Education Under Occupation: Learning to Improvise [Paperback]

Much material emerges from Israel/Palestine concerning
conflict and loss, but less information is readily available about the real
infrastructure of Palestinian society - its local government, education and
health services, telecommunications, legal and financial environment - and
its current condition. As political and economic arguments edge
humanitarian concerns off the diplomatic agenda (for better or for worse),
these topics are of increasing importance.

This book is intended to be a catalyst for provoking broader interest in
the development requirements of the Palestinian education sector. It is
designed to be a concise and accessible primer for general readers
exploring the subject or region and who might be persuaded to pursue their
specialism further in this area.

A central theme is how the 'situation' (as Palestinians refer to the
occupation) is lived as student or university professor, rather than how it
is recorded through various official or journalistic media. Where feasible,
content is preserved as `live' dialogue (interviews and testimonies) to
capture the nuances of its original presentation, allowing experience to
speak for itself.

Education Under Occupation examines the development of Palestinian higher
education and relates the experiences of students, staff and teachers under
Israeli occupation.

In 2002, Israel's invasion and subsequent military occupation of the
Palestinian Territories destroyed, in systematic fashion, the social,
economic and political infrastructure of an emerging Palestinian state.
Unilateral initiatives heralding disengagement notwithstanding, that
occupation continues today, its physical and administrative barriers
increasingly intrusive, as the promise of Palestinian self-determination is
progressively undermined by interminable diplomatic deadlock.

The book records the daily reality of life at Palestinian universities,
drawing on sources amongst others from the detailed archives of Birzeit
University, near Ramallah, in the West Bank. It provides a concise and
methodical testimony of how Palestinians, confronted with a blanket siege
of their institutions, must cope with perpetual challenges to maintain
standards of higher and further education.

The main author, Nick King, visited the West Bank in 2002-2003 to interview
educators and staff of Palestinian universities and here relays oral
testimony of the struggle to fulfil the promise of university education in
defiance of disruptive military interventions. This critical analysis of
the higher education sector contextualises the current difficulties faced
by policy-makers, professors and students alike, while recalling the
ongoing debate surrounding initiatives for an academic boycott of formal
relations with the occupying power.

Nick King is a freelance analyst who visited Palestine in
2002-2003, where much of the source material for this volume was gathered.
During his stay in the West Bank, he spent time as a volunteer with the
International Solidarity Movement, as well as travelling independently for
research purposes. He holds Masters degrees in Politics and Government
(from Guildhall University, London) and International Business (CASS
Business School, London) and variously provides analytical support for
European initiatives promoting and defending human rights and humanitarian
solidarity in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt).

Related papers include a submission to the House of Commons Select
Committee enquiry into Development Assistance in the oPt: The Control That
The Network Of Settlements In The Occupied Territories Has Over The Basic
Conditions For The Development Of The Palestinian Economy. The memorandum
may be consulted at: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmintdev/230/230we17.htm

Ahdaf Soueif is a novelist and journalist who writes in English and Arabic,
her cultural and political commentary being widely published in Western
Europe and the Arab world. She is also involved in television and radio
productions for Arab, British and American broadcast networks. Her
literary work has generated international acclaim, her novel, The Map of
Love, being shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1999. Dr. Soueif is a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a patron of both Index on
Censorship and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the UK. She is also
member of Amnesty International and the Committee for the Advancement of
Arab-British Understanding (CAABU).

Following twenty-six years of military occupation, in mid-1994 the
Palestinian National Authority gained control of education. For the first
time, in the brief spring that took hold, a Palestinian administration was
able freely to plan strategically for the future development of its people
and to implement policy for economic and cultural growth. Even if the
second aspect of that newly-gained freedom was to be physically assaulted
and frustrated as the decade progressed, the struggle for education has
been critical to protecting Palestinian national identity and civil
society. Contacts established with academics internationally have also
provided important channels of support when high politics has appeared
indifferent to a captive life subject to arbitrary martial law. In
terms of intellectual `capital endowment' (when Palestine is not overly
gifted with tradable natural assets), it is difficult to overestimate the
esteem in which education is held, or the considerable sacrifices that
individual students are prepared to make to remain involved to a high level
of achievement.