Palestinian universities try to keep Fatah-Hamas split off campus
Hebron University in the West Bank has postponed its student elections after those affiliated with Fatah's and Hamas' student blocs refused to abide by the university's decision to separate university elections from national politics.
Palestinians believe that the student council elections in universities are not limited to conveying students' demands within the campus, but they rather reflect the Palestinian factions' strength and influence on the Palestinian street, where competition between political forces Hamas and Fatah is fierce.
Many university elections were held in recent months, the last of which was in May in the Arab American University of Jenin in the northern West Bank, where Fatah's youth movement, Shabiba, won. Before that, in April, Hamas' student wing, the Islamic Bloc, won in Birzeit University, defeating the Shabiba movement.
