The Right to Education Campaign

The Right to Education Campaign in Al Quds University was launched as extrapolation efforts with other campaigns that were launched in different Palestinian universities to defend the right to education in the Occupied Palestinian territories.

Our decision to launch this campaign comes at a time when students of our university are facing serious obstructions to pursuing a university education. Previous and current violations our students face include:

• Check points, the Wall and other restrictions on movements of the students
• Detentions of several students and teachers with a number of cases of administrative detention
• Several measures of collective punishment in the University Street and around the campus of the university

The symbolic relevance of Al Quds University as the only arab university in Jerusalem, is the main reason for the former and other obstructions that imposed by the Israeli Occupying Army on the university staff, students and properties. In overall, the circumstances of the education in Al-Quds University shaped the aims of the campaign as follow;

• Monitor, document and report the Israeli human rights violations in the university
• Follow up the affairs of the university students in prison
• Raise the awareness in all available communities about the status of the educational process in Palestine and Al Quds University in particular
• Raise the awareness in the students bodies about the importance of pursuing their right to education as guaranteed by the international human rights standards

Stop the Ring Road

Press Release Ring Road Report English.

As-Sawahreh Cemetry

Report on Israel's Annexation of East Jerusalem and As-Sawahreh Cemetery

The Al-Quds Human Rights Clinc at Al-Quds University Law School in Abu Dis (East Jerusalem) is a law school clinic that works with students to apply international human rights and humanitarian law to the situation in occupied Palestine. The Al-Quds Clinic and the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law scho have agreed to collaborate on a project addressing the separation of the community of As-Sawahreh in East Jerusalem from its only cemetery. The clinics will also work closely with Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel in the case an opportunity for litigation arises to protect against human rights violations.

As-Sawahreh is one of the main villages in the area surrounding Al-Quds University’s main campus. Part of the village is separated from the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area by the Separation Wall, which was constructed by the Israeli government and justified as a security measure but which separates parts of the occupied Palestinian territory from the rest of it, annexing some territory to Israel. The village is itself divided by the Separation Wall, a complex system of military checkpoints and security permits, and a network of settlement roads. The only cemetery available to the As-Sawahreh community is on the west, or Jerusalem, side of the Separation Wall in the area of Jabal Il Mukabir, which has been annexed to the area within Jerusalem’s Israeli municipal boundaries. This destroys the unity of the community and the historical and geographic contiguity of As-Sawahreh village. It also makes it extremely difficult for the people on the eastern side of the Separation Wall to reach the cemetery to bury the dead or visit the graves on cultural and religious occasions. This has been an issue since 2003, and it touches on a variety of problems, including expropriation of Palestinian land, restriction of the right to freedom of movement, and access to cultural and religious sites, as well as the displacement of people, obstacles to family unification, and residency nullification, through which many residents of As-Sawahreh have been deprived of their permanent residency status in Jerusalem. (In 2009, more than 4,000 people lost their identity cards, which grant them the right to live in, have access to, and and work in Jerusalem and to receive social and health benefits).

In the spring semester, the Lowenstein and Al-Quds clinics will work together to produce a human rights report on the effects of the separation of the As-Sawahreh community from its cemetery. The clinics’ research will also seek to establish a legal and factual basis for possible litigation or advocacy in international human rights bodies. Adalah will investigate possibilities for bringing a case in Israeli courts and will help to guide the research. The clinics will communicate regularly with Adalah, sharing information and developing strategies.

In February and early March, the two teams will conduct legal and factual research in preparation for a week of field research in mid-March. The Lowenstein Clinic team will research international and humanitarian law that is relevant to the separation of the As-Sawahreh community from its cemetery. To provide background and context for the more specific issues raised by lack of access to the cemetery, the Lowenstein Clinic will also look at other rights affected by the Israeli government’s broader separation policies and practices. This research will include issues such as land grabbing, settlements, freedom of movement, access to cultural sites, family reunification, and residence nullification. It will address economic, social, cultural, and religious rights, as well as civil and political rights. The team will also consider cases in other countries that have involved a lack of access to a cemetery or comparable issues.

The Al-Quds team will conduct background research on the history and current situation in As-Sawahreh, survey the organizations working on issues related to Israel’s separation policy, create a database of references, acquire maps, meet with the As-Sawahreh Local Council to explain the project and receive support, collect written materials, set up meetings with interviewees, and consult with the Al-Quds Institute of Modern Media on the use of audiovisual technology in human rights documentation and advocacy.

Over the spring break, the Lowenstein Clinic team will travel to Abu Dis, and the two teams will work together to interview residents of the Al-Sawahreh community on both sides of the Separation Wall, members of the Local Council and the Land Defense Committee, Israeli officials from the central government and municipality, and members of non-governmental organizations. The teams will also collaborate in producing an audiovisual product. The Al-Quds team will take primary responsibility for the audiovisual advocacy, with the support of Al-Quds Educational Television. The visit will include time for evaluation and planning: The clinic teams will work together to draft an outline for the report, discuss the specific audiences it will target, and, in consultation with Adalah, prepare a preliminary advocacy plan.

Following the field research, the Lowenstein Clinic will draft the report in English. The Al-Quds Clinic team will conduct additional interviews and factual research as necessary, and it will translate the final report into Arabic. The two teams and Adalah will continue to consult throughout the semester about the report, potential web-based and media advocacy, and possible litigation. In the fall, the clinics will release the final report, prepare a joint press release, and hold a joint press conference (using a video conference). The clinics will also collaborate in disseminating the report and engaging in various forms of related advocacy. As some of the work of drafting the report will continue beyond the spring semester, students on the Lowenstein Clinic team should be able to commit some time in the summer and fall to finalizing the report for publication and contributing to advocacy based on it.

This project may lead to new opportunities for collaboration between the two clinics in subsequent semesters. Such collaboration would be determined in further consultation with the Al-Quds Clinic and Adalah. If Adalah decides to proceed with litigation, the clinics may have the chance to work on drafting a brief and other court documents. Alternatively, the clinics and Adalah may consider making a submission to a U.N. human rights body, such as the Human Rights Committee or the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The clinics may also seek to use the cemetery issue as an entry point to engaging with other human rights and international humanitarian law challenges facing East Jerusalem and Palestinian Jerusalemites, such as the harassment of university students by the Israel Defense Forces and interference with students’ physical access to the university.