C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 001270

SIPDIS

NEA FOR BURNS, SATTERFIELD/DIBBLE, E.
NSC FOR ABRAMS/DANIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2010
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID KWBG GZ IS GAZA DISENGAGEMENT ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: "TECHNOCRAT" PRESIDENT RUNS INTO TROUBLE AT
AL-AZHAR UNIVERSITY

Classified By: Pol/C Norm Olsen for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: An angry mob of students, reportedly stirred
up by remnants of the previous, Arafat-appointed
administration, chased the new al-Azhar University president,
Dr. Hani al-Nijim, from his campus office February 28 in
response to al-Nijim's announced plan to uphold long-ignored
university standards and policies, including on tuition and
fees. Classes are suspended while the university board
weighs a date to re-open. Al-Azhar, sometimes characterized
as the "Fatah" or secular university, faces, like many
Fatah-linked institutions, increasing competition for
prestige with its chief rival, the Islamic University of
Gaza. Although at least one board member expressed his
confidence that the conflict will be resolved, the type of
troubles experienced by Dr. al-Nijim seem likely to recur in
other arenas as Fatah responds to its embarrassing defeats by
Islamists in January local elections in several Gaza strip
municipalities, and gears up for more elections in coming
months. End Summary.

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Cleaning up al-Azhar
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2. (C) Dr. Hani al-Nijim, appointed February 15 as the
president of largely secular al-Azhar University in Gaza
City, was reportedly driven from his office by a mob of
rioting students the evening of February 28 after an earlier
announcement that he intended to actively implement
long-standing university standards and policies. According
to al-Azhar Board of Trustees member Ahmad Mousa, al-Nijim
was having trouble from the get-go, as he attempted to impose
a more formal relationship between his office and the
students. Under the former university president, PLO
Executive Committee member Riad el-Khoudary, Mousa continued,
the students, in particular the student council, had exerted
what Mousa called in his March 1 conversation with Poloff

"significant influence" over decisions affecting the
university. In particular, Mousa cited students being
exempted from paying fees and tuition, as well as being
awarded diplomas without having completed course
requirements.


3. (C) While reports in the Israeli media portrayed the
February 28 events as an armed mob of Fatah-affiliated
students attempting to "lynch" the new president, Mousa
painted instead a picture of a beleaguered technocrat
empowered by President Abbas to end an era of chaos and
declining standards under the previous, Arafat-appointed
president. He said the conflict had been instigated by Hazem
Isqaq, dean of the Continuing Education faculty and a
relative of ousted president el-Khoudary. Unhappy with the
uniform and more stringent policies being imposed by the new
president, and reportedly in fear that he would lose his
position, Mousa said, Isqaq mobilized students in his
department by telling them that the new president would not
allow them to receive their diplomas. Several hundred
students then went on a rampage, Mousa said, vandalizing
several university offices and calling for the president to
resign. Riot police eventually quelled the mob, and the
president and the board suspended Isqaq pending a full
investigation of his role in the incident. Mousa said that
the Board intends to re-open the university in several days,
so as not to penalize the entire student body (currently on
vacation) for the actions of students in a single faculty.

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Board Claims Abu Mazen Support
--------------


4. (C) Unlike in the Arafat era, when those with strong
Fatah credentials and often little else to recommend them
were appointed to public office, and organizations like the
Board of Trustees were little more the "rubber stamps," Mousa
said, President Abbas supported the board's decision to
retire then-president el-Khoudary, and had freed the board to
decide on his replacement based on merit (Note: El-Khoudary
was reportedly appointed subsequently to a senior position in
the PLO education department. End note). Calling
el-Khoudary "inefficient," the board was unanimous in voting
his ouster and also united in its support of al-Nijim, a
veteran board member who is reportedly widely recognized as
being technically competent and in possession of a "clean
reputation."


5. (C) Al-Nijim and his top aide, Mazen Hamada, would not
comment directly to Emboffs on the February 28 events, saying
only that they awaited the results of the board's
investigation. Al-Nijim flatly told PD officer March 2 that,
"I do not know about politics -- I know about academics," and
stressed that he intends to run the university "in proper
order, according to regulations." Mousa said that in its
letter of appointment, the board had specifically entrusted
to al-Nijim responsibility and authority to carry out all
university rules and procedures, as well to put an end to
nepotism.

-------------- -
Situation Requires A Certain Leniency, But....
-------------- -


6. (SBU) Krister Nordahl, UNRWA program director in Gaza,
confirmed that virtually all educational institutions in
Gaza, including those run by UNRWA, have been under
increasing pressure during the four years of the Intifada to
be lenient with students, many of whom have extreme
difficulty in getting to their place of study because of
internal closures. Nordahl said that most institutions in
Gaza recognize the need to bestow a certain latitude on
students unable to meet course requirements because of
closures or other movement-restricting events outside their
control. Mousa and others familiar with the level of
education at the university described a system that abused
that latitude to the benefit of well-connected students and
to the detriment of the educational standards of the
institution.

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Declining Standards, Declining Prestige
--------------


7. (SBU) Comment: Although the universities do not fit
neatly into a political line-up, with a broad brush, al-Azhar
is viewed as being secular or "Fatah," and the Islamic
University of Gaza (IUG) is viewed as being Islamist or
"Hamas." Embassy education experts have increasingly noted
over the course of this Intifada a sense within al-Azhar that
its once-unique prestige is increasingly rivaled by IUG,
which has been both more creative in adopting compensatory
measures such as distance learning, and more bold in
modernizing its curriculum (Note: IUG, for example, teaches
its business administration courses in English, from U.S.
textbooks).

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Burnishing a Tarnished Image
--------------


8. (C) Comment cont'd: The appointment of al-Nijim and the
subsequent challenge to his authority by remnants of the
Arafat-appointed cadre at the university appear a microcosm
of what lies ahead for those interested in "cleaning up" the
image of both the PA and Fatah. Ahmad Mousa was expansive in
his conversation with Poloff, depicting a board interested in
exercising a new-found freedom to use its judgment for the
good of the institution under President Abbas and shedding
its "rubber-stamp" reputation. Although at least one board
member expressed confidence that the conflict will be
resolved, the types of troubles experienced by Dr. al-Nijim
seem likely to recur in other arenas as Fatah responds to its
embarrassing defeats by Islamists in January local elections
in several municipalities in the Gaza Strip, and gears up for
more elections in coming months.

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