At Birzeit University, the fight for education under occupation
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2024
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Palestinian university students in the occupied West Bank live under the constant threat of arrest by the Israeli military, often without trial or charges. At Birzeit University, a center of Palestinian intellectual life, a staff member who documents those arrests explains the challenges that the best and brightest Palestinian students often face and the obstacles they create for their futures.
In this episode:
- Sundos Hammad, Coordinator of the Right to Education Campaign at Birzeit University
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Veronique Eshaya, Sarí el-Khalili and Sonia Bhagat, with Shraddha Joshi, Duha Mosaad, Hagir Saleh, and our host Natasha del Toro, in for Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
Veronique Eshaya is a student at the Investigative Reporting Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, a look at university life in the occupied West Bank under the threat of arrest. |
| 0:17.0 | The Israeli occupation used education as a weapon against Palestinian students. |
| 0:23.4 | They were saying that in the interrogation room, you will not continue your education. |
| 0:28.3 | You will have no future. |
| 0:31.1 | But why is Biersaid University a target for Israel? |
| 0:37.2 | I'm Natasha del Toro, and this is the take. |
| 0:47.4 | The Spirit of Peerzeid, a feeling that welcomes you at the university's gates. |
| 0:55.7 | Perched on a hill near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Beersait University is recognized as a center of Palestinian intellectual activity. |
| 1:04.5 | Here, we shape the minds that shape the Palestinian nation. |
| 1:11.5 | And describes itself as a thorn in the side of the occupation. |
| 1:16.0 | Brazate University has been subject to harassment and raids by the Israeli army for decades now. |
| 1:21.3 | And the faculty's own staff have been subject to harassment and arrest also. |
| 1:26.3 | However, it's the students that bear the brunt |
| 1:29.0 | of the Israeli army's actions. To get a feel of what student life is like there, we speak to |
| 1:34.9 | Sundas Hamad, coordinator of the Right to Education campaign at Beersate University. |
| 1:40.0 | The Right to Education campaign is a campaign that was emerged in the first uprising, the first Intifada in Palestine, |
| 1:47.3 | where education was considered illegal by the Israeli occupation. |
| 1:51.8 | The group documents, researches, and raises awareness about the oppression of Palestinian students, teachers, and academic institutions under Israeli military occupation. |
| 2:04.9 | Sundas, welcome to the take. |
| 2:08.2 | Tell me about the challenges that students face at Palestinian universities, and specifically |
| 2:14.2 | Biersait where you're based. |
... |
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