Two students from the University of Manchester were not able to reach An-Najah their twin university in the West Bank due to the city being under siege, curfew, and attack from the Israeli army.
The students were in the west bank on a family visit, and agreed to visit an-Najah for the purpose of collecting important documents for the UMSU. However for the duration of their visit, the city of Nablus was under incursions from the Israeli army, to the damage of 40 million Israeli shekels, and the injury of 38 civilians including 2 disabled civilians and medical staff.
The students had arranged with the staff of the university and the students’ council to visit the university but every time they tried to travel from Bethlehem to Nablus (around 50miles) they were turned away by Israeli checkpoints around the Nablus.
Also, the journey, straight from Bethlehem to Nablus should take no more than one and a half hours. However, due to the status of the Manchester students, they were not allowed to go through Jerusalem, so the detour including waiting at the Israeli checkpoints took them up to four hours each time.
Palestinian students from An-Najah were clearly disappointed the visit was not allowed to happen when he said: “I was looking forward to meeting students from UMSU, the support we had from them is amazing, but it’s different when it’s face to face.”
Rana Batarseh, from UMSU was equally disappointed, “I guess this is why we choose to twin with a Palestinian university, the travel restrictions are collective punishment embossed on a whole people, they don’t allow a normal life to go on, we had been looking forward to this visit for a long time, I really hope, these the conditions change for the sake of the people who are living here. I was also shocked to hear that students from An Najah university were illegally detained by the Israeli army during the incursion without charge, and to this day haven’t been charged. I really think that UMSU should do something to support these students, who add to the 56 already being tortured in Israeli jails.”
The twinning between UMSU and An Najah University began after the motion to twin the two institutions was passed at the March 2006 General Meeting. Since then the two institutions have hosted shared events. The twinning has ignited many a debate on campus surrounding the situation in Palestine and has faced some opposition yet many students support this link and also defended this twinning at Nov 14th General Meeting 2007.
Dr Nabil’s thoughts on the invasion “The invasion happened at a time when the governor of Nablus was able to restore order to the City by collecting arms from all armed men who roamed the streets of Nablus. The invasion disturbed the students who live in the City away from their families after commuting has become impossible because of the atrocities and harassments they are exposed to at the roadblocks. The invasion increases frustrations among the young population of university students, who were anticipating an ease up of the situation after Annapolis only to face a new wave of unjustified harassment. The Israelis always like to abort all attempts made at improving the Palestinian conditions under the pretext of Security. Palestinian young men are aware of the fact that detaining, humiliating and killing helpless young men will certainly not help in promoting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli acts of violence against Palestinians aim at evacuating Palestinian young from their land after driving them to the limits of despair. The invasion renewed scenes of bloodshed in the street of Nablus; one Palestinian young man was shot in the head on his way to the Friday prayer right in front of The Old Campus of An-Najah National University. The killed man was a father of two young children and the Israeli soldiers admitted killing him by mistake. During the incursion, the University was closed for three days, and several young people were arrested.
Nabil Alawi, Ph.D., Director, Public Relations Department
University of Manchester Students Union twins with An Najah university Nablus Palestine University of Manchester Students Union passed a motion to twin their Students Union with An Najah University in Nablus Palestine.
The Student Union General Meeting on Wednesday 7th March 2007 was attended by over 600 students and the motion which acknowledged the detrimental effect of the Israeli occupation on the right to education of Palestinian students was passed by a majority of over 50 votes.
The motion stated that students in Palestine have had their right to education consistently denied by the Israeli Occupation: checkpoints, attacks on Universities and limitations on movement which seriously hinder the ability of students in Palestine to learn and that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone has the ‘right to education’.
The union will now lobby Manchester University to provide at least 3 scholarships to Palestinian students who wish to study at the university of Manchester as well as to support the Palestinian students in their “Right to Education†campaign and for their basic Human Rights within the territories of mandate Palestine and refugees.
For more information contact:
Action Palestine
info@actionplestine.org
www.actionpalestine.org
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=20305
Nablus – Ma’an – An-Najah National University in the northern West Bank city of Nablus is preparing to twin with the universities of Manchester and London through cooperation between the student unions in these universities.
The University of Manchester Student Union passed a motion in its entirety on 7 March to go ahead with a twinning agreement with their counterparts at An-Najah University.
The agreement aims to support the Palestinian right to education, particularly in reference to the obstacles that face Palestinian university students such as curfews, checkpoints, barriers and the separation wall. The future of Palestinian universities is under threat in this way, and, besides, these measures are violations of international law which maintains the right to education and to live in dignity.
The articles of the motion include the suggestion to provide at least three scholarships for Palestinian students who wish to study at the University of Manchester. They will also try to persuade the administration to drop the international tuition fees for Palestinian students, so that they pay the same as local students.
In a different regard, the Palestinian student association in the University of London has launched a campaign to teach people about the Palestinian crisis and the obstacles facing Palestinian students. The agreement to be signed with the University of London aims to strengthen cooperation between the student unions of both universities through exchanging visits and pointing out the impact of the Israeli occupation on the daily life of Palestinian students.
The twinning between the universities will also include the establishment of an exhibition of photographs in addition to field trips aimed at achieving joint cultural education.