For the first time in Israel's history, a university is being created on a West Bank settlement, and this is being seen as a significant victory for the settler movement. Ariel University Center, which has 13,000 students, is not really new; it has simply become accredited. But the result is the same: The change in its status is seen as giving it greater legitimacy and further permanence. However, upgrading the college in the Ariel settlement is illegal. Settlements are illegal under international law and most of the world community agrees. The United Nations and other international bodies have said Israeli settlements in the West Bank violate international law against construction on occupied territory. And if all settlements are illegal, then all institutions there are illegal. But champions of the upgrade said it proved the government's commitment to holding on to the West Bank, part of the future state of Palestine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has been promoting a string of pro-settler measures — including a state panel's recent conclusion that the Israeli settlement of the West Bank is legal. “This is a day of celebration in Ariel, and a day of celebration for higher education in Israel," Netanyahu said in a message. Yet, the question of whether to make AUC official raises explosive questions about Israel's long-term occupation of the West Bank. It would bestow a new kind of national gravitas on Ariel, the fourth largest settlement in the West Bank, making it more difficult to uproot in the case of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. There is also the problem of prejudice. The Ariel institution is open to all Israel citizens including Arabs. However, like other Israeli universities, it refuses admission to Palestinians in the West Bank. While Israel is building a new institution for students in the West Bank, there are Palestinian students from Gaza who are not allowed to study in the West Bank. West Bank students cannot study in Jerusalem. Ariel promotes the settlements at a time when settlement construction is at the center of a three-year freeze in peace talks. The US has asked Israel to freeze such construction and the Palestinian Authority has said it will not negotiate directly with Netanyahu's government unless it does so. Ariel is also an attempt by Israel to use academic institutions to further a political agenda, which is the establishment of the settlements and the occupation as a permanent fixture in Israel. The university is being used to identify the entire Israeli academic community with the settlement policy, which many fear will lead to the end of international academic cooperation. Already there is an academic boycott in place. Researchers at Ariel are unable to submit grant requests at many funds around the world. There is no justification for creating a new university in Israel while existing ones are suffering from insufficient resources. So what would have likely been a simple accreditation process in almost any other country has instead become a controversial political decision.
