Israeli army welds Hebron University gate shut

The Israeli military welded shut the main gate of Hebron University at 2:00 AM on June 10, resuming the fifth month of a six-month closure, and declared the area a closed military zone.

Soldiers turned away the students at the gate in the morning and fired percussion grenades at them. The military then imposed a strict curfew on the surrounding neighborhood.

An official of Hebron University told CPTers that the administration is unaware of what Israeli soldiers may have done inside the gate. He said, “The IDF [Israeli Defence Force] wants to put Hebron University in a hectic psychological position.”

The educational process will probably restart, he said, in the schools, shops and rooms in which it has been conducted for the past five months of the closure. But, he added, the students do not want to return to this regime, and so the administration remains undecided about what course to take next.

The Israeli military action ended a six-day effort to reclaim the campus that began when students sawed open the previously-welded university gates on the morning of June 4.

Students told CPTers who visited the campus that day that they believed the conference on the Road Map to peace that had just begun in Aqaba would show support for their action to regain the right to an education.