8) Academic Freedom in the Palestinian Universities

 University campuses distinguished by high levels of academic freedom are characterized by open environments in which students and professors exchange their ideas freely, openly, and without fear of risk. They are institutions where critical thinking is developed and valued. Five years after the advent of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Palestinian universities continue as they have always, to reflect the trends of society in general. Today human rights are at risk on a societal level and are similarly in peril on campus. The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group recognizes the vital importance of academic freedom for the support and preservation of human rights in the wider Palestinian population. Palestinian universities form the most significant force for long-term national reconstruction and democratization. No other Palestinian institution can have as dramatic an impact on the intellectual and technical development of future generations. When academic freedom is in jeopardy, the development of critical thinking is threatened at its very foundation. Furthermore, the respect and demand for human rights are deadened. 

 

There is a common assumption that the West Bank is freer than Gaza. There is truth to this assumption. The PHRMG's research has shown that the problems of academic freedom are quantitatively and qualitatively worse in Gaza. The universities in Gaza are governmental, which means they are de facto PA institutions. Furthermore, Gazan universities exist in closer proximity to the Palestinian Authority, and therefore, many more people affiliated with the university are connected to the PA. This report will show that those who work for the PA receive benefits and protection; those with no ties often suffer for speaking out. Also, the existence of an Islamic University in Gaza has led to greater suspicion on the part of the Authority, with internal and external pressure exerted to squelch Islamic opposition. We have chosen not to emphasize the differences between the two areas in order not to create a hierarchy that could lead to the acceptance of lesser abuses. 

 

Only in a system that values academic freedom can the universities engage in an honest struggle with the complexities of building a Palestinian state. This balance can be built organically over time, but Palestinians cannot do this in a vacuum. Borrowing from international models is critical.

 

A) International Standards

 

At the international level, academic freedom is regarded as an application of the right to the free holding of opinions and the freedom to express those opinions. It is further defined as the freedom of members of the academic community to follow their scholarly activities within a framework determined by that community with respect to ethical rules and international standards, and without outside pressure. The academic community is defined by scholars, teachers, and students. These rights to the free holding of opinions and the free expression of opinions are expressly included in all human rights treaties.

 

The Lima Declaration on Academic Freedom and Autonomy of Institutions of Higher Education, adopted by the World University Service in 1988, reiterates the same language and adds that "states are under an obligation to respect and to ensure to all members of the academic community, those civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights recognized in the United Nations Covenants on Human Rights. Every member of the academic community shall enjoy, in particular, freedom of thought, conscience, religion, expression, assembly, and association as well as the right to liberty and security of person and freedom of movement" (Article 4).

 

The Agreement on the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area states, "Israel and the Palestinian Authority shall exercise their powers and responsibilities pursuant to agreement with due regard to internationally-accepted norms and principles of human rights and the rule of law." Such stipulations, as well as President Arafat's spoken commitment to uphold universal human rights standards, have not been reflected in the current reality."

 

Israeli Occupation and the Intifada

 

Palestinian universities in their current form came into existence in the early years of the Israeli Occupation. The modern Palestinian universities have seen three distinct periods. The Israeli Occupation from the early 1970s until the Intifada characterizes the first period. The Intifada and its aftermath are the second period. The current era, the third period, encompasses the years since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority to the present.

 

The first institution to expand from a junior college is Palestine's leading university, Birzeit University. In 1972, Birzeit’s junior college status, which it held in the 1950s and 1960s, was upgraded to that of a four-year college. Today there are 3,863 students. The first Bachelor's degree was awarded in 1976. Bethlehem University followed Birzeit in 1973. Four years later it graduated fewer than 100 students. Today there is a total of 1,929 students. In 1977, al-Najah National University became the next four-year liberal arts college to be established. Today it is the largest university in the West Bank with 8,442 students. Army raids, checkpoints, and brief closures were the norm throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

 

The Gaza Islamic University was established later. After Camp David, travel to Egypt became increasingly difficult and, as a result, a university in Gaza was set up with the support of al-Azhar University in Cairo. The university also received funding from the Arab Gulf states. From the outset, the institution was opposed by Israelis and by Palestinian secular nationalists. Currently there are close to 8,000 students in it. In 1992, the university was split in half, and a new institution called al-Azhar was created with direct backing from the PLO. Today there are 11,671 students. (Statistics are taken from the newsletter of the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education.)

 

All universities were subject to Israeli hurdles with respect to their development. Licensing was not granted on a long term basis and required annual approval. Each new faculty also needed approval. Student arrests were common, and their number increased during the Intifada. The number of students arrested at Birzeit University totaled in the tens, although in 1985-86, the number reached 115 at Birzeit University alone, and students were often detained without charge.

