Birzeit University: Student Khattab’s Detention Will Not Deter the University From Confronting the Occupation

Birzeit University condemns the Israeli occupation court’s sentencing of College of Media Arts University student Lina Khattab. On February 16, 2015, the court sentenced 18-year-old Lina with six months imprisonment, in addition to a fine of NIS 6,000 and a three-month suspended sentence.

Birzeit University affirms that the right to education is a guaranteed right in international law and international practice, and that the university’s Right to Education campaign will not rest until it exposes as false the occupation that markets itself as an oasis of democracy. Birzeit University asks all academic and human rights institutions around the world to take note of the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and its violations of the right to education .

Birzeit University also emphasizes that the continuation of Israeli occupation practices against Palestinians and Palestinian students will only enhance the international academic boycott campaign against Israeli institutions that support the occupation. Nor will these practices dampen Birzeit University’s will to lead the confrontation against the occupation.

Birzeit University has spoken with Khattab’s family and tried to offer comfort, saying that justice has not been reached. Birzeit looks forward to the day that all of its students imprisoned by the Israeli military will rejoin their peers in pursuing their educational career, and ultimately the day that Palestinian freedom and independence are achieved.

Khattab was arrested on December 13, 2014 during a demonstration organized by Birzeit University students in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. She is a member of the Palestinian folkloric dance troupe, el-Fanoun.