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18
Friday, Febriary 1, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
lit!!! SI
NEWS
The
Politics Shade Palestinian
Commencement-Exercises
BLIND
SPOT
I
BY GIL SEDAN
Nablus (JTA) — For two-and-
a-half hours one day last month,
inside the unfinished parking
garage at the Arab university,
A-Najah, it seemed as though
there was no Israel occupation
here.
Cheering Palestinians — an es-
timated 2,000 to 3,000 people —
attended the fourth commence-
ment exercises at the university
which has often been the scene of
violent clashes between Arab stu-
dents and Israeli soldiers.
They sang nationalist songs,
chanted Palestinian slogans and
listened to patriotic speeches,
against the backdrop of a huge
red-white-black Palestinian flag
hanging, in an illegal public dis-
play, in the rear of the garage. The
Israeli army kept away from the
university; choosing not to inter-
vene.
As a rule, political gatherings
in the administrated territories
are forbidden. Any exception
must receive prior approval from
the military authorities, and this
is rarely given. The commence-
ment ceremony at A-Najah gave
the Palestinian elite a golden
opportunity to hold a political
rally disguised as a purely aca-
demic event. Nobody who
attended had any doubt that this
was, indeed, a political rally.
As the 481 graduating students
entered the hall to the strains of
the Palestinian national song,
Mawtini (My Country) and rais-
ing "V" signs with their fingers,
the crowd cheered with
enthusiasm. Women, whose chil-
dren studied at the university,
yelled traditional expressions of
joy.
Among the crowd were many of
the national leaders, most of them
deposed from their official posi-
tions — Bassam Shaka, who was
removed as Mayor of Nablus, and
Karim Khalaf, deposed Mayor of
Ramallah.
Next to them sat a distin-
guished guest, Wat Clevarius, the
American consul general in East
Jerusalem — quite openly an ex-
pression of American interest in
the quality of life of the Palesti-
nians under Israeli ocupation.
(U.S. Secretary of State George
Shultz has often expressed inter-
est in the development of Arab
universities in the territories.)
The participants did not hide
the fact that they regarded
A-Najah — and seven other uni-
versities in the territories — as
symbols of national renaissance.
The university's management
likes to compare it with the He-
brew University in Jerusalem,
and the role it played in the early
days of the Yishuv.
nr
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A-Najah National University
(its official name) is the largest
university in the territories. It
was founded in 1918 as an educa-
tional institution. In 1941 it be-
came a college, and in 1965 it was
transformed into a teachers'
training institution. Under Is-
raeli rule, in 1977, it became a
university. It has grown from sev-
eral hundred students at the be-
ginning to a current enrollment of
3,100.
Political activity on the
A-Najah campus, as on most cam-
puses in the territories, domi-
nates the students' lives. The stu-
dent body is controlled by Al
Fatah supporters, with strong op-
position from the Moslem
Brotherhood.
Studies at the university were
resumed only two months ago
after a four-month ban. The sanc-
tion was imposed on the students
after they held a nationalist ex-
hibition which displayed, accord-
ing to the authorities, elements of
incitement. Such closure orders
have become a part of the univer-
sity routine.
The authorities close the uni-
versity, there is a quiet period, fol-
lowed by another exhibit or a
demorfstration which triggers a
severe reaction on the part of the
military.
As a rule, though, the military
refrains from intervening in most
indoor activities as long as they
are not considered incitement.
Papers Spar On
Award To Nazi
New York (JTA) — A Miami
Beach weekly has charged the
Miami Herald with having prev-
ious knowledge that Miami Beach
Mayor Michael Fromberg unwit-
tingly was going to present an
award • to a former Nazi SS
sergeant at a ceremony last year
attended by a large group of
Jewish residents of the area, ac-
cording to a report in a December
issue of Editor and Publisher
magazine.
The Miami Beach Sun Reporter
claimed that the Herald sat on the
story until the award was made.
But the Herald's reporter and
editors said they had no advance
knowledge of the identity of Franz
Hausberger who was to receive
the medallion from Fromberg in
recognition of his work to encour-
age German tourism.
TheHerald said they received a
tip shortly before the ceremony
regarding Hausberger's past ac-
tivities. They contacted sources to
confirm his identity and sent an
additional reporter to the cere-
mony to join the reporter origi-
nally assigned to the story. By the
time the reporter arrived the
Herald said, the ceremony had al-
ready begun.
Resettlement Aid
New York — Pioneer Women/
Na'amat has transmitted
$200,000 for newly-arrived
Ethiopian Jews.