West Bank’s Birzeit University Reopens

Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank reopened Thursday after a four-month closure of the Palestinian institution ordered by the Israeli