Palestinian Universities under Occupation, November 1986

Abstract

On 29 October, as the new academic year commenced, Bethlehem University, normally one of the more trouble-free universities in the occupied territories, was ordered closed for one week by military order; the order was extended for a further week on 4 November. Coupled with army raids and checkpoints against other Palestinian universities during the same period, these measures indicated a marked escalation in such military actions, and led to speculation that the new Shamir government might not only continue Defense Minister Rabin's hard-line policy against individual community leaders, but might intensify the policy against institutions. West Bank observers stress continuity-especially of the "iron fist" policy-rather than change in discussing the Israeli unity government's change in leadership from Labor to Likud in October. A recently released Birzeit University report on the status of academic freedom during the last academic year notes that 1985-86, under Labor Prime Minister Peres' government, was the worst on record in terms of violations of student and faculty human rights