Thursday 22 October 2009

Hamas: Student blocs at Al-Najah university boycott elections, Fatah pressures


Hamas: Student blocs at Al-Najah university boycott elections, Fatah pressures

[ 22/10/2009 - 09:43 AM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Movement of Hamas in the West Bank stated Thursday that many leaders of the student blocs of Palestinian factions were exposed to blackmail and pressures by Fatah to dissuade them from their decision to boycott the student council elections at the university of Al-Najah.

Hamas stressed that the message was delivered to everyone and Mahmoud Abbas and his entourage should be aware of what happened in the university of Al-Najah, even if some student blocs backtracked on their boycott decisions.

Hamas affirmed that its Islamic bloc at the university also decided to boycott the elections in response to the surrounding circumstances and the students’ interest and in protest at the repressive practices taking place against all students who do not belong to Fatah bloc.

In the same context, the seven student blocs said Wednesday that the boycott decision was taken in light of the Palestinian Authority’s non-democratic practices at the university.

“We submitted our legitimate demands to the deanship of student affairs, the university administration, and its board of trustees so that we can fight the elections freely and democratically, but the university administration represented in the dean of student affairs insisted on being on the side that goes against the interests of students,” the boycotting student blocs underlined in a joint statement.

The blocs, in their petition, asked the university administration to ban the political arrests carried out against the backdrop of student activities and to reopen the headquarters of student blocs.

The blocs accused the university administration of backtracking on their earlier positions towards the student activities held for elections and supporting one faction against the others.

In a related context, Mahmoud Abbas’s militias in the West Bank kidnapped during the last two days seven Palestinian citizens affiliated with Hamas including five students of Al-Najah and Al-Quds universities.

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