Banning Palestinian Students from Israeli Universities
by alethoBy Richard Silverstein | Tikun Olam | May 28, 2009
The
Israeli Supreme Court, that toothless wonder when it comes to
confronting the national security state, has permitted the state
intelligence apparatus to throw up an entirely new set of non-security
criteria in order to prevent Palestinians from studying at Israeli universities.
Now, in addition to proving they’re intellectually worthy of academic study, a would-be
Palestinian enrollee will have to prove they are not a security risk AND surmount a whole host of non-security barriers including the following:
Now, in addition to proving they’re intellectually worthy of academic study, a would-be
Palestinian enrollee will have to prove they are not a security risk AND surmount a whole host of non-security barriers including the following:
• 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. The Education Ministry must testify as to the nature of the program• Palestinians will not be allowed to study professions that have the potential to be used against Israel.• The applicant will have to provide the army with a detailed request from a recognized academic institution explaining the grounds on which the institution wants him to study there• There will be no further examination if the applicant has a security or criminal record.• The army will take into account the age of the applicant and his personal status.• The army, at its own discretion, may refuse to consider an applicant even if the student meets the above criteria.
These
new and improved regulations (for the intelligence apparatus, that is)
are quite astonishing. What they reveal is a nation that has decided
that its institutions of higher learning are largely meant to exclude
Palestinians. The military gets to determine which professions have the
potential to harm Israel. Given that the same military determines that
musical instruments are too dangerous to allow into Gaza, you can
imagine how this could be interpreted: what, you want to study special
education? Forget it. You might brainwash some poor child into becoming a
shahid.
You’ll
note that preference will be given to those enrolling in programs
supporting “regional cooperation or developing coexistence.” Forgive me
my cynicism but I’m interpreting “cooperation” a little differently than
some might. Shouldn’t we be the least suspicious that “regional
cooperation” might mean educating those Palestinians who will give the
security services the most bang for their buck when they return to
Palestine? Recruiting spies and collaborators? That certainly couldn’t
be possible.
Regarding
the age and “personal status” criteria, the defense ministry wishes to
prevent young, single Palestinians from studying in Israel. If you’re an
old geezer, married and with a few kids you’re more likely to pass the
test.
The
final criteria simply allows the military to reject any candidate for
any reason or no reason at all. This is the way things work in the
national security state. We do it the way I say because I say. You don’t
like it. You can go to hell…
Related articles
No comments:
Post a Comment