Students attack affiliation to Palestinian University
A motion passed by OUSU to twin with a Palestinian university caused outrage this week when several students threatened to personally disaffiliate themselves from the Student Union. The motion was passed on Friday to formally twin OUSU with the student council of Birzeit University, a controversial institution in the West Bank.
Opponents to the motion have called into question the suitability of twinning with Birzeit University, pointing to the fact that the majority of its student council represent Hamas and other organisations linked to terrorism. In response to the hostility, a new diluted motion will be voted on at the next Council, with the support of OUSU President Emma Norris.
Oxford University Palestine Society, who put forward the proposal that OUSU twin with Birzeit’s student council, strongly defend the twinning as a show of solidarity for Birzeit students, who they claim have their university education obstructed each year by the Israeli army. Supporters of the proposal argue that the political views held by some Birzeit students do not affect their right to education, which the twinning is intended to support.
Birzeit University is located in the Israeli occupied West Bank territory. Student Unions in Edinburgh University, the London School of Economics and Liverpool University are all twinned with the Birzeit student council as part of the international campaign ‘Right to Education’ which aims to protect the universal right to unrestricted access to learning, a key principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Since March 2001 the Israeli army has set up roadblocks restricting the movement of staff and students in and out of the university. In the last year 199 university students and 39 teachers have been killed, according to the international nongovernmental organisation Defence for Children International.
The Palestine Society states that twinning with Birzeit is a show of solidarity for students who do not have the full right to education, “The only way to ensure the protection of our rights as students is to oppose the human rights abuses of students globally,” Katherine Segal of PalSoc told The Oxford Student. However, many students have criticised OUSU’s decision to formally link with Birzeit.
Oxford University Jewish Society also opposes the move to twin with Birzeit, “OUSU is overstepping its authority. It is not a political organisation. Its priority should be to serve students in Oxford and not mixing in political affairs over which it has no influence.” Media reports suggest that at least three students from Birzeit have gone on to be suicide bombers in the last ten years.
Out of the 51 representatives on the student council at Birzeit, 23 belong to Hamas, 5 to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and 2 to Islamic Jihad. Each is internationally recognised as an organisation linked to terrorism. Josh Hantman, a student of Oriental Studies at St. Hugh’s, wrote to Emma Norris threatening to personally disaffiliate.
In a letter to The Oxford Student he said, “If my union chooses to affiliate to an institution that produces murderers in place of scholars, I choose to disaffiliate from my union, and I urge others to do the same.” Daniel Lowe, another student who threatened disaffiliation, said, “I was disturbed to hear the proposal passed in the first place, but I will withdraw my request if the affiliation is withdrawn.
A spokesperson from the London based ‘Friends of Birzeit’ repudiates any suggestion that the university condones terrorist activities, “Birzeit University is an academic institution internationally renowned for its quality of teaching and free-thinking environment, and its commitment to values of social conscience and community development.
As an educational institution guided by this mission, Birzeit is intrinsically opposed to the killing of innocent civilians and all violations of human rights.” Due to a lack of opposition the proposal to twin with Birzeit passed at OUSU council on Friday without requiring a vote. Norris is supporting a new motion, which will be proposed at 7th week OUSU Council, will override the previous promise to twin with Birzeit.
She said, “The make-up of the student council of Birzeit includes students representing, for instance, Islamic Jihad. If OUSU Council members had been aware of this, I doubt the motion would have passed unanimously. “I met with those who drew my attention to the make-up of Birzeit student council, and have helped them draft a motion that supports unrestricted education for all students, without twinning to any student council. Hopefully this new motion will encourage a more informed debate.
However, Oxford University Arab Society Social Secretary Abdel Razzaq Takriti believes Norris’ proposal is a mistake. He said, “The twinning of OUSU with Birzeit is on the basis of solidarity with students; it is irrelevant what political elements are currently represented on the student council. To ask Birzeit to condemn violence whilst universities in Israel fail to speak up against their government’s apartheid is racist.
It also fails to recognise that the occupation is the root cause of Palestinian violence.” St Peter’s JCR President Omar Shweiki stressed that the original motion was primarily concerned with supporting the international campaign ‘Right to Education’, “Everyone ought to enjoy the right to education, and OUSU have demonstrated their support for this principle.
The ‘Right to Education’ campaign shouldn’t involve itself in Israeli and Palestinian politics, as it is an issue which transcends conflict and national boundaries.”
1st Jun 2006