Editorial Statement: Education, Violence and Pedagogies of Decolonization

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/bethunivj.35.2018.0075
• Pages: 75-77
• Published date: 01 January 2018
• Date: 01 January 2018
• Author: Jamil Khader

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BETHLEHEM UNIVERSITY JOURNAL 35 (2018)

Editorial Statement

Education, Violence and Pedagogies of Decolonization

This new volume of the

Bethlehem University Journal

presents different articles and reports

that address various aspects of education and pedagogy and explore their implications for

experts, professionals and practitioners at the local, regional, and international levels. These

contributions investigate vocational education and plagiarism in Palestine, special education

and tax assessment competencies in Jordan, and an “anthropology of self-criticism” in global

contexts of violence.

The contributions about education and pedagogy in Palestine should be read in the context of

the relentless Israeli attack on the Palestinian higher education system. The Global Coalition

to Protect Education from Attack defines attacks on education as “any intentional threat

or use of force – carried out for political, military, ideological, sectarian, ethnic, religious or

criminal reasons – against students, teachers and educational institutions” (Global Coalition,

2019).

In 2014, the independent and non-partisan network Al-Shabaka published a report that

details the different measures used by the Israelis to carry out their assault on the Palestinian

educational system (Shalan & Abdelnour, 2014). These measures include systematic

restrictions on the mobility of students and faculty through an elaborate system of permanent

and fly checkpoints as well as the 700 kilometer-long segregation wall, hindering their ability

to attend schools, colleges and universities and take part in other academic activities in

Palestine and around the world. Needless to say, this is a privilege that is granted to Israeli

students without any restrictions.

In addition, these draconian measures include limiting students’ access to education due

to arbitrary security considerations; banning Gaza students from attending Palestinian

universities in the oPt; denying exit permits to winners of foreign scholarships and fellowships

such as Fulbright and Erasmus; the destruction of university property and infrastructure;

repeated campus raids, closures and military crackdowns on universities; the conversion of

academic institutions into temporary prisons and detention camps; detention, interrogation,

torture and murder of students and faculty; and the confiscation of student organization

material.

BETHLEHEM UNIVERSITY JOURNAL 35 (2018)