A BIG cover-up is happening in the Arab American University in Jenin - but what are they covering up? ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Monday, March 31, 2025

A BIG cover-up is happening in the Arab American University in Jenin - but what are they covering up?

The WSJ article I referenced this morning said:

Palestinians who left Jenin are coming to believe they may not return for months or years. Several large sites have been designated to house them meanwhile, including the Arab-American University campus, 6 miles southeast of Jenin.

Kamal Abu al-Rub, Jenin’s governor, said the school closed sometime after the war in Gaza began, leaving thousands of dormitories vacant. The university didn’t respond to a request for comment. When The Wall Street Journal visited the campus in early March, families were busy moving in and cleaning up dusty units.

Why would a major Palestinian university close? It is not near any IDF activity, and it appears to have closed a while back.

It should be easy to find articles about a university with thousands of students closing. Yet I cannot find any. The university website doesn't say anything, and it still publishes press releases and job postings.

AAUP has two campuses, its main one in Jenin and a separate one in Ramallah. Looking at news articles in Arabic on the site, it seems to me that any articles mentioning Jenin stop fairly suddenly in December 2024.

The silence is eerie. It is easy for a campus not to publish articles, but one would expect students to talk about the hardships they have when their campus closes. Especially the ones who stay in the dormitories. When Israel goes after terrorists on campus, there are always lots of articles about how Israel is blocking Palestinian education, but in this case - almost complete silence.

I found a mere hint of things happening, in one press release from February from the dean of the medical school.

The Dean of the College of Medicine at the Arab American University, Professor Malek Zeben, held a series of meetings with the college's students via Zoom to check on their academic progress and the progress of their educational and clinical training programs, amid the challenges facing the country and the exceptional circumstances facing the region and the university.

The meetings focused on checking on the well-being of students and their families during these difficult circumstances, as well as on the progress of the educational process in general.

Professor Zaben emphasized the importance of ongoing communication between the college and students, appreciating their patience and endurance during these exceptional times. He also highlighted the college's ongoing efforts to ensure the continuity of clinical training for fourth- and fifth-year students at various hospitals. He explained that the training process is proceeding successfully despite the current challenges, thanks to the efforts of the college staff and the university's support.

He added that thanks to these efforts, alternative training locations have been secured, both inside and outside the country, ensuring the safety of students and the continuation of safe training. This is a significant achievement under these circumstances. He urged primary school students to adhere to attending lectures and actively participating in scientific discussions, emphasizing that the College of Medicine's responsibility lies in graduating competent students capable of performing their professional duties to the fullest. He also pointed out the need to maintain students' academic standards and ensure good preparation for final exams.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the dean listened to students' questions and comments about the challenges they face during this period, stressing that the college will work to find solutions to these issues. He also wished all students and their families safety and success, calling for intensified cooperation between students and members of the academic and administrative staff to achieve the desired educational goals.

So we know there are "challenges" and the upper class med school students are doing clinical training at other hospitals, while other students found alternative places to study both in the West Bank and elsewhere, perhaps Jordan. (I found one Facebook post that hinted an AAUP student was not at Al Quds University.)

There is a cover-up going on here. But what exactly are they covering up?

I have a guess, but that is all it is.

In a video I found from December 2023, shortly after October 7, there was a huge banner celebrating terrorism with the faces of former terror leaders and generic masked terrorists and many hundreds of students rallying. Another banner indicates that the rally was a celebration of the anniversary of Hamas' launch.

As I said, the normal university press releases from the Jenin campus ended around December 2024. That happens to be the time that the Palestinian Authority went into Jenin to try to find militants.

Is it possible that they closed the entire school for its pro-Hamas activities?

If that is true, then both the PA and the university would not want this to get into the news. It would be extraordinarily shameful - for the PA to close down a school in the West Bank and for the university to go along with it. One can even imagine threats of arrests or expulsion for students who post about this on social media. The campus apparently just went to remote only mode, and students who need labs or other reasons to be in person are being sent to other campuses.

I cannot think of a better explanation. But whether my theory is true or not, the silence around the closing of a university shows that we cannot assume any degree of freedom of expression from areas under PA control - even in social media.

Notice that of the many journalists stationed in the area, none of them seem curious about an entire university campus closing. And you can be sure that if Israel was responsible, there would be a lot of articles about it.

Only the news that is allowed to be published, is. That is something that should be mentioned in every single story.