West Bank about to get first Israeli university

Follow j. on

and

A college in a West Bank settlement is about to become Israel's first university in the territories, pending a go-ahead from the Israeli military.

The Ariel University Center on July 17 was recognized as a full university by the Judea and Samaria Council for Higher Education, which handles educational concerns in the West Bank. The center, which has more than 10,000 students, Jewish and Arab, would be called Ariel University.

The 11-2 vote came despite a recommendation against approval by the planning and budget committee of Israel’s Council for Higher Education, as well as opposition from the country’s other seven universities and public figures who objected to upgrading a college located in the West Bank.

The final authorization for making the Ariel center a university will be made by the Israel Defense Forces’ central commander in the West Bank, Maj.-Gen. Nitzan Alon. According to the Jerusalem Post, Alon is expected to back the decision.

In 2007, the Ariel academic center was granted temporary recognition as a so-called university center, with its status to be reexamined within five years. Ariel, with a population of about 20,000, is located southwest of the Palestinian city of Nablus.

Birzeit University, five miles north of Ramallah, is a Palestinian-run institution, with courses taught mainly in Arabic and English. — jta

Comments

Posted by theother
07/20/2012 at 07:58 AM

First University?????

As if the Palestinian people, and their educational, cultural, and other institutions do not exist. How can such a headline be written? This one exposes the racist folly of the editors.

But this action by the Israeli state reinforces, for the world to see, that Israel has effectively annexed the West Bank. So the question seems to be not “one state or two states” but what kind of single state we are want for the future. Will it be for all people to participate equally, or will it be forever that some are under a military dicatorship and others have some say in their governance.

Login to reply to this comment or post your own

Posted by theother
07/20/2012 at 04:03 PM

Thank you for the correction

the story was originally headlined “West Bank gets First University”. So i thank the editors of J Weekly for making the correction. Too late for the print edition, sadly.

The second half of my comment above is still quite relevant. Day after day, Israel establishes its rule over the West Bank. What is happening there is no simple “military occupation”, it is something far more destructive. It is the dispossession of a whole people from even more of their homeland. Israel has no plans of ever leaving the West Bank. This is just one more reminder.

Login to reply to this comment or post your own

In order to post a comment, you must first log in.
Are you looking for user registration? Or have you forgotten your password?

West Bank about to get first Israeli university

Comments

Leave a Comment

Subscribe to: