2022-06-21

West Bank

West Bank / Core Program / position paper

MUSAWA’s statement on the Decisions of the Board of Trustees of An-Najah National University

After MUSAWA has carefully considered the decisions issued by the Board of Trustees of An-Najah National University regarding the events it witnessed, which were characterized by a blatant violation of the human dignity and physical integrity of a number of university students and a university professor, by the University’s Security Department, in an unprecedented manner, which has outraged broad societal circles, that looked forward to the issuance of decisions by the university’s administration that are capable of providing a safe academic environment at the university. Having has extrapolated these decisions, we find the following:

1. The decision to exempt the director of the university security department from his position and grant him an open leave until the decision about him is taken is not sufficient, given that he is the second responsible person, after the university administration, for the performance and behavior of the security staff. We believe that the decision should have included the termination of his services, similar to the security official who practiced violence and used sharp tools against students.

2. The decision to terminate the services of six university security officials who were proven to have participated in violence and used tools against students, according to what was stated in the statement. We believe that the decision should have included referring them to the Public Prosecution and the judiciary to ensure their criminal accountability and obligating them and the university administration to compensate the victims of the attack. What applies to them applies to the other sixteen university security officials who are referred - according to the statement - to the relevant committees to take disciplinary measures.

3. With regard to the decision to restructure the security department at the university, we believe that the restructuring requires dealing with three matters: the content and limits of the powers granted to the security department, administrative subordination, and the conditions for occupying a position in the security department. This requires abolishing the security doctrine of the university security department revealed by these, and therefore considering the university security as unarmed civil security and defining its tasks in a manner that includes maintaining the security of buildings and properties and controlling any manifestations targeting the security of the campus by external elements, and for considerations and reasons not related to internal academic, professional and union life, so that the interference of the Security Department in the academic and union affairs of professors and students alike is prohibited. The Security Department, as an executive department, must not resort to taking any decision or action before obtaining specific approval or assignment from the university administration or the person designated by it. In addition, the conditions for occupying the position in the university security department must be stated, to include clearly the prohibition of double duty or working in an official security apparatus, the thing that calls for issuing a system and not being satisfied with the code of conduct proposed in the statement, since the system has a legally binding force while the code has a moral force.

4. What the statement included in “the appointment of a sufficient number of women to work in the security department” in the context of adopting the security approach in solving problems similar to what happened and in the absence of a precise definition of the powers of the security department and the absence of its reference, will expand the circle of human rights violations instead of limiting them, to later reach an increasing number of female students.

5. The decisions should have included an absolute criminalization of the presence of weapons, including pepper gas, inside the university campus and in an absolute manner.

6. The university administration's apology should have been linked to its pledge and commitment to compensate the victims. Accountability, compensation, reparation and institutional reform is the goal, and achieving it provides a solid basis for preserving the university’s position and role, and enhances confidence in it both internally and externally.

While we call for the accurate and comprehensive implementation of the decisions of the Board of Trustees of An-Najah National University and their development as indicated in this statement, we stress the need to ensure that the student council elections are held regularly, in a transparent and fair manner, free from any interference from the university administration or its security department.

Published on 21.06.2022

MUSAWA