Sierra Arden United Church of Christ
890 Morse (corner of Morse and Northrup)
Sacramento

We invite you to hear Berlanty Azzam – a courageous young Bethlehem University graduate from Gaza – tell the story of her harrowing deportation from the West Bank last year, just weeks before she was set to graduate. This visit marks the first time she has been allowed to leave Gaza. It is a rare opportunity for you to hear firsthand about the challenges in place to thwart so many Palestinian students from getting an education.

Berlanty was studying at Bethlehem University in October 2009 and was only weeks from obtaining her degree in business administration when Israeli soldiers detained her at a checkpoint for six hours, handcuffed and blindfolded, and eventually dumped her over the border into the Gaza Strip.

Berlanty was able to graduate after Bethlehem University made special arrangements for her to complete her coursework in Gaza. But this U.S. visit marks the first time she has been able to to speak freely to friends and supporters about her story as well as those of other students who remain behind. Please come to support Berlanty and to join in this important discussion.

Until 2000, about 1,000 Palestinians from Gaza were studying in the West Bank, many in essential fields not available in Gaza. In 2000, Israel imposed a ban preventing students from leaving after the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada. The ban has been in place ever since, despite a 2007 ruling by the Israeli High Court that Gaza students should be allowed to study in the West Bank “in cases that would have positive human consequences.”

Israel has not allowed a single student to exit Gaza since then, according to the Israeli human rights organization Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, which represented Berlanty in her appeal to return to Bethlehem University.

Israel’s ban has dealt a severe blow to higher education in Gaza and to society at large, especially because training in vital professions such as occupational therapy, dentistry, physical therapy, speech therapy and health system is offered only in the West Bank.

In April 2010, more than 60 prominent Israel academics and intellectuals wrote to Defense Minister Ehud Barak asking him to lift the sweeping prohibition that prevents these students from studying at West Bank universities. “Allowing our Palestinian neighbors to build a thriving and peace-seeking civil society is clearly an Israeli interest,” they asserted.

Gisha has appealed to Israeli military authorities on behalf of three students from Gaza accepted for studies this year at Bethlehem University: Jawdat Michael, Dana al-Tarazi and Owda Aljelda. Those appeals are pending.

Berlanty’s visit to the United States is co-sponsored by Bethlehem University, Gisha and the Kairos Project. Her Sacramento appearance is made possible through the Sacramento-Bethlehem Sister City and the Sierra Arden United Church of Christ Peace and Justice Committee.