Israel may prevent Palestinian prisoners from writing high school exams

Date: 23 / 06 / 2009 Time: 15:09

[Ma'anImages]

Ramallah - Ma’an - Israeli prison authorities have yet to give the go ahead for Palestinian prisoners to write the high school matriculation exams, the Tawjihi, said Minister of Prisoners Affairs Issa Qaraqi’a on Tuesday.

High schoolers across the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem began writing their matriculation exams three weeks ago, and will finish the tests, which determine university eligibility, next week. In past years prisoners have started the tests two weeks following the close of testing in schools.

This year there are 1,821 Palestinian prisoners registered to take the exams, and officials from the Ministry of Prisoners Affairs have requested permission to have the tests administered. Israeli officials, however, have given no answer to requests, saying they are awaiting approval from Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch.

Qaraqe said any attempt to prevent the prisoners from writing the tests would be seen as a great provocation and would be “in contravention of the Geneva convention.”

He said court action would be taken against prison authorities if the exam was not written, and planned to contact members of the international community to help push forward his request.

Last year 361 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers passed the Tawjihi and started distance learning classes at the Hebrew Open University. In 2008 there were 100 Palestinian prisoners who completed their bachelors degrees.