The Palestinian Minister of Education in the West Bank Sabri Saidam on Sunday said that 340 Palestinian university students are being held in Israeli jails.
This was voiced during a press conference held at the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society on the Israeli violations against Palestinian academic institutions.
Saidam condemned what happened at Birzeit University on Wednesday when a group of Israeli undercover soldiers broke into the campus and arrested the president of the student union Omar al-Kiswani after disguising as journalists.
Saidam said that a massacre could have happened at the university as the Israeli soldiers heavily opened fire during the arrest operation.
He described the attack as a “state terrorism” and called on the International Association of Universities and the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to urgently act against these violations.
The Palestinian Minister pointed out that nine schoolchildren were killed while 603 injured in 2017 by the Israeli occupation forces adding that about 311 students from various West Bank schools are languishing in Israeli lock-ups.
He explained that 352 Israeli attacks have been launched against 95 schools in the West Bank including break-ins accompanied by heavy firing of live ammunition rubber bullets sound bombs and tear gas canisters vandalism of school property and demolition warnings.
Undercover soldiers (Musta’ribin) are special Israeli forces who speak Arabic language very well and wear and look like Arabs. They are highly-trained soldiers who have carried out hundreds of assassination operations against the Palestinians.
