REFLECTION

An introduction to Hebrew University, Jerusalem

By Seán O'Neill

18 July 2007



When I went to the orientation for international students at Hebrew University
in Jerusalem, I expected the ethos to be pro-Israeli. However, I was taken
aback by the level of anti-Palestinian propaganda and fear-mongering.

The first part of the orientation was about the history of Hebrew University,
including how despite being "liberated" in 1967, the campus is still surrounded
by 3 hostile Arab villages. Then the director of the program turned to
security. He implored us all to be vigilant looking for abandoned bags both on
and off campus. He said that in the evenings students should stay in big
groups, reminding them of the three nearby Arab villages.

Next was transportation. "How many of you promised your parents before you came
not to use public buses (for fear of a suicide bomber)?" he asked. Twenty to
thirty hands, out of the two hundred people, went up. "Keep that promise," he
said. He continued, "Never get on the Arab bus. It doesn't go anywhere you
want to go." He warned against going anywhere in the jurisdiction of the
Palestinian Authority, recounting vague horror stories about Israeli children
being kidnapped and taken into the West Bank. He qualified this however by
saying that it should be all right to visit Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Curious students cautiously raised their hands "What kind of bags should we be
looking for that might be bombs?" one asked. "Any bag could be a bomb," he
replied. "Even if you can see through the bag and see that it is just a loaf of
bread. There could be a bomb inside the bread. Arab terrorists have been known
to do that." Another queried, "What if we want to go to Eilat (a Red Sea
resort)? Doesn't the Israeli highway to Eilat go through the West Bank?" He
reassured her, "Yes, but you'll be ok as long as you stick to good Jewish
transportation." A third student wanted to know about Jerusalem itself. "Where
is it safe to go in East Jerusalem?" (East Jerusalem is the older, Palestinian
part of the city, as opposed to the newer Jewish city to the west.) "As for the
Old City, you'll be all right in the Jewish quarter," he explained. "The
Christian and Muslim quarters however are iffy, and at night they're not safe.
As for the rest of East Jerusalem, stay away. There's just nothing for you to
see there."

At this point I'd heard enough. I took my bag and left. If students follow his
advice, they'll never see most of the fascinating historic parts of Jerusalem or
get a sense of its unique character, shaped by thousands of years of history and
culture. They'll never see the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus is said to have been
crucified, or walk the grounds of the Al Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in
Islam. They'll never hear the live Middle-Eastern music at the Jerusalem
Hotel on a Friday night. They'll never see the sun set behind the golden Dome
of the Rock from the Mount of Olives. They may as well not have come to
Jerusalem at all.

If this type of misinformation and outright racism is being disseminated by
Israeli universities, then they are indeed complicit in the growing apartheid
regime taking hold here, making it harder and harder for Palestinian society,
thousands of years in the making, to survive.

The human ability not to see what one doesn't want to see is phenomenal,
especially when you've been told not to look.



Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence
reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT's peacemaking work,
visit our website www.cpt.org Photos of our projects are at www.cpt.org/gallery
A map of the center of Hebron is at
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/0/5618737E38C0B3DE8525708C004BA584/$\
File/ocha_OTS_hebron_oPt010805.pdf?OpenElement The same map is the last page of
this report on closures in Hebron:
www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0705_En.pdf

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