Israeli forces, early Wednesday, fired tear gas at a university campus in the central West Bank, administrators said.Officials at the Salfit branch of al-Quds Open University told Ma’an News Agency that Israeli soldiers raided the campus and showered students with tear gas.
‘Campus workers collected some 70 empty tear gas canisters,’ the officials said, adding that the gas prevented students from attending classes.
‘The Israeli occupation’s procedures targeting students and faculty of al-Quds Open University will never discourage the university from moving forward as planned,’ the administrators added.
An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Higher Education condemned a similar raid on Jan. 22, when Israeli forces fired tear gas at students on the campus of al-Quds University in Abu Dis and damaged university property.
The ministry said, at the time, that the raid was part of a ‘continuous and systematic context of violations against the Palestinian institutions … including the educational institutions and their cadres.’
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories, of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part, have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
