Palestinian Universities under Occupation, November 1987–January 1988

Abstract

At this writing, in early February, the campuses of all universities and schools in the West Bank and most of those in Gaza are empty, closed by military order, as the Palestinian uprising entered its third month. On 2 February an announcement from Bethlehem University appeared in the local press stating that the vice-president of the university had received a military order closing the university "until further notice." The university had been scheduled to reopen after three months of military closure following the 28 October IDF killing of a Bethlehem U. student, Ishaq Abu Surur. At the same time, similar closure orders were delivered to Hebron Polytechnic and Hebron University. Later the same day, Israeli radio announced that the Education Department of the military government had ordered all 800 schools and community colleges in the West Bank- including private and UNRWA schools-closed until further notice. Schools in Jerusalem, which is not under military jurisdiction, were not directly affected, but, with Birzeit and al-Najah universities already closed, education ground to a complete halt in the rest of the West Bank. * * The closure of all educational institutions was unprecedented and demonstrates the gravity of the situation in the eyes of the military authorities. The only "parallel" in the history of the occupation w Bank-wide school strike at the opening of the school year in Octo when, ironically, the military authorities insisted that schools open and that "normality" be restored to the newly occupied territories.