   
Two Thirds of Students Unable to Reach Birzeit University
Skip Schiel, Right to Education Campaign, Birzeit University, 22 September 2004
Students and faculty were unable to get to Birzeit University today due to an Israeli military checkpoint set up on the road from Ramallah to Birzeit which was in place from the morning until 2pm in the afternoon. Hundreds of students waited in Ramallah for the road to clear and only a few students were able to reach the university. 
Israeli APC and troops set up checkpoint at university's east gate
Photos, Yasser Darweesh/Birzeit University, 17 March 2004
This morning, an Israeli Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) stopped at the entrance to the University and checked student IDs for over 30 minutes for no apparent reason. The university began recording the numbers of jeeps after being told that Israeli soldiers had orders not to be in or around the university. Arrests during these kind of events are commonly arbitrary and discourage students from braving the checkpoints to get to class.
Temporary removal of Surda Roadblock
Photos, Birzeit University, 3 December 2003
Birzeit University has a student body of over 5,000 students and over 700 faculty and staff. The overwhelming majority of the University community members reside in Ramallah and Jerusalem and their only means of reaching the University is through the Ramallah-Birzeit Road. Since the spring of 2001, the Israeli occupation forces have been obstructing vehicular and pedestrian travel along this vital artery by various means. They have dug ditches in the road and erected barriers that have made vehicular travel physically impossible and pedestrian crossing difficult and dangerous. On 3 December 2003, the Surda Roadblock was removed, although it inevitable was to return later.
A Caged Bird's Song
Documentary, Sobhi Zobaidi, 22 November 2003
Filmed in the spring and summer of 2003, the film joins students and teachers on their everyday journey to reach their schools and universities under the regime of military roadblocks. Basic activities associated with educational life: reaching class, going home, attending graduation, have become immense challenges. In continuing to make the difficult journey, students and teachers assert their right to education and a future. This is their story.
Lecture at the Surda Roadblock
Photos, Birzeit University, 14 October 2003
On October 14, 2003, over 100 students and faculty members held a makeshift class at the checkpoint on the Ramallah-Birzeit Road which remained closed for the 7th consecutive day. Students, frustrated at their inability to reach the University, and at the loss of yet another day of classes, came together carrying placards with statements such as Yes to Education, No to Occupation and Open Minds: Open the Way to Education. The students sat on the ground to listen to a 45 minute lecture given by Dr. Abdalkarim Abukhashan, a professor in the Arabic Language Department at the University.
Students Under Occupation
Nayef Al Hashlamoun, Palestine Today, 2 September 2003
A series of photographs depicting students and school children in the West Bank, by Nayef Al Hashlamoun, a professional photographer based in Hebron.
Teargas at Surda, trapped on the wrong side
Photos, Rita Giacaman, 21 May 2003
After one day of curfew in Ramallah (Sunday, 18th May, 2003) and two other days (Monday and Tuesday) of absolutely no crossing allowed by the Israeli army through the Surda Roadblock on the road that links Ramallah to Birzeit University, the roadblock opened unexpectedly on the morning of Wednesday 21st. It closed just as suddenly around 2-3 pm, trapping hundreds of ordinary citizens, Birzeit faculty, students and staff on the wrong side of the roadblock from their homes in Ramallah.
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