As Israel announced a series of plans to expand settlements in and around Jerusalem, the conferring of official university status upon a college located in an illegal Israeli settlement also made headlines, highlighting Israeli intransigence and unwillingness to part with the occupied West Bank.
The decision gives the newly accredited Ariel University Center the same status and privileges as the other seven universities based within Israel proper, even though it is located across the Green Line. The settlement of Ariel, home to the newly minted university, is located some 20 kilometers (12 miles) inside the West Bank. It is closer to the Palestinian city of Nablus (the largest in the West Bank) than any Israeli population center, underscoring exactly just how far-flung its placement is from what the international community defines as Israel’s borders.
