Protecting higher education from attack in the Gaza Strip

ABSTRACT

Higher education in the Gaza Strip has been subjected to four wars and over a decade of blockade. University staff and students have been killed whilst campus infrastructure has been attacked, rebuilt, and destroyed again. This paper examines opportunities for, and limits to, protecting higher education from attack in Gaza. It presents a framework for categorising protection measures and empirically explores the effectiveness of measures to protect higher education from attack in Gaza since 2007. It finds that whilst Gaza’s academics and students generally express hopelessness at protection under blockade and asymmetric warfare, there are promising potential avenues for protection.

KEYWORDS:

• Gaza
• higher education
• education in emergencies
• protecting education from attack

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Professor Samer Qouta. Gaza. October-2019.

2. Yousef Abu Sultan. Lecturer, Al-Azhar University. Gaza. 2018.

3. Dr. Ahmed Hamad. Head of Media and Press Department, Al Aqsa University. Gaza. 2018.

4. Interviews. Academics, Al Azhar University and IUG. London, UK. February-2016.

5. Former Islamic Jihad member and expert. January-2020.

6. Political analyst. February-2020.

7. Various interviews with students and staff.

8. Former student, Al Azhar University. Doha, Qatar. January-2018.

9. Jabr El-Daour. Vice Chancellor, University of Palestine. August-2020.

10. Professor and architect/designer. Gaza. August-2020.

11. Professor Samer Qouta. Gaza. October-2019.

12. Wael Abdul Aal. Assistant Professor, Qatar University. Doha, Qatar. November-2019.

13. Professor and architect/designer. Gaza. August-2020.

14. Dr Rafiq Mohsin. Lecturer. Gaza. January-2019.

15. Professor Samer Qouta. Gaza. October-2019.

16. Wael Abdul Aal. Assistant Professor, Qatar University. Doha, Qatar. November-2019.

17. Former student, Al Azhar University. June-2020.

18. http://dnntest.iugaza.edu.ps/medicineen/Academic-Study/Post-Graduation/Hayat-Center-for-Emergency-Crisis-Management.

19. Interviews. Academics, Al Azhar University and IUG. London, UK. February-2016.

20. Graduate, Al Azhar University. Doha, Qatar. May-2020.

21. Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Data accessed 6 September 2021. Available online at: https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/foreign-affairs/development-cooperation/safeschools_declaration/id2460245/.

22. https://protectingeducation.org/news/all-parties-should-protect-schools-and-children-in-gaza-conflict/.

23. Professor Samer Qouta. Gaza. October-2019.

24. Journalism graduate, Islamic University of Gaza. Doha, Qatar. February-2018.

25. Maram Shatat. Legal researcher. February-2020.

26. Ibid.

27. Email interview. Jim Roche, Lecturer, Dublin School of Architecture and Chair of Academics for Palestine. January-2020.

28. Mostafa Abo Naser. Vice President of Scientific Research, Al Azhar University. Gaza. 2018.

29. Former student, Al Azhar University. Doha, Qatar. January 2018.