Rome, Italy, Jan 25, 2012 / 09:57 am
The Israeli-built wall between Jerusalem and the West Bank is deterring staff and students from attending Bethlehem Catholic University, officials from the school say.
“We lose students but we also lose faculty who have been teaching at the University and who come from Jerusalem but don´t want to go through that humiliation every day,” Brother Jack Curran, the university’s Vice President for Development, told CNA on Jan. 18 during a two-day visit to Rome.
“The young people are very resilient and are willing to put up with a lot but it does concern us for the future,” he said.
The barrier is a 26 foot wall erected by Israel to separate itself from the Palestinian-controlled West Bank. Israel says the wall protects them from Palestinian terrorism. Opponents of the wall say it breaks international law and illegally annexes parts of Palestinian territory.
Bethlehem Catholic University sits close to the wall on the Palestinian side, but many of its students come from East Jerusalem, which lies on the Israeli side.
“There are students, now about 20 percent of students, who go through the checkpoints of the wall every day, twice a day, coming and going,” explained Br. Curran, an American from upstate New York, who has been in Bethlehem for nine years.