Palestinian universities try to keep Fatah-Hamas split off campus
Hebron University in the West Bank has postponed its student elections after those affiliated with Fatah's and Hamas' student blocs refused to abide by the university's decision to separate university elections from national politics.
Palestinians believe that the student council elections in universities are not limited to conveying students' demands within the campus, but they rather reflect the Palestinian factions' strength and influence on the Palestinian street, where competition between political forces Hamas and Fatah is fierce.
Many university elections were held in recent months, the last of which was in May in the Arab American University of Jenin in the northern West Bank, where Fatah's youth movement, Shabiba, won. Before that, in April, Hamas' student wing, the Islamic Bloc, won in Birzeit University, defeating the Shabiba movement.
Over the past years, student council elections have been run by faction-affiliated electoral lists. But this year, Hebron University, south of the West Bank, decided Sept. 5 to hold the elections based on the individual candidacy system, where students blocs representing political factions cannot run for the elections.
It seemed clear that the situation in Hebron University was heading toward escalation between students and the university administration after the decision. This is why "Hebron University administration decided to postpone the elections for several months after they were initially scheduled to be held on Sept. 29. The elections will only be held once the student blocs agree on the new decision and thus courses would not be suspended, given the fact that student blocs have threatened to disrupt the educational process," Khalel Thabane, the dean of student affairs at Hebron University, told Al-Monitor.
