The University of Bradford Students’ Union council voted by a clear majority in their first meeting of the second semester on 25January 2010, to twin their Students' Union with the Islamic University of Gaza, which was targeted in the attack on Gaza in January last year and Gaza Strip has been under Siege for more than four years.
The motion was passed by a majority of the council members and presented by the Students’ Union Bradford United 4 Palestine society. This motion comes to draw the first twinning initiative by the Students’ Union and a university in the occupied Palestine. It mandates the University of Bradford Students’ Union to support the campaign to open up its subscriptions to electronic journals and e-books with IUG and to look at sponsoring exchange visits for teachers and students from both institutions.
The Students’ Union Secretary-Treasurer, Khaled Almudallal says: “The twinning initiative comes due the awareness that our student body have for the issues of the world and Palestine is at the heart of those issues. The Students’ Union is trying to do their best to convey this twinning at wider levels”.
The Islamic University of Gaza was bombed on December 28 causing US$15 million worth of damage. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states that "Everyone has the right to education", and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), recognises that "Education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realising other human rights."
The Students’ Union, and its Bradford United 4 Palestine society, and the Let Palestinians Study Campaign, are organising Palestine Awareness Week (PAW) and remembrance, which will be held at the University of Bradford campus. The week of actions coincides with the 1st Anniversary of Gaza War which has been commemorated worldwide. Events will run from 1st February to 5th February.
On Wednesday, 3rd February 2010 the students of Bradford will be celebrating the twinning with IUG through a video link with IUG officials and students live from Gaza. (For more information visit: www.u4p.co.uk, www.ubuonline.co.uk)
