordan to Jericho, and then to Ramallah. Once he got to the university, he
was granted a two-month permit, along with some other students. At the
beginning of the second semester, there were a number of bus bombings in
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and Israel tightened security. By this time,
(S.S.) had returned to Gaza to celebrate a feast with his family there,
and because of the closure, he was unable to come back to Birzeit.
(S.S.'s) permit was canceled and he was forced to miss the spring and
summer semesters. (S.S.) now remains in the West Bank illegally and is
unable to return home.
Another student from Gaza, (N.N.),
was granted a permit for a three-day visit to the West Bank. She used this
permit to go to the university. Now that the permit has expired, she
cannot go back home. She explained, "I would never apply for a study
permit, just as a visitor, because I would never get one." (N.N.) also
lost one semester of study while waiting for an answer from Israel
regarding her visitor's permit.
The Birzeit University Human Rights
Action Project established the International Gaza Students Campaign to
raise awareness about this issue. In January 1998, the Human Rights Action
Project created a test list of 100 Gaza students in order to see how
difficult it would be for them to obtain permits to study at West Bank
universities. 41 women were granted permits, which they received. 40 men
received permission to obtain permits. However, as of March 1998, just ten
of these male students had actually received their permits. The remaining
19 students, including two female students, were refused permits for
security reasons.43 Israel stated security as the reason for the refusal.
However, when those same students had human rights groups lobby for them,
they received the permits. According to Hanan al-Masau, the director of
the project, approximately 1500 Gaza students have been denied permits.
The PRHMG calls on the PA to end the arbitrary
disruption of student life and to bolster democracy on campus by allowing
fair elections of student councils. Furthermore, the PA and its security
branches should not play a role in supporting one student group over
another and should, in no way, interfere with student publications
intended to promote dialogue and discussion about critical national
issues.
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