Academic from Gaza: We started at Islamic University in tents, we may have to start again

By Mohammed Sheikh Yousef

ISTANBUL (AA) - Palestinian professor Kamalain Shaath told Anadolu that residents of the Gaza Strip are capable, with determination and faith, of resuming education in the region after the war with Israel ends.

The former president of the Islamic University in Gaza, spoke to the Turkish news agency on the sidelines of the Palestine and the Future of International Relations seminar, organized by Ibn Khaldun University in Istanbul, with the participation of academics from various countries.

He pointed out that universities and schools in Gaza had already started teaching in tents and could do it again.

-Dire educational situation

Shaath touched on the dire educational situation in Gaza due to the Israeli war, noting that it is currently difficult to obtain accurate information about the extent of the damage inflicted on the education sector.

“I imagine that between 70 to 80% of higher education institutions have been affected during the recent period,” he said. “For example, 80% of the buildings of the Islamic University were destroyed because it was targeted by Israeli airstrikes three times.”

“Unfortunately, the Israeli army bombed almost all the universities in Gaza and half of its schools,” he said.

Shaath explained that the damage inflicted on the educational system did not only stop at infrastructure but affected human lives, noting that “200 members of the educational staff were killed by the occupation, including professors, scientists, doctors, and others.”

He added that education is “currently suspended in Gaza,” but “there is some basic education for students inside the camps that were established.”

-From tents to tents

Despite the destruction suffered by universities and schools, Shaath expressed his belief that the spirit of will and faith among Palestinians would contribute to quickly resuming the educational process after the war.

“We have the will and faith in our ability to resume the educational process immediately after the war ends, and we have done so before,” he said. “I was at the Islamic University (at its founding in 1978), and we started there from tents, and we can return from tents again.”

The Islamic University is one of the oldest universities in Palestine, with 10 colleges and 81 academic programs, and has graduated more than 60,000 students.

-Role of academics in holding Israel accountable

Regarding his opinion on Israel facing the International Court of Justice, Shaath described it as “useful and unprecedented.”

“For the first time, Israel finds itself questioned by some authority; it has always relied on being above accountability,” as “any state can be easily held accountable before the world, while Israel enjoyed immunity.”

Regarding the role that academics can play in the trial, Shaath said: “The case in the international court is primarily political but needs support from all sectors, primarily from the media, governmental agencies and academics.”

“I imagine that academics have a good role in expanding the circle of true knowledge, not just populist and emotional knowledge," he said.

Shaath believed that the results of the trial would “depend on its receiving moral and practical support from various international bodies and governments to hold Israel accountable for its actions.”

​​​​​​​*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​