BETHLEHEM UNIVERSITY PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release January 2010 8 ﺟﺎﻣﻌـــﺔ ﺑﻴـــﺖ ﻟﺤـــﻢ Bethlehem, Palestine

Gaza Student Completes Her Bachelors Degree from Bethlehem University Ms. Berlanty Azzam completes course requirements for her bachelors degree!

8 January 2010: Bethlehem, Palestine

Bethlehem University officials will travel to Gaza on Sunday, 10 January to mark the occasion of Ms. Berlanty Azzam completing her semester courses and to encourage other students from Gaza who seek to pursue their education at Bethlehem University or other Palestinian universities in the West Bank.

Brother Peter Bray, Vice Chancellor, the Papal Nuncio H.E. Archbishop Antonio Franco, Chancellor, Brother Joe, Vice Chancellor Emeritus, and Trappist Abbott Thomas will be in Gaza for the 10:00am Mass at the Holy Family Church in Gaza with Ms. Berlanty Azzam to celebrate her completion of the course requirements for her Bachelors degree from Bethlehem University.

Also in attendance at the awarding ceremony will be a number of the other Bethlehem University students from Gaza who still await permission from the Israeli military authorities to come to Bethlehem to pursue their education at Bethlehem University. Additionally, a number of the 438 graduates of Bethlehem University from Gaza will be join in the celebration.

Ms. Berlanty Azzam’s education and attendance at classes at the Vatican-sponsored Bethlehem University was violently interrupted on 28 October 2009, just two months before completing her bachelors degree, when Israeli military personnel detained her at a checkpoint inside the West Bank, handcuffed and blindfolded her, and then removed her from Bethlehem and relocated her to Gaza.

As reported in the Washington Post, CNN, BBC, America Magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Maan News and other media, Berlanty’s case drew high-level attention: including inquiries from the Vatican officials, Cardinals, and Bishops Conferences in Canada, the UK, the United States, and Germany; members of the United States Congress and U.S. State Department; members of Parliament and Ministers of Foreign Affairs from Ireland, the UK, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Australia. Noting that the 22-year old female student had no security or other charges against her, and that she had been living in Bethlehem and dutifully pursuing her education at Bethlehem University for nearly four years without incident, dismay was expressed by Gisha lawyers who brought her case to the Israeli High Court when the Court accepted the State’s refusal to allow Berlanty to complete the last two months of her studies in Bethlehem.

For more information on the Bethlehem University students from Gaza who still await permission from the Israeli military to pursue their education at Bethlehem University, see: http://www.bethlehem.edu/archives/2009/2009_023.shtml http://www.bethlehem.edu/Berlanty/media-coverages.shtml ______Providing quality higher education to the people of Palestine, Bethlehem University is the first university established in the West Bank. Serving as a center for the advancement, sharing, and use of knowledge, Bethlehem University traces its roots to 1893 when the De La Salle Christian Brothers opened schools in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jaffa, Nazareth, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. Emphasizing excellence in academic programs and the development of students as committed people to assume leading positions in society, Bethlehem University was founded in 1973 through the joint efforts of Palestinian educators, community leaders, the Vatican and the international Catholic religious order of the De La Salle Christian Brothers. A founding member of the Palestinian Council for Higher Education, Bethlehem University is a member of the Association of Arab Universities, International Federation of Catholic Universities, and the Lasallian Association of Colleges and Universities. As a Catholic Christian co-educational institution of higher learning welcoming students of all faith traditions, Bethlehem University aspires to fostering shared values, moral principles and dedication to serving the common good among more than 3,000 students in undergraduate and post-graduate master degree and diploma programs in the Arts, Business Administration, Education, Nursing, Science, and Institute of Hotel Management and Tourism as well as with continuing education and professional diploma students in the Institute for Community Partnership. ______Public Relations Department Bethlehem University Tel: + 972-2-274 1241 [email protected] Bethlehem, Palestine Fax: + 972-2-274 4440 www.bethlehem.edu