   
Hopes For Access to Education Quelled Once More
Report, Birzeit University, 19 October 2002
The commencement of this new semester seems to be lingering on as the students have to face the daily actions of the Israeli occupation army, not knowing what to expect each and every morning.
On October 9, Israeli bulldozers dug up more trenches in the road leading to the University and increased the walk over a trecherous dirt path between one end of the checkpoint and the other.
On October 15 and under the supervision of the Israeli military commander, Palestinian bulldozers were able to work and level the road, thus making it accessible to vehicular travel. Encouraged, the University community decided to drive their cars to the University from Ramallah the next day, October 16, 2002, for the first time in over eight months. However, on the way back, faculty and staff were delayed for hours on end by the Israeli army which reinstated the military checkpoint.
It is worth noting that this is the second time the road is fixed by the Palestinian Authority after being destroyed and re-destroyed by the Israeli military. The first time the road was dug up was in March 2001, and in February 2002, the road was dug up again, and this is the first time it is fixed since.
On Thursday, October 17, two new dirt hills were erected on the checkpoint and student and faculty were back to walking over the one kilometer stretch from one end of the checkpoint to the other. All passersby were stopped by the Israeli army and had their identification cards checked.
On Saturday, October 19, the Israeli military totally closed the checkpoint, prohibiting all of the residents of Birzeit and the surrounding villages from reaching Ramallah and all students, staff and faculty living in Ramallah from reaching the University by any means.
In addition, to the development of the road, Israeli army has heightened its military incursion in the town of Birzeit and its presence at the gates of the University. On October 14, 2002, the Israeli army conducted a raid against an apartment building in the town of Birzeit. After surrounding the apartment, and shooting and throwing sound bombs for several hours while calling on the inhabitants of the apartment building to come out, the army forcibly entered the apartment building only to find it totally empty.
At around 3.30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 16, an army vehicle entered the University premises, invading the Student Council Office, taking the computer hard disk with them and leaving the office in absolute chaos with papers and office supplies thrown all over the place. At around 10.00 a.m., and as students were heading toward the University to attend their classes, an army vehicle immediately erected a checkpoint at the main gate, stopping each and every student, staff and faculty member, and delaying them from reaching their classes and offices for several hours.
As you can see from the above, while there were small sparks of hope that the Israeli army was going to respect individual rights to free access to their educational institutions and open the Ramallah-Birzeit Road, these hopes were quickly quelled by the consequent illegal activities, incursions and closures of the Israeli army. We are quite unsure of what to expect in the next few days.
Activism News: CALL TO ACTION: Right to Education International Week of Action - 15th-22nd November 2010 (14 September 2010)
Studies & Research: R2E Fact Sheet (30 April 2009)
In The Media: Israel makes meeting another Arab a crime (23 September 2010)
Activism News: Shortage of classrooms lead to a sharp increase in dropout rate among Palestinian students in Jerusalem (21 September 2010)
Closure of Educational Institutions: Children in Gaza attend school in shipping containers (21 September 2010)
Activism News: Over 500 Academics Have Endorsed the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (20 September 2010)
Closure of Educational Institutions: Due to Gaza closure, 40,000 students refused from UNRWA schools (15 September 2010)
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