University of Manchester Students Union twins with An Najah university Nablus Palestine University of Manchester Students Union passed a motion to twin their Students Union with An Najah University in Nablus Palestine.

The Student Union General Meeting on Wednesday 7th March 2007 was attended by over 600 students and the motion which acknowledged the detrimental effect of the Israeli occupation on the right to education of Palestinian students was passed by a majority of over 50 votes.

The motion stated that students in Palestine have had their right to education consistently denied by the Israeli Occupation: checkpoints, attacks on Universities and limitations on movement which seriously hinder the ability of students in Palestine to learn and that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone has the ‘right to education’.

The union will now lobby Manchester University to provide at least 3 scholarships to Palestinian students who wish to study at the university of Manchester as well as to support the Palestinian students in their “Right to Education” campaign and for their basic Human Rights within the territories of mandate Palestine and refugees.

For more information contact:
Action Palestine
info@actionplestine.org
www.actionpalestine.org

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=20305

Nablus – Ma’an – An-Najah National University in the northern West Bank city of Nablus is preparing to twin with the universities of Manchester and London through cooperation between the student unions in these universities.

The University of Manchester Student Union passed a motion in its entirety on 7 March to go ahead with a twinning agreement with their counterparts at An-Najah University.

The agreement aims to support the Palestinian right to education, particularly in reference to the obstacles that face Palestinian university students such as curfews, checkpoints, barriers and the separation wall. The future of Palestinian universities is under threat in this way, and, besides, these measures are violations of international law which maintains the right to education and to live in dignity.

The articles of the motion include the suggestion to provide at least three scholarships for Palestinian students who wish to study at the University of Manchester. They will also try to persuade the administration to drop the international tuition fees for Palestinian students, so that they pay the same as local students.

In a different regard, the Palestinian student association in the University of London has launched a campaign to teach people about the Palestinian crisis and the obstacles facing Palestinian students. The agreement to be signed with the University of London aims to strengthen cooperation between the student unions of both universities through exchanging visits and pointing out the impact of the Israeli occupation on the daily life of Palestinian students.

The twinning between the universities will also include the establishment of an exhibition of photographs in addition to field trips aimed at achieving joint cultural education.

This article is from the students news paper (student direct)

Dear Editor,

This is a quick letter in response to the letter published last week in Student Direct to give a completely different account about the Action Palestine Society.

I have attended many of the public events hosted by Action Palestine, the documentaries they have shown, their informative meetings and the imaginative art exhibitions. I wish to congratulate the society on the great work that has been done with very little recourses, also taking into account that it is a relatively new society but is growing in numbers quite rapidly and becoming more and more popular after every event!

The purpose of the society is to educate people about the Occupation of Palestine – to enlighten them about the situation there and to give a voice to Palestinians, who are so often ignored by the media and the world. The society has managed to put on a wide variety of events: educational, discussion forums, documentary and film showings, video links with people in Palestine and the amazing cultural events. They have allowed Palestinians, Jews and British activists to stand up against the Occupation and racism.

I found the events very informing and useful; a wide range of speakers and organisations shared their experiences and opinions with audiences. As well as this, the audience was able to comment and have their questions answered by the speakers. I felt at ease and not at all inhibited to put my hand up and ask questions as the atmosphere is always so relaxed and every one is open minded and ready to share their views. There is no doubt that Action Palestine has had a positive impact on campus, as the society allows all sorts of people to join in and feel welcome, in helping out or even just enquiring as to what Action Palestine is all about. I would encourage every student to go along to one of their meetings and make your mind up for yourself.

Ahmed Hadad

(link)

London, March 2(IRNA) Students at the University of Manchester in northern England are backing the Palestinians right to education by seeking links with al-Najah University in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

The right to education is being led by Birzeit University in the West Bank, which has been closed down by Israeli military forces 15 times in its history.

In a motion to be debated next Wednesday, the University of Manchester Students Union (UMSU) is proposing to send a twinning invitation to their al-Najah counterparts and erect a plaque `Palestine and the Right to Education’ in its Steve Biko building.

Over one third of the Palestinian population are students in full-time school or university education, but the Israeli army has shelled and destroyed eight of the 11 universities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since September 2000, the motion says.

According to a copy obtained by IRNA, it also points out that students are prevented from attending al-Najah University by Israel’s illegal barrier wall and two major checkpoints that enclose the entire city.

Students from Gaza are already banned from reaching the eight Palestinian Universities in the West Bank.

In the case of Birzeit, the number of Gazan students was reduced from 350 to only 35 by April 2005, UMSU said.

The motion warns that the future of many Palestinian universities are at “grave risk” due to the blanket curfews, 700 Israeli army roadblocks and other military obstacles, including the recently constructed barrier wall.

These “violate international law, including provisions against collective punishment and guarantees for the protection of civilian populations under military occupation, students’ right to education and fundamental rights of human beings,” it said.

UMSU said it was raising the concerns with colleagues in the National Union of Students to encourage further support for the right to education for Palestinian students.

It warned that a whole generation of Palestinian students were denied an education when Israel closed down all Palestinian universities and the majority of schools by military orders between 1988 and 1992.

(This document was produced but the University of Manchester Students’ Union Campaigns to counter all the false rumours that were being spread on campus to stop the twining motion, home fees for asylum seekers motion and boycotted Coca-Cola motions. Also to counter the very biased approach most of the media covered the meeting)

The Union General Meeting on Wednesday was the biggest for a long time with over 600 students attending. You may have heard a lot of rumours, but here is what was decided and why.

