Centre Daily Times · 2 July 1979
CP-1979-007
Israelis Decide To Reopen Bir Zeit, Palestinian School
Associated Press, Tel Aviv, Israel
Transcribed from the clipping
“TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli military government has decided to reopen Bir Zeit University, the Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank of the Jordan River that was closed May 2 after political demonstrations.
The decision coincided with the visit of Robert Strauss, President Carter’s special Mideast envoy who will take part in Palestinian autonomy talks… The acting president of Bir Zeit University, Dr. Gabi Baramki, said today that following meetings with Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and the West Bank military governor he was told the school could reopen.
Weizman also halted plans to prosecute a number of leading West Bankers for June demonstrations against Israeli settlements in occupied territory, the Israeli press reported.
The two actions marked an easing of the tough Israeli stance in the occupied area and appeared to be an attempt to calm Palestinian protests and world criticism of closure of Bir Zeit and Israel’s settlement policy.
Baramki said resumption of classes for the 1,100 Palestinian students at the university 15 miles north of Jerusalem awaits only formal notification of the decision. A spokesman for the Defense Ministry said ‘every punishment comes to an end’ and that Baramki had promised that Bir Zeit would operate ‘in peace and quiet.’
The university was closed after a demonstration in which Israeli cars were stoned and an Arab youth was wounded by shots fired by Israelis. More than 100 Bir Zeit students were taken in for questioning about the demonstrations.
There had been plans by the military government to bring charges against a number of West Bankers — incluidng Nablus Mayor Bassam Shakaa — for participating in a banned demonstration on June 17 against the new Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh.”
Context added by this archive
The closing of a university described by a defense ministry spokesman as a punishment, in one sentence: every punishment comes to an end. The word occupied appears four times in the paper’s own voice. “incluidng” is the paper’s.
Cite this clipping
"Israelis Decide To Reopen Bir Zeit, Palestinian School," Centre Daily Times, 2 July 1979, p. 1. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1979-007. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1979-007
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Last updated 2 November 2026
This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1724 to 2023. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.
The clipping belongs to the newspaper that printed it, or to the news agency that supplied the copy. It is reproduced here for research, criticism and commentary. A city here is where the newspaper was published, not where the story came from, and on most records it was taken from the masthead.
Something wrong here, or something you know about this clipping? The archive is still being built and corrections are wanted: maria@rozumstudio.com, quoting CP-1979-007.
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