Israel will allow the reopening of the Islamic University in Hebron, which has been closed since the intifada began more than three years ago.
The school, with a student body of 3,000, is the third-largest Palestinian institution of higher learning in the West Bank.
Its reopening is being viewed as a confidence-building gesture toward the Palestinians. The United States has been urging Israel to make such gestures in the hope of fostering an atmosphere conducive to advancing the Middle East peace process.
Secretary of State James Baker had specifically suggested reopening the Palestinian universities.
Israeli authorities shut them down when the Palestinian uprising began, calling the campuses centers of violence. But the authorities did not interfere when students assembled at different locations to continue their studies.
Last year, Israel permitted the reopening of the universities in Bethlehem and Abu Dis, with encouraging results. The students maintained order.
But Bir Zeit University near Ramallah and A-Najah University in Nablus, both hotbeds of Palestinian nationalism, remain closed. The authorities have hinted, however, that they, too, would be reopened if the Hebron university remains peaceful.
Nabil Ja’abari, chairman of the Islamic University’s Board of Governors, said he hoped the students would act in their best interests and not turn the campuses into centers of violence.
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