University of Haifa lifts ban on activity of Arab student clubs

Haifa University has lifted its ban on Arab student clubs’ activities and will allow them to hold public activities on campus, a statement by the Adalah Centre said yesterday.

In a statement the organisation said: “Haifa University announced to the Supreme Court (SCT) that it is willing [to] lift its recent ban on Arab student clubs’ activities, and allow them to hold public activities on campus to celebrate the end of the school year. This announcement followed Adalah’s appeal to the SCT, filed on 5 June, against the Haifa District Court’s decision to uphold the ban on activities of Arab student club. The University also announced that it would wave court expenses imposed by the District Court, in return for Adalah’s withdrawal of the appeal.”

In response to Haifa University’s announcement, Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher, who represents the Arab students’ clubs, said: “Although the university’s proposal does not fix the injustice that the Arab student clubs faced as a result of banning [of] their activities, including the violation of their freedom of expression, we agree to the university’s proposal. We see that it meets the basic demands that we sought through our Supreme Court appeal, most importantly, to reinstate the Arab student clubs’ activities.

“It is very unfortunate that Haifa University forced us to go through this long and complex judicial process to reach a decision that meets the basic principles of freedom of expression.”

On May 18, the Dean of the University of Haifa announced a freeze of student groups Jabha and Abnaa Al-Balad until the end of the current school year after they organised activities to commemorate the Nakba Day without prior permission, the dean claimed.