Academic Freedom after the Destruction of Gaza’s Universities

During the most recent phase of the conflict in Gaza, the Israeli military has destroyed or severely damaged all of Gaza’s universities, including Israa University, Al-Azhar University, the University College of Applied Sciences, the University of Palestine in Gaza, and the Islamic University of Gaza. Almost one hundred Palestinian academics have been killed in Gaza, including Professor Sufian Tayeh, President of the Islamic University of Gaza, Dr. Said Al-Zubda, the President of the University College of Applied Sciences, and Professor Refaat Alareer, one of Gaza’s most prominent intellectuals. Meanwhile, staff and students at Birzeit University in the West Bank have been detained or restricted from their academic activities. This event focused on the current situation concerning the Palestinians’ right to education, and asked probing questions about the consequences for academic freedom in the UK and elsewhere. Chair: Prof Conor Gearty (LSE) Speaker: Ms Reem Al-Botmeh (Birzeit University) Discussants: Dr Rafeef Ziadah (KCL) Dr Nimer Sultany (SOAS, University of London) Ms Safaa Sadi Jaber (HBKU) Speaker Biography: Ms Al-Botmeh is Director of the Institute of Law, Birzeit University. She serves as the Assistant Editor of the Palestine Yearbook of International Law. She is a co-author of the LSE Middle East Centre report: “Palestinian Everyday Life: Within and Without Legality” (2018): http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/100145/1/Naamneh_Living_Within_and_Without_Legality_2019.pdf Discussant Biographies: Dr Rafeef Ziadah is a Senior Lecturer at KCL. Dr Ziadah’s research focuses on political economy, gender, and race, with a particular focus on the Middle East and East Africa. She holds a PhD in Politics from York University, Canada. Previously she was a Lecturer at SOAS University of London and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the ‘Military Mobilities and Mobilising Movements in the Middle East’ project. In addition to being an academic, Dr Ziadah is a poet and performance artist. Dr Nimer Sultany is a Reader at SOAS, University of London. He holds a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from Harvard Law School and was the recipient of the British Academy Fellowship (2016/17). His book Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring (Oxford University Press, 2017) won the 2018 International Society of Public Law Book Prize and the 2018 SLS Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of The Palestine Yearbook of International Law. He is a former Director of the Political Monitoring Project at Mada al-Carmel—The Arab Centre for Applied Social Research. Ms Safaa Sadi Jaber is a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) Candidate at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) College of Law in Doha, Qatar. She is from Gaza and is developing a doctoral project on international law. This event was organised by Dr Luke McDonagh (LSE Law School) and Dr Mazen Masri (City, University of London).

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