On Thursday after class a few of us decided to go to Eilat (a [very touristy] city at the southernmost point of Israel) for the afternoon. We asked if one of our friends, a Palestian, wanted to join us. He said he couldn’t because the study permit issued to him by the Israeli government didn’t allow him. Apparently his permit last semester allowed him to travel around Israel, excluding Eilat; this semester his permit only gives him permission to be on the kibbutz. If he were to get caught on the bus down to Eilat (there is a checkpoint between the kibbutz and Eilat at which soldiers boarded the bus to check that everything was in order) he would be arrested. Apparently it’s even illegal for him to be on the main road outside the kibbutz.
I wanted to find out what this was all about – why couldn’t my friend,
who was permitted to study at this progressive institution in the middle of the
desert, join me on a day trip to Eilat? A lengthy search relating Palestinians
to Eilat yielded only that in August 2011 there had been a “three stage terrorist
attack” in Eilat involving buses and missiles.[1]
So I began to look into the situation of Palestinians (from the West Bank) studying
at Israeli universities.
Since 2001 the Israeli army has been reviewing student permits. For 5
years review was given on a case-by-case basis; in 2006 an outright ban on
student permits were issued.[2]
The army has since issued a set of criteria that Palestinian students are
required to meet in order to be eligible to study at Israeli universities,
including:[3]
- "Only PhD and Masters students will be considered and only if there is no practical alternative to studying in Israel...
- Preference will be given to applicants to programs focusing on regional cooperation or developing coexistence and regional peace...
- Palestinians will not be allowed to study professions that have the potential to be used against Israel...
- The army, at its own discretion, may refuse to consider an applicant even if the student meets the above criteria."
- Only 70 Palestinian students are allowed to be studying in Israel at any given time.[4]
(The situation is different in the Gaza: Palestinians from the Gaza are forbidden from attending universities in Israel and are "prevented form leaving the region to study in other countries."[5])
Six of the seven major universities in Israel object to the army’s
criteria on the basis that the university should be able to determine which
students they want in their graduate programs.[6]
Israeli officials counter that they are "balanc[ing] the country's security needs with what they described as the understandable desire of Palestinians to receive an education."[7] However, few permits have been issued since the 2006 ban. One case that received particular attention was that of Sawsan Salameh, a Palestinian woman who was accepted into a theoretical chemistry program at Hebrew University, but was denied a permit by the Israeli army. After petitioning her case, the army granted her a 6 month student permit to pursue her PhD studies.[8] As of 2008, Sawsan Salameh had completed 2 years of her PhD, but was still petitioning her permit. [9]
[1] http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=234269
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/middleeast/11palestinians.html?_r=0
[3] http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=143468
[4] http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/battle-for-a-proper-education#page2
[5] http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/battle-for-a-proper-education#page1
[6] http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=143468
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/middleeast/11palestinians.html?_r=0s
[8] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6177510.stm;
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/middleeast/11palestinians.html?_r=0
[9] http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/battle-for-a-proper-education
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