Why twin with a Palestinian university?
The Israeli Occupation of Palestine has consistently denied students their fundamental Right to Education. The Right to Education is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of human rights and it is these rights, that are inalienable for all people wherever they are in the world, that we think, as a Union, should be respected. The motion to twin with Al-Najah University was a symbolic gesture to our Palestinian brothers and sisters to remind them that that they are not alone in their struggle to live like human beings. Many Palestinians feel isolated and let down by the world, this twinning motion shows that we recognise their struggle and offer our support to their cause.

Is the University of Al Najah a supporter of terrorism?
There have been suicide bombers who have come from Al Najah. This does not mean that the university supports the actions of these people. The 14000 students of Al Najah should not be held collectively responsible for the actions of a few. It is not this institution that is responsible for the creation of suicide bombers, but the oppressive actions of Israel, through occupation and oppression they endanger their own citizens.

Why do we oppose international fees for asylum seekers?
Asylum seekers are the most vulnerable people in this society, often slipping into the “destitution trap”. They are refused the right to work in this country and given £35 a week in food vouchers to support themselves. We believe that charging fees of over£8000 amounts to the removal of their right to education, which is enshrined in international law.

Why have we boycotted Coca-Cola?
Coke’s human rights abuses and environmental disregard is well documented. War on Want found that the Coke bottling plants in India were draining vast quantities of ground water to produce their soft drinks. This leads to water shortages in an already regularly drought riden country. Wells dry up, farmers can’t irigate crops, so crops fail and poverty is perpetuated. The bottling plants also spew out untreated toxic waste, which poisons any water that remains. Generous as they are Coca-Cola offered the farmers effected a compensation package in the form of fertilizer, fertilizer that contained dangerous levels of the toxic chemicals, cadmium and lead. In colombia at least 9 workers at Coke bottling plant have been murdered since 1994 and hundreds have been kidnapped or intimidated by paramillitaries for trying to trade unionise. New York councellor Monserat found that these abuses went on, if not with the complicity, at least with the knowledge of the directors of Coca Cola. Will this effect union revenues? It shouldn’t effect the money the union takes on soft drinks. sussex, who recently boycotted Coke, found that the takings on drinks did not fall at all. The alternative that they provide is actually cheaper for the union to purchase than coke, so profits have gone up. A sound bussiness decision as well as an ethical one.

Shouldn’t students make up their own minds?
As a democrtatic, membership organisation we have the right to decide what to sell in our union. The union isn’t just another place to get cheap drinks or see a gig, it’s an organisation that has principals and values. Coke doesn’t live up to the standards that we expect from a company and so we will not sell their products in our union. We beleive that as a Union we should not make money from, or give money to a company that is responsible for scuh human rights abuses, environemntal destruction, Union busting, displacement and murder. Until this changes there will be no Coke sold in the Union.

Will it have any effect?
With other Unions across the UK joining this boycott we are already costing Coke a lot of money and prestige. If this motion gets passed at NUS it will mean that Coke will lose their single largest contract in the UK. Because the Union workers in India and colombia have called for this action we beleive that such an enourmous cut in profits and the damage to the reputatation that this would cause would force Coca Cola to reconsider their management and support of human Rights violations.

What about the bullying motion?
Bullying is an everyday reality for people in all walks of life. This motion clarifys the unions opposition to all forms of bullying and highlights the fact that bullying goes on around campus.

This article is from the students news paper (student direct)

This Wednesday at 1.30pm, your Students Union will meet to discuss and vote on a number of serious issues. It will discuss Bullying on Campus, a boycott of Coca-Cola and the difficulties faced by asylum seekers who want to study here in Manchester. It will also discuss, however, a proposal to twin our Student Union with the Student Union of Al-Najah National University in Nablus, Palestine. It is this motion that I want to talk about in this article.

As I write this article, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is busying kidnapping the families of ‘wanted’ men in the city of Nablus – Operation ‘Hot Winter’ is a full scale invasion of the West Bank city by the Israeli army. The offensive operation, which has been ongoing since Sunday morning and is now in its fourth day, has already seen one civilian shot dead and over 45 people, including an Al-Najah student, kidnapped by the IDF. For three out of four of those days, the University has been closed because of a curfew imposed by the Occupation.

Although ‘Hot Winter’ is a large operation, it is simply another episode in a catalogue of attacks on Palestinian who, in the West Bank, have been living under Occupation since 1967. The Human Rights violations committed by the IDF since the start of the Occupation and particularly since the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in Palestine are numerous and well documented by both the UN and NGOs. However, as students I think that it is important for us to consider the experience of our fellow students in Palestine, especially as over a third of the Palestinian population is in full-time education. The Right to Education is enshrined in international law in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which states that “Everyone has the right to education”, and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) which recognizes that “Education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights.” Unfortunately, the students of Al-Najah University have had these Rights consistently ignored.

The twinning motion this Wednesday is designed to show Palestinians, Israelis and the wider world exactly what the Occupation is doing to Palestinian education. It is a simple act of solidarity that can do a lot to break down the feeling of isolation from which Palestinian students suffer. It is also an important platform for the campaign in Britain. Our government is a crucial Israeli ally – the invasion of Lebanon in the summer was only maintained by Tony Blair’s support for US policy – and we must put pressure on our government to break the link between US Imperialism and Israel. This motion is a step towards justice in Palestine but it is also an important end itself. It can provide real relief to people struggling against the Occupation and break down some of the preconceptions we hold as a society. It will also provide hope to people who suffer under some of the worst oppression on the planet.

I urge you to support Human Rights in Palestine, to vote for an end to racism and oppression and to give students living under Occupation a ray of hope – let them know that they are not alone.