Bir Zeit University on the West Bank north of Jerusalem has been closed down again for two months, a bare six weeks after reopening from a previous two months closure.
Acting university president Dr. Gabi Baramki, told the military commander of the area he planned to shut down studies for the rest of the week to defuse the situation following a clash Monday between students and an official of the Israeli civil administration’s education department. But the military responded by saying the situation was too serious and ordered a complete shut down for two months.
A number of Bir Zeit students have been detained for this week’s clash in which education official Zion Gabai was injured. Students said that he had been wearing a skullcap and windbreaker similar to those worn by religious Gush Emunim residents of the West Bank and they therefore had mistaken him for a troublemaker come to upset the campus and had tried to hustle him away.
The Israeli army and civilian administration authorities do not tend to accept the explanations of the Bir Zeit students, whom they regard as fomenters of dissent on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The university, with a student population of 1,900 and a faculty of 170, is known as a center for Palestinian nationalism and receives financial support from Arab countries.
The students and members of the faculty detained this week are reported to include several American citizens who were found in possession of PLO literature from Beirut. The Israeli authorities are considering deporting them.
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