1-28-2014 Palestinians earn degrees while in Israeli jail - MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH Boston.com posting Associated Press

 

This is a report on the Israeli policy of allowing Palestinian prisoners, often convicted of killing Israeli Jews, often in retaliation for the killing of Palestinian protesters, to earn degrees from Israeli universities.  The program waxes and wanes with current events.  It  began in the 1990s as a response to a mass hunger strike protesting  harsh conditions in the prisons. Courses were offered by Israeli universities in Hebrew, and were taken by hundreds of prisoners, some of whom studied languages, history, writing, economics, Israel, and Zionism. 

 

A former Israeli commissioner of prisoners says that the program is an example of Israeli humanity, but also it was intended to give them Israeli language and perspectives if, upon release, they went on to important positions in Palestinian society. Abu Muhsin was released as part of an effort to prepare the ground for current peace talks, a move protested by families of victims. The Palestinian minister of prison affairs says that education is a human right.

 

When funding declined in 2011 as a sanction after the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (not restored after Shalit's release), prisoners organized courses sponsored by Palestinian universities. Uprising leader Marwan Barghuti earned a Ph.D. from an Egyptian university. 

             

This article focuses on Jamal Abu Muhsin, who was convicted of killing an Israeli after IDF soldiers shot stone throwers and who was released—with B.A. and M.A.—during preparation for the current peace talks.  Although Abu Muhsin would not say that he regretted the murder he was convicted of, he does say he understands more about Israeli points of view and has changed his mind about the choice between violence and moral suasion akin to the methods of Gandhi and Mandela. He looks to the U.N. to match its past creation of Israel with creation of Palestine in the present.

 

 

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

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