Imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, including murderers, receive free university education in Israeli prisons - which are generously funded by the Palestinian Authority, and in cooperation with Palestinian universities and even UNESCO organization! All this in addition to many other benefits the PA gives terrorist prisoners.
Palestinian law provides a series of benefits, including an exemption from tuition fees at schools and universities.
In 2011, Israel decided to cancel access to higher education. Several appeals were filed by some of the imprisoned terrorists, but their petitions were rejected after the courts ruled that imprisoned terrorists do not have a specific right to participate in higher education.
Obtaining university degrees, which only a minority of Palestinians can obtain outside of prison, may be, in the eyes of some Palestinians, an incentive for terrorism.
Since this court decision was made, Israel has never lifted the ban on university studies for imprisoned terrorists. At the same time, the reality looks quite different.
In a recent interview, the Vice President of Open Al-Quds University, Muhammad Shahin, described in detail the thriving university programs for terrorists in prison. He explained who is involved, how the system works, and how the funding is done. The program includes a number of degrees, "teaching" and "academic supervision" within the prison, as well as examination committees to ensure everything is done according to "academic standards."
Describing the University Program for Prisoner Terrorists - which are "a crown of honor on our heads" - as "part of the university's social responsibility," Shahin provided the following facts about the university's program, which has existed in one form or another since 2000:
The current program was established in 2014, in an agreement between the Open Al-Quds University, the PA Prison Ministry at the time (now called the PLO Prisoner Authority), and the Ministry of Education.
Tuition is free of charge. 30% of the costs are covered by Al-Quds University "as a scholarship for all prisoners," and the rest is paid by the Prisoner Authority in the PLO.
Senior terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who was convicted of planning 5 murders and sentenced to 5 life sentences, is leading a master's degree program in "Israeli Studies" for his fellow prisoners, as part of the Al-Quds Open University program.
The Curriculum for Prisoners of the Open Al-Quds University is held in 5 prisons: Rimon, Ketziot, Gilboa, Nafha and Shikma.
Every prison has an "academic committee" made up of inmates with a master's degree and a doctorate. The committee oversees examinations, grades, transfer of grades - "All procedures, and especially academic ones, so that questions are within the rules and criteria found at the university."
A lawyer on behalf of the Prisoner's Authority in the PLO passes the tests from the prisons and "submits them to the dean of admission and registration of the university."
[PA official TV, "Patience Giants", 8/10/2020]
The illegal university programs in Israeli prisons continue unabated , despite the prison service's denial that such studies take place. In fact, Kadri Abu Bakr, head of the PLO Prisoners' Authority, admitted this year that the PA owes more than $3 million to Palestinian universities for tuition expenses for terrorist students.
Prison degree programs are independent or "stand-alone," in the sense that "academic staff" members come from among the inmates themselves. A prisoner-killer terrorist with an academic degree can be appointed a lecturer in a university course. In this way, Marwan Barghouti, who has been convicted of planning 5 murders and is serving 5 life sentences, and allegedly holds the title of "Doctor of Political Science", can head the "Israeli Studies" program for fellow prisoners:
Marwan Barghouti's program, including the possibility for Palestinian terrorists to study for free in prison, is so popular that the father of one of the imprisoned terrorists told his son to stay in prison and complete his academic degree, and not ask for early release:
It is not just the open Al-Quds University that offers degrees to terrorists. Al-Najah University in Nablus does as well. This university even has three convicted murderers in the "faculty" who teach in the track of international law and human rights!
When family members presented certificates and credentials of their terrorist-prisoner relatives, one of them was a graduation certificate from a course on international law and human rights, given by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the National Al-Najah University.
A UNESCO certificate mentions the names of the course facilitators, which include three killers responsible for the deaths of 25 Israelis: Yasser Abu Bakr - responsible for 3 attacks in which people were killed; Nasser Avis - responsible for attacks in which 14 people were killed, and Izz A Din Hamamara - Involved in terrorist attacks in which 8 people were killed:
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Elder of Ziyon
