Ignoring the threats to academic freedom in Gaza's university

Over the last two weeks I posted twice on reports by Palestinians of the outbreaks of anarchy and thuggery in Gaza which have followed the Israeli withdrawal from its former settlements in the Gaza strip.

One  of these reports was on the intimidation of the administration of Gaza's Al Azhar University. It included gunmen storming the office of the university president, assaulting him and driving him out. This resulted in the university suspending its study programmes. There had been other and earlier attacks and threats to the university president. According to the Palestinian reporter, Khaled Abu Toameh, the assailants came from Fatah, the political movement of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Both reports also stated that members of the PA security forces were involved in some of the assaults.

Yesterday, Khaled Abu Toameh reported a demonstration by Palestinian academics against the continuing intimidation by students who are members of the Palestinian security forces and the Fatah movement. They marched on the offices of Mahmoud Abbas and his PA Interior Minister colleague and demanded action, including depriving the perpetrators of graduation certificates.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights which is notable for its ferocious criticisms of the former Israeli occupation of Gaza now protests the attack by Palestinian secuity officers as an attack on academic freedom:

"PCHR strongly condemns this attack, and views it as an unprecedented incident, which is part of a chain of crises and problems engulfing Al-Azhar University," said a statement issued by the center. "It is part of the overall deterioration in the Gaza Strip highlighted by the increased attacks on the rule of law."

The center pointed out "with great concern" the continuing interference of security branches in the university's work, "which undermines its status and work as an academic institution. The Center calls upon these security branches to lift their guardianship over the University."

In my previous posts, I pointed out that there were no protests I was aware of by AUT, NATFHE or any of the other UK education unions with policies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And there continues to be silence in the mainstream media. I can't help thinking that if Israeli forces had been involved in roughing up the president of Al Azhar university, there would have been an international outcry, and renewed calls to boycott Israeli academic institutions.

Why is this continuing threat to academic freedom so widely ignored?

Could this be out of a mistaken belief that it would somehow undermine the Palestinians' claims for statehood if the existence of thuggery by PA security forces was publicized?

Or is it that the western media are only interested in Palestinian suffering if the perpetrators can be shown to be Israelis?

Comments

[jamal]

"Or is it that the western media are only interested in Palestinian suffering if the perpetrators can be shown to be Israelis?"

Lets stop the pretence here. A small portion of Israeli on palestinien violence and slaughter is shown. The Palestiniens have not got to their backward and oppressed position on their own. The biggest threat to the was, is and will be Israel.

[Judy]

Even if your assertion about Israeli violence and slaughter was true, which I contest, that would not be a reason for ignoring what is going on in Gaza. If the Palestinian Centre on Human Rights and the JMCC can recognise and criticise the abuses being perpetrated by PA security force members, without feeling the need to say that the biggest threat is Israel, then that's good enough for me. By the way, I think your blog's picture of a Christian girl beheaded by Islamist terrorists in Indonesia is too horrific for display. Would it not be more respectful to her and her parents not to display the desecration of her body as you do?

[Huldah]

Perhaps, Jamal, you'd like to comment on the increasing phenomenon of Christian Palestinians fleeing the PA for sanctuary in ... Israel, where their right to live and worship in peace is protected by law in a way that it has not been by the PA for some years now.

[Steve M]

Judy, thanks for another most interesting thread. I must admit that I don't understand the current motivations of the PA but I'm very interested by the complex relationships between Israel, the PA and Hamas & its sponsors.

Jamal, I've commented recently on the naive, ill-considered and one-sided writings on your blog. You should read these comments if you're interested in losing your atrocious ignorance of historical events - http://neo-neocon.blogspot.com/2005/10/its-ok-theyre-only-anti-zionists.html#comments

Also, publishing that picture is an awful thing to do. Why don't you lose it?