From Arrests to Invasions, Israel Targets West Bank Universities

Part of the Series

Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation

Israel’s long-standing assault on Palestine’s education sector is so severe that it has earned a label: scholasticide. In Gaza, the devastation has been catastrophic: Israel destroyed 80 percent of schools in the Strip and bombed all 12 universities. Among the victims killed are approximately 130 professors, academics, scientists and university presidents (along with members of their families), as well as more than 12,000 students, highlighting the targeting of Palestine’s intellectual and academic community.

Amid its genocide in Gaza, Israel has intensified its assaults on education in the West Bank, revealing additional layers of systematic repression. This has included the arrest and detention of Palestinian students, depriving them of their fundamental rights to education. The Right to Education campaign at Birzeit University in the West Bank, which documents attacks on education and provides legal support to arrested students, has documented over 110 cases of students being arrested during the 2023-2024 academic year alone.

Israel deliberately targets education because it serves as a powerful tool of resistance for Palestinians. Education enables Palestinians to counter the colonial narrative, safeguard their heritage and identity and equip future generations with knowledge and agency. This targeting is embedded within a wider colonial agenda that seeks to dismantle the physical structures of education and to suppress the intellectual development of the entire Palestinian community.

Israeli Violence Disrupts Palestinian Students’ Life on Campus

“Students and academics are being detained at military checkpoints on their way to university, often being held for hours and subjected to assaults, making it increasingly difficult for them to reach campus,” Sundos Hammad, the Right to Education campaign’s coordinator, told Truthout. “Moreover, students fear settlers’ attacks on their way to university, particularly those traveling from the south or northwest of the West Bank.” This climate of fear, Hammad says, forced Birzeit University to shift to remote education for several months. Now the university is operating under a hybrid system, with classes online some days and face to face on others.

Birzeit University is not the only West Bank institution that has had to shift to online teaching. Al Quds University, for example, has been severely impacted by Israel’s segregation wall, built in 2002 under the pretext of “security concerns.” The wall divides the campus, isolating students from half of their university and disrupting their access to education. This has compelled the university to adopt remote learning to mitigate the barriers created by the wall and its associated checkpoints, which further restrict movement and exacerbate educational challenges.

Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie has likewise made use of online education, as it can’t ensure the safety of its students due to Israel’s occupation. A military checkpoint on its campus leads to daily confrontations between students and Israeli soldiers.

The situation is also challenging to An-Najah National University in Nablus, as settlements in nearby villages, checkpoints and settlers’ attacks make it difficult for students to reach the campus.

Such restricted mobility has fragmented Palestinian communities into isolated cantons, deeply affecting access to education.

“There is no longer geographical diversity among students at Birzeit University,” Hammad says. “Students from Gaza have been unable to enroll in universities in the West Bank due to a blockade lasting over 15 years.” Hammad says that most of Birzeit’s students come from the Ramallah area where the university is located. “The number of students from Jerusalem, the 48 areas and other West Bank cities has significantly decreased due to movement restrictions, leaving only a limited presence from these areas.”

“The student movement is a pillar for Palestinian national struggle. Israel perceives any student as a potential threat and targets them accordingly.”

Moreover, she says, academics with foreign passports — especially Palestinians in diaspora who don’t possess Palestinian identity cards — face challenges obtaining visas, making it increasingly difficult for them to teach at Birzeit. Hammad further emphasized that the occupation not only restricts students’ physical access to universities, but also limits their academic choices. “Students are forced to select courses and universities based on what they can physically reach,” she said.

The assault on Palestinian education extends beyond controlling students’ academic choices and movement to the outright killing of students.

“One of our university students, Aysar Safi (20 years old), was killed while participating in a peaceful protest to commemorate the Nakba anniversary. He was shot by an Israeli sniper. His father and brother, who are imprisoned in Israeli jails, were unable to say goodbye or even learn about his death at the time,” Hammad shared.

Criminalizing Students to Suppress Palestinian Resistance

The criminalization of student activism is a central component of suppressing Palestinian resistance, with students being arrested as their political rights and freedom of expression are denied. This systematic targeting disrupts their educational journey, and incarceration serves as a violent tool to punish those who speak out against Israeli colonization.

Hammad says the Israeli military has invaded Birzeit University multiple times since October 2023. “During these raids,” she says, “students’ belongings and devices are confiscated.”

Arrest and detention severely disrupt students’ education, often forcing them to spend considerable time regaining their academic footing after their release. The Right to Education campaign provides support to help students resume their studies. Hammad also notes that the campaign supports students while they are incarcerated. This includes information about how to cope with arrest and endure potential torture during interrogations, as well as providing legal assistance and helping students maintain communication with their families.

While most arrested students are males, there has been a marked increase in the targeting of female students during the war. Birzeit University says that nine of its female students and staff members are held in Israeli prisons. Among them is Khalida Jarrar, a scholar and researcher at Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights at Birzeit University. Jarrar, who was working on a research project on the prisoners’ movement, was arrested on December 26 as part of mass arrests by Israeli forces during the genocide. She is now being held under administrative detention — without charge — under extremely harsh conditions, including solitary confinement where she endures inhumane treatment and isolation.

Jarrar is one of the more than 11,000 Palestinians whom Israel swept up in its mass arrests in the West Bank after October 7. Fairuz Salama, a student at Birzeit University, is another. She was arrested in November 2023, one month after the Israeli war on Gaza began, and was released as part of prisoner exchange deal on November 29, 2023. Reflecting on her release, she told Truthout, “Our freedom is not complete without an end to the war on Gaza.”

In prison, Salama said she was subjected to interrogation under extremely cruel conditions. But, she says, “My experience is humble compared to others who steadfastly endured long years in prisons or those facing genocide in Gaza. We are facing a colonizer that targets all of us as Palestinians.”

She said students need time to rebuild their lives after being arrested, and that “arrest is an ongoing process — many students who are released are later rearrested again.”

“Student movements are targeted because they serve as the heartbeat of Palestine society and can mobilize the people. That’s why they are subjected to arrest, killing and assaults,” Salama said. “The student movement is a pillar for Palestinian national struggle. Israel perceives any student as a potential threat and targets them accordingly.”

Indeed, Palestinian universities serve as vital spaces for shaping collective national identity and facilitating the production of knowledge that sustains the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. These institutions not only preserve the narratives of Palestinian history and resistance, but also empower the future generations to challenge colonial oppression. This is why Israel aims to control and dismantle these spaces, to suppress the production of laboratory knowledge and silence Palestinian stories. The deliberate destruction of education is therefore a direct assault on a powerful tool of Palestinian resistance.