Palestinian university expels Israeli visitor

The expulsion of an Israeli journalist from an academic conference hosted by a top Palestinian university has unleashed a fierce debate about academic freedom in the West Bank.
It is also shining a spotlight on the apparent radicalisation of some young Palestinians who are disillusioned by years of failed peace efforts and have grown up with little contact with Israelis.
While Bir Zeit University has apologized to journalist Amira Hass, some student activists say they support her expulsion and want the school to rescind its apology. In Israel, officials say such attitudes violate the spirit of academic freedom.
Hass, who writes for the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz, is a popular figure in Ramallah, one of a few dovish Israeli Jews who live in the Palestinian city. In Israel, she is well known and reviled by some for her scathing criticism of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.

But when she attended a conference at Bir Zeit on Sept. 23, she ran into trouble when she listed Haaretz as her professional affiliation.
She said two professors asked her to leave. "They said, 'There is a law in the university that Israelis cannot enter the university,'" she said. One even told her that she should leave for her own safety. Hass, who said she has been to the university dozens of times previously, decided to leave.

"I was at that moment reminded of the image that Israelis commonly have of Palestinians: irrational hotheads," she wrote in Haaretz.
In an interview, Hass said she has received messages of support from many Palestinians. Hundreds signed a petition saying they were shocked by the expulsion, calling her a courageous defender of Palestinian human rights.

Ghassan Zaqatan, a prominent columnist, called the treatment of Hass "shameful."
Bir Zeit expressed regret and said it will work with students and faculty to help them understand university policies that "oppose discrimination based on identity."
The university "takes pride in observing the academic boycott of Israel," but this applies to institutions, not individuals like Hass who have "distinguished themselves by being on the side of justice and humanity," Bir Zeit said in a statement.
The affair has been hotly debated on campus. On Thursday, the student council demanded the university withdraw its apology. "We say that any Israeli Zionist is not welcome in Bir Zeit University," said Mustafa Mustafa, head of the student council.