The human rights violations by the Israeli Occupation, which still have not disappeared, left a legacy of politicization at the Palestinian universities. Israel's effect on Palestinian University life, while critical, is only one of the outside influences that have affected Palestinian institutions of higher education.

 

B) Security of the Academic Facility

 

In May of 1995, the University Security Administration was established by Presidential Decree. Concerned with keeping order on campus and protecting students from threats of violence, sexual-misconduct and outside political intruders, President Arafat created a national office to prevent discord. The Administration was placed under the control of Colonel Khalil Arafat who was given the title of General Director. His office is located in the Palestinian General Security. The Colonel is also a relative of President Arafat. (PHRMG interview with Colonel Arafat on 25 March 1999)

 

There is a long-standing procedure at Palestinian Universities, as well as at many urban universities around the world, to employ security guards to patrol the university gates. However, in European and North American universities, these security officers have no connection to the state; they are university employees hired to safeguard the students and faculty from theft and violence. On Palestinian campuses there is little consensus regarding to whom these guards report as well as what exactly their job entails.

 

Responding to events at al-Najah University in March 1996, President Yasser Arafat justified the expansion of the University Security Administration, although officially the office was to have encompassed both Gaza and the West Bank from the outset. The event at Al-Najah entailed a policeman entering the campus during student protests. The students were demonstrating against the arrests of Munther Mushaqi head of the student council, and others. At that point up to 180 armed men arrived and beat everyone in sight with batons -- teachers and students alike. Twenty days later, the security forces entered the university and chased Muhammad Sabha, the student responsible for the work schedules for the council. He was imprisoned for seven months without charge.

 

There are pronounced distinctions between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in terms of the presence of security on campus. In the West Bank, few people know that such an office exists; few people, however, would deny that undercover agents are present on the campuses. In Gaza, students, lecturers, and administrators alike have no doubt about the existence of the University Security Administration. Furthermore, the universities in the West Bank have historically been independent private universities. Despite the fact that support for Fatah among students and faculty has always been  strong, no West Bank universities maintain direct links to the PLO.

 

In Gaza, university administrators did not defy the presidential decree. "If we refused the security guards, they would think we might be afraid," reported Ahmad al-Sa'ati, the Director of Public Relations at the Islamic University, to the PHRMG. As an Islamic institution, the University is in greater danger of repression than other universities and, therefore, possesses less freedom to challenge PA regulations.

 

The issue of the role of security services on campus is sensitive. There is nothing inherently against human rights principles for a university student to work for the security or intelligence services. However, it is problematic for these same students to be in the active employ of their supervisors while they are attending classes. The official use of undercover agents on campus is an infringement on a student's freedom to express one's opinion either in class or in student pamphlets, and it constitutes a violation of international norms regarding academic freedom. Furthermore, on Khalil Arafat's staff, only 20 of the 85 people who go daily to the universities are students at the universities in Gaza. According to him, close to one hundred people go from his office to scan the universities daily. With no doubt, if students cannot express themselves freely inside the classroom and on the university campus, then that is a major obstacle in the path of progressive democratic community.

 

C) Disruptions of Student Life

 

Palestinian universities are characterized by a high level of national political activity that reflects less the concerns of students regarding tuition or student clubs, and more the wider Palestinian political situation. Student life on Palestinian campuses consists mainly, though not exclusively, of political activities. It is not only the student activists speaking on the campus microphone who are watched. A student writing a report in the classroom may be questioned by some undercover security members.

 

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 organisers.  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.

 

Student groups in Gaza do not enjoy the same degree of freedom as their counterparts in the West Bank. 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. 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.

 

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. 

 

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.

 

Student Elections

 

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. 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. The Wye Memorandum calls for the Palestinians to eliminate the entire infrastructure of the groups that incite violence or terror. This international commitment and obligation does not, however, mean that the PA has the right to arrest students without any evidence of their involvement in supporting, planning, or carrying out violent acts.

 

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. 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. Other arrests are not as concretely tied to one particular event. Nonetheless, they show the PA's eagerness to please the Israeli authorities.

 

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. Gaza students face difficulties in obtaining the permits necessary for leaving Gaza to study in the West Bank. 

 

CONCLUSION

 

Since the formation of the Palestinian Authority, there has been much talk about democracy and expression of opinion. The Palestinian universities should have been (and must be) the example for applying this principle, yet the PA has responded to its commitment to higher education by creating a University Security Administration and by generally restricting academic freedom. When freedom of expression, association, and movement are restricted, human rights are diminished.

 

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 for practicing 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 organisations.