Last week the annual elections for the student council took place on the campus of Birziet University in the West Bank, Palestine. More than 3000 students were called to vote for the candidates of seven blocs running for the elections. The student council has 51 seats and coordinates political and cultural events on campus and represents the interests of the students vis-a-vis the university administration. Many observers regard the Birzeit University student elections as a barometer of Palestinian political opinion, which is the reason much attention is paid to its results.
This year's elections ended with a victory of the Islamic An-Nahdah (Revival) Bloc, who won 22 of the 51 seats in the council. The bloc was followed by the pro-Fatah Jerusalem Bloc with 20 seats. Another Islamic group won one seat and the remaining eight seats went to two groups identified as pro-left.
These results repeated the success of the Islamic bloc of 1998, when they won almost 40 percent or 20 of the seats in the council. Compared to this 1998's results, the Jerusalem Bloc has won one seat while the Democratic Pole associated with pro-left groups lost three seats.
The success of Islamic groups has been increasing over the last five years, which is evaluated as a general success of the Islamic movement in Palestine. In order to understand the election success, one has two consider that political discussion at Birzeit concerning the elections takes place on two different level.
The first is the general political situation in Palestine. Political sympathy for one or the other group or movement is often tied to the stand that movement takes towards the peace process. The disappointment of many Palestinians with the "so called" peace process and its outcomes in the form of the Palestinian National Authority has turned them away from Fatah, the leading group of the PLO. Though Fatah is fighting to be seen independently of the PA, in people's eyes the connections are too close. The name of the Jerusalem Bloc indicates a shift of focus and distance from the mother movement Fatah, though the connection is publicly known. With its political focus on the future of Jerusalem as part of the final status talks the bloc meets the concerns of many Palestinians.
In a similar way the Islamic Bloc, optimistically named revival bloc is not only an identification point for supporters of the Islamic movement, namely Hamas, but also a pool of opposition forces of the peace process. The Islamic bloc publicly always denounces its connection to Hamas, for obvious reasons. Hamas and Jihad Al-Islami has been the main target of Palestinian and Israeli (and often even joined) attacks, in order to guarantee Israeli 'security'. In the process the organizational and also charitable social network of Hamas and related organizations has been severely damaged, with consequences for the social situation of the Palestinian population in general and especially in Gaza.
On a second level, students also vote for the different blocs according to their programs concerning university internal changes. For the students it is of equal importance if a bloc or group has an agenda for promoting students' interests on campus.
The An-Nahdah Bloc program is impressive in covering all the important issues, including:
keeping the university open for all students by controlling the students' fees, supporting the Poor Students Fund and finding new funding for it, 'protect the Palestinian identity and culture, and fight the cultural and thought invasion that the student community faces', organize a week in support of the Palestinian prisoners, develop services in the dorms, strengthen community feeling, help new students, observe service and costs of the cafeterias on campus, develop a health insurance program, participate in planting trees especially on lands threatened by Jewish settlements and many others.
The program states: "The main base out of which we come is fulfilling our responsibilities and the need to be honest in implementing this program hoping that Allah will help us to meet our duties and responsibilities."
A leaflet of the Jerusalem Bloc greets the students with this poem:
Greeting to Palestine the homeland and the return,
Then to Jerusalem we sing
As we always sang to Palestine
The sacrifice was great...
Jerusalem is our capital and our compass that won't get lost
My brother and sister student
Your bloc is the Jerusalem Bloc
It is the national expression and the inheritance of martyrs and all free people
It is the protector of your national and union rights
One of the leaflets of the Islamic Groups states the following:
"We greet them with the name of your bloc, the Islamic group bloc, and we are with you on an appointment to renew your loyalty to your Arab and Islamic beliefs, to your occupied homeland that is surrounded by walls and thrones, to the good kept in your hearts and blood, to the future that is drawn on your faces and in your eyes."
Birzeit has recently been in the media after protesting students hurled stones at French Prime Minister Jospin for a comment regarding terrorist activities of the Hizbollah in South Lebanon. The incident was followed by harsh measures of Palestinian intelligence and security forces, during which dozens of students were detained. Only after expressions of solidarity with the detained students, by students of other Palestinian universities, public figures and wide protests from human rights and other groups, were the students released .
Juliane Hammer is a freelance writer from Berlin, Germany. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in Islamic Studies at University of Humboldt in Berlin. For feedback, e-mail
hayati222@yahoo.com
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