| Mid-East school of hard knocks celebrates |
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| Written by Mike Hirst | |
| Sunday, 11 January 2004 | |
 An exceptional university's remarkable 30th birthday set amidst "roadmap" deadlocks and violence is really something to celebrate, writes Michael Hirst. As Bethlehem University enters is 30th year the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades intifada is in its third. In the three years since the Palestinian uprising or intifada began, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict has seen economies ruined, cities wrecked and about 3,000 people killed.  The university is is an oasis of hope for young Palestinians Whatever the so-called "roadmap" may once have looked like, suicide bombs, loosely targeted assassinations, security fences and stubborn leaders have churned its blueprint into an illegible pulp. In this climate, the only Catholic university in the occupied Palestinian territories is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Founded at the request of Pope Paul VI to serve Palestinian youths in the occupied territories, it provides an education for the arts and culture and promotes inter-religious dialogue and collaboration. But Bethlehem University has had a troubled upbringing. No academic year has been finished on schedule and the university has been closed a dozen times by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), most recently for 75 days while Israeli soldiers occupied the compound, keeping some teachers under house arrest. So often has the university compound been struck by Israeli bullets its academics joke it is used for IDF target practice. Every campus building has been damaged, with one empty classroom having been struck by successive laser-guided rockets. The construction of Israel’s euphemistically entitled "security fence" will make it even harder for students of the university, many from Jerusalem and Hebron, to attend classes this year. And, with annual tuition fees of US$1,000 per student (the remaining US$2,000 needed is subsidised), it is hard to see how this loss-making enterprise survives. But American-born Brother Vincent Malham, Bethlehem University’s president and vice-chancellor, is not only interested in survival. He wants development. "When I meet people who are losing hope I tell them: 'Go over, go under, go around, go through. But never give up'," he says. Epitomising the unshakeable faith of those striving to keep Christianity alive in the Holy Land, he and 11 fellow organisers (eight American, two English, one Irish and one Palestinian) oversaw the graduation of some 425 students in 2003. About 2,100 students are enrolled for the next academic year, two-thirds of whom are female. Mr Malham accepts the daily difficulties faced by students and teachers alike with a shrug, but admits the difficulties remain a reality. According to him, the five major hurdles to running the university are:
"These are voices I hear all the time," he says. "Some are voices of the discouraged and suffering; others of the concerned; still others are of the courageous who dare to speak out. "All are voices yearning for justice, for reconciliation, for an end to violence," he says. Mr Malham does not place the blame for this violence squarely on Israel and its internationally reviled occupation and settlement policies. Palestinians, too, must "clean up their act" by ending corruption, reforming the government, and establishing a viable democracy, he says. Nor is Mr Malham an apologist for suicide bombers, condemning the "violence and corruption of young Palestinian minds that all too often are taught to hate." "When fear, humiliation and terror bruise the Palestinian population and when the closures imposed by the IDF starve the population, how can one think that the number of volunteers for suicide attacks is going to diminish, though?," he asks. But still he can see a way forward. Having travelled around Europe and the US raising funds to keep his university alive, Mr Malham is not prepared to give up the struggle for what he sees as a cornerstone of the Palestinian people's future: education. But this is a struggle that needs assistance. First and foremost is ensuring that any progress made is genuine and includes engagement from the international community – with the US in a leadership role, he says. "Vested interests must be put aside and tough decisions made – with strategic sanctions, if necessary – to encourage and facilitate a fair, just and peaceful political negotiation," he believes. "Wouldn’t it be wonderful," Mr Malham muses, "if some of the US$3 billion given to Israel each year was used to fund peace, development and co-existence instead of to fund missiles, tanks, helicopter gunships and barbed wire?" Though demographically, Palestinians will outnumber Israelis in the Holy Land in little more than a generation, there is the distinct possibility that the fast-dwindling indigenous Christian population will disappear altogether in the same period. To avoid this, Mr Malham believes the international Church – its leaders, its institutions, its faithful – needs to be more involved in taking a "dynamic, prophetic role" in the promotion of peace in the Holy Land. "If Christians are to be encouraged to remain in the Holy Land rather than to emigrate, they must be given hope that there is a future for their children, a country in which they can live normal lives, have an education and enjoy employment opportunities, as well as be allowed to travel freely and to live in dignity and respect," he says. Mr Malham's unwavering resolve suggests the future is far from bleak for both Palestinian and Christian residents in Bethlehem and further afield. "If our university can both survive and develop in such a depressing time of conflict, imagine the possibilities in a time of peace," he says. Related Items:
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