News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Supreme Court has ordered the government to review criteria used by the IDF to determine which Arab students from areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority will be allowed to study in Israeli universities.  The current criteria were created in response to a 2006 Supreme Court ruling.  Justices said the criteria fail to respect universities’ discretion in choosing which students to accept.

According to current criteria, undergraduate students from PA areas will not be allowed to study in Israeli universities.  Graduate students will be allowed to study in Israeli schools only if the field they wish to study is not taught in PA schools, and is not deemed as having the potential to be used against Israel.  Universities wishing to accept PA students must provide an explanation for their decision to accept a particular individual, and IDF commanders have the power to reject any student due to “general security considerations” without explaining their decision to the school.