Students at Bethlehem University face 'extraordinary' difficulties

Source: Vatican News/ICN

The war on Gaza and the increasing violence and restrictions in the Occupied West Bank are having a devastating effect on students at Bethlehem University - the only Catholic university in the Holy Land.

Opened in 1973, a decade after Pope Paul VI's historic pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Bethlehem University serves around 3,000 students, and sees its mission as contributing "to building a free, peaceful and vibrant Palestine."

BU Vice-President for Advancement, Br Jack Curran, FSC, is currently in Rome, for a meeting of aid agencies serving the Eastern Catholic Churches. He spoke to Vatican News' Fr Adrian Danca about the toll that the Israel-Hamas war is exacting on students at BU, and ways that staff are trying to adapt.

Br Curran said that the situation for students at BU has been "really quite difficult for many years", but that problems have "intensified extraordinarily" since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October last year.

He stressed in particular the lack of ability to enter and leave the West Bank, or move from town to town within it.

To arrive in Bethlehem from Jerusalem, where 40 percent of BU students live, Br Jack noted - a journey of just eight kilometres - was "impossible for five months."

Br Curran said that this situation had forced faculty and staff at Bethlehem University to "find new ways to engage the students."

This meant, he said, focusing on the essentials of their mission: "to provide a human and Christian education to the students", forming their character and helping make them better citizens.

He said their goal was to nurture within their students the mindset that "the future is a future of hope."

Sometimes, he noted, this is quite difficult: "the intensity of the psychological pressure on our students and on our faculty is a great concern."

For this reason, he said, "we're trying to do what we can to maintain normalcy as best as possible, and to attend to the psychological and academic concerns of our students."

Asked how individuals can support the work of Bethlehem University, Br Curran said that there is an "urgent need" for both prayer and concrete solidarity. Financial gifts, he said, are greatly appreciated, as they help to "upgrade counselling and psychological care" for students, as well as to increase academic support.

"This mission that we have as the only Catholic University in the Holy Land," Br Curran concluded, "is amazingly important. It's a great place for the Church to be."

Leila Sansour, an acclaimed British Palestinian filmmaker from Bethlehem, whose father was one of the first Catholic vice presidents of the University at the time or its founding in the early seventies, told ICN: "I remember the enormous challenges my father faced being part of that very early effort to establish Bethlehem University as an internationally recognised institution.

"I remember the passion with which people worked against the enormous pressures imposed by the Israeli military occupation on all endeavours that could guarantee Palestinians the basics of collective social life and education.

"I remember how challenging it was to obtain basic licences, open bank accounts, have fax machines. These were outlawed by the Israeli military authorities as were many other means of communication with the outside world. I remember student protests and the violence of the Israeli military against basic demands for human rights. I remember how many of those students were often beaten, incarcerated or killed.

"Throughout this time, Bethlehem University remained a beacon of hope for our community, both to the Christians in Bethlehem and Palestinians in general. It is so painful to see it struggle today, against an even greater challenge, as unspeakable atrocities unfold not only in Gaza but, also, incrementally and alarmingly in the West Bank. I can only hope that those who care about the future of the university and the enormous contribution it brings to the future of our region will find it in them to do everything they can to help it survive."

LINK

Bethlehem University: www.bethlehem.edu/ar/msw-ar/