I was in attendance when this motion was passed and I was swayed by the proposers arguments that Palestinian students feel a deep sense of isolation from the rest of the world. This isolation, caused by the Occupation, is the root cause of suicide attacks. This motion will hopefully overcome that isolation: in Palestine by showing people there we care; in Britain by highlighting the issue for wider audiences so that they don't just switch off when it comes on the news. I also think that the motion was right to concentrate on independently verified facts and the fact that Education is a fundamental human right. Its a human right because all people should expect it, not just Israelis.

Good on the students at Manchester! Glad to hear somebody standing up against the racist Israeli state. Today Manchester, tomorrow Palestine, the day after the world!

hold on a second-did i just hear u say hebrew university- zionist central! why shud we twin with hebrew uni? are hebrew uni students experiencding an occupation which dictates their every move and every part of their life? the whole point of twining from wht i understand is for it to be between a university and another which we r looking to show our solidarity with students struggling against and facing hardship and injustice Hebrew university, although it may allow both israeli and arab students in (which is not such a big deal as for a university to actively not allow one part of their populatn fair access based on their race would just be racist and wrong- but then again this is israel we r discussing here!) Hebrew uni doesnt allow palestinan students to study there! U can lie to me and say they do- but the reality is if ur palestinian u cnt get an ID to go there! NOw why shud an israeli university already getting a lot of funding frm international and governmental sources require a european university to twin with them? there is no need to try and provide some skewed view pretending to be balanced and twinning with an israeli university when the facts on te ground r not balanced! israel is blatantly occupying another land and its indigenous ppl and its restricting access to education as a way of furthering its zionists aims!

England is quickly - indeed, eagerly - committing cultural, moral and spiritual suicide. To understand why and how, read the brilliant analysis in LONDONISTAN by Melanie Phillips. If you are from the UK, act now before it is too late. If you are from another country, pray that your nation is not committing the same fatal errors.

Well Done Manchester! This is simply another smack in the face of the agressors. This is not the first twining and not the Last, Check this out: ISRAELI CHECKPOINTS AT BRITISH UNIVERSITY On Tuesday March 13th, the Leeds University Jewish Society invited the Director of Public Affairs for the Israeli Embassy – Ronit Ben Dor- to speak on ‘Israel’s perspective on the Middle East Conflict’. By 6:30 pm, 250-300 students gathered outside the Conference Auditorium of Leeds University, expecting to attend the 06:45 pm scheduled talk. To their surprise, the students found Security Guards all around the place. According to J-Soc, the security measures are to guard the speaker, being an Israeli diplomat. The Security Guards were asking students to stand into separate queues, that for women and another for men. Students were admitted one by one, in a tremendously slow process, to find security checkpoints awaiting them inside the building. Mobile phones and metallic objects were placed in transparent bags, and students were body searched with metal detectors. One of the students was asked to lift her skirt off up to the knee. The scene reminded me of the Israeli checkpoints in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the humiliation faced by Palestinians as they go past it. We are all aware of the Israeli violations and cruelty against the Palestinians, but what justifies these actions in the UK? It only appeared to me as a ploy to attract attention and a sense of victimisation on the part of the Israeli guest speaker and the hosts. We were all admitted to the hall after an hour’s delay and started listening to a speech that was far from logical, and stood at odds with the facts of history as well as with the current reality. The speech aimed to conceal the truth about the Occupation from the audience by simply speaking against Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Iran. Ben Dor struggled to answer any question on the legality of the Israeli Occupier, or those to do with UN resolutions that Israel is in breach of. The speaker’s efforts in attacking other countries clearly demonstrated the lack of self confidence in the aftermaths of the massive Israeli losses in ratings within world public opinion. The most recent evidence on this was the BBC survey, where a vast majority of 56% voted Israel as the country with the most negative influence in the world. One also wonders why Jewish students seek to invite Israeli Diplomats to speak on their behalf. The talk at Leeds, and a previous one Ben-Dor gave at Manchester University, clearly demonstrated the lack of self confidence of Jewish students. At Leeds, Jewish students represented over two thirds of the audience, yet did not ask a single question. J-Socs embarrassment was evident as they witnessed their guest being defeated by Palestinian Supporters who competed in asking questions. On the other hand, the Palestinian supporting organisations have been performing tremendously as they twin more British Universities with Palestinian ones, latest being Manchester University with Anajah University in Nablus, and Leeds University with Bir zeit University in Ramallah. Has anybody ever heard of Palestinian Societies or their supporters asking for security to be present? Or perhaps fearing to speak out? No body in the right mind, fighting for a just cause, armed with the belief of liberation, would ever fear confrontation. It is evident that Jewish students have fallen into the trap of working for Israel, a foreign state with its own agenda; which may not be conducive to the best interests of the Jewish community in the UK.

would love to shut down Palestinian education institutions

You write :"... their (i.e. the students) basic rights". STUDENTS of any university are meant to study. TO study is their basic right. Students are NOT meant to attend protest -marches or -meetings. WHY NOT ? Instead of poisining their own brain - they SHOULD develop it by concentrating it on study. BY developing their brains they will advance - technologically, scientifically, etc. - the country in which they are living : for the benefit of ALL regardless of color, creed or religion. OTHERWISE by poisining the brain - it get less and less developed in subsequent generations of students as time goes by .

1) To say that Jewish students are being targetted due to this motion is ridiculous! I, as a pro-palestine, have been intimidated many times by members of the zionist jsoc on campus, as have non zionist jews ... intimidation is their tactic. 2) Disgusting reporting, why not interview a representative from Action Palestine? 3) occupation & oppression --> feelings of isolation & desperation --> resorting to desperate measures (ie terrorism)

He was kidnapped in Gaza last week...kidnapped by ... PALESTINIANS !!! Are you Brits too stupid to realize that? I'm glad the dhimmi university isn't twinning with an Israeli univeristy. It would bring down the Israeli school! Let the Brits love their terrorists. We can all see that a tolerant society like England, while being so open to Muslims, is never affected by terrorists/extremists. Oops! I'm wrong! Remember: a bomb doesn't distinguish between a liberal and a conservative. It does, however, affect you if you're an infidel, which I'm afraid, you Brits are considered.

twinning does not stop terror first of all. Plus UK is not an enemy of Israel - thats dumb. wider politics does not reflect uni politics here, however bad feelings are generated on campus. its -action palestine, not -palestine action. they're more interested in scoring points against jsoc and Israel than helping palestinians. Its a shame!

You write :"... the facts of history ...". WHAT facts from history regarding Judea and Samaria, nowadays known as the West Bank, can you quote ?? Please provide. BTW Judea and Samaria, nowadays known as the West Bank, was recovered by the Israeli Defence Forces in 1967 during the Six Day War. Once again it is recovered territory. Recovered territory is NOT occupied territory. Hope everything is well with you.

Did you not find anything else to say? If I were you I would feel embaressed to say this, people here in Manchester are having a good laugh about your comment, thank you for this by the way. As for Occupied, you can nag and nag and cry as much as you want, telling people it is recovered. But in reality, and simple terms, It is occupied.

from your first comment i can tell you were born before 1950 and for that i excuse you.

You write :"... (we) are having a good laugh ...". I am happy to hear that you are having a good time. But remember, after the laughing comes the crying. BTW I am still waiting for the History facts mentioned by you in #36. Hope everything is well with you.

This is a fantastic achievenment, and i am proud to have been a part of it. Palestinians have a right to education to. Free Palestine!

Did Nablus ever take down that gory waxworks glorifying the bombing of a Sbarro pizzaria? You know - the one depicting internal organs flying through the air. What do people learn at such a "university?" Mathematics?Engineering? Medicine?

The reason for the checkpoints is the same as in Israel...to keep fanatical suicidal idiots with bombs strapped to their bodies OUT. Got it?

I guess you could say so...by a group of people that in 50 years have done nothing but put their hands out begging for money and using that money to kill and maim. 50 years of hands out and they still have no viable industry and the funny think about it...they don't even have their own currency. What does the PA do with all that money besides sticking it in the coffers of their "elected" officials and/or wives (Arafat's rich Parisian wife comes to mind).

Excuse me, but you clearly have never been to an Israeli shopping mall. The "checkpoints" you describe at Leeds sound exactly the same, and I myself have been through this many many times when visiting Israel. Yes, it's slightly embarrasing, but I couldn't care less. To me, it is preventing a terrorist from coming in and destroying lives, and that gives me confidence. I would rather have that inconvenience and know my security is there. OK, I wasn't at the Leeds talk, but I was at the Manchester one. From my experience there, people arguing the Palestinian side couldn't make sense of Ben Dor for one simple reason: she was constantly being interrupted when she was arguing her points, so they never got to hear the full story! As for verbally attacking surrounding countries, this is necessary in order to show what Israel is up against. If you were to completely isolate the argument to Israel/Palestine you would be leaving out a huge part of the story which is actually quite important. As for the Jewish students and our "lack of confidence by having to invite an Israeli speaker", one thing I can guarentee you have never experienced is being a Jewish student who feels threatened on campus by the anti-Israel lobby. We can't just sit there in silence and take it. So we are using our right to stand up for ourselves and invite an Israeli speaker! It's simple as. By merely claiming this shows our "lack of confidence" you have highlighted the point even further that we feel threatened by people such as yourself who don't even believe we have the right to stand up for ourselves. We opposed the motion at Manchester because of the particular university chosen, not because it was Palestinian. An Najar has sent out 19 suicide bombers and continues to applaud such acts, which is why we do not want anything to do with them. There are moderate Palestinian universities who do not encourage such things, and we are more than happy to show solidarity with them. Why on earth should you expect us to back a university who wants to see us dead? It is utterly ridiculous!

Quote: We already know that Palestinians are brainwashed freaks, but the British should be ashamed of this act and reverse their decision. Sorry, but I happen to go to Manchester University, and I happen to know the girl who stood up in the Union's General Meeting to propose this motion. This girl isn't British. She's a bloody Palestinian, and she's a nutter. She's got the Islamic Soc and the Palestinian group behind her, and because no one else bothered to go for the meetings except those 2 societies and the Jewish Society, the motion got carried through. Does this mean the average British student in Manchester supports it? No. Their only fault was that by being indifferent, they allowed this motion to carry through. However, I'm glad to report that there's is a growing concern, and a backlash against all this perceived anti-Israeli movement in the Student's Union. Most of the radical socialist and Islamic party reps did not get voted back into power in the recent elections last month. So, I don't think your sweeping statement applies to all Brits.

Firstly the university of manchester is not anti-israeli at all! there is a large jewish population at that university. Secondly perhaps people in manchester are sympathysing with the palestinians because they are pissed off with the way in which palestinians are treated by the actions of the israeli government. And finally if you generally want peace in israel and palestine you should stop with all these childish remarks because they only make you look childish and uneducated. If you dont want peace then you cannot condem the suicide bomber because you are no better.

sounds like you've been brainwashed by the media my friend. You should actually travel to the terretories and see for your self. It's short sighted people like you that make britain a sad place.