In fact, the majority of the 280 arrested students were neither from Gaza nor were they supporters of extremist movements. The remainder represented a broad cross-section from different areas of the West Bank. Malik Taha, former member of the Birzeit Student Council, estimated that over half of the 280 were members of the campus Shabiba faction, the pro-Oslo youth wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction. The release of 95 percent of the students after interrogation during the same day, the remainder uncharged, underlines the inaccuracy of the military source quoted on the IBA news. Birzeit University is concerned that the recent false media reports may precede a similar widespread repression of the university community.
Warning signs are already visible.
Israeli troops swooped on Birzeit village at midday on 10 August, arresting 2nd year engineering Abdul Kareem Al-Arja, from Rafah, Gaza, and have been reported to be entering the village on a nightly basis for the past three days. The effect of the current closure alone has crippled the university programme. We have already lost two weeks of teaching time and exams have been postponed. Even if the university opened normally tomorrow, we will still have to start the coming autumn semester much later than planned. Every additional day of closure makes the crisis harder and harder to solve.