ABSTRACT
Palestinian universities were considered by the Israeli authorities as fomenting support for the Palestinian national movement. If one examines how Palestinian universities were actually managed, it becomes apparent that these structural woes were compounded by the traditions, culture and social structure of Palestinian society. Palestinian universities were required to reorganize their systems to accommodate the prevailing circumstances. In fact, Bizet was the Palestinian university subjected to the largest number of such warrants. Between the years 1979 and 1988, it was shut down 14 times by the Israeli military authorities. The enforcement of military directive no. 854 brought the issue of academic freedom in Palestinian universities to the public agenda. As the political process gained momentum, and subsequent to its apex - the signing of the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993 the Palestinian universities assumed pioneering roles in the process of state-building. In the aftermath of the first Intifada, the higher education system in the Palestinian territories resumed its regular academic activities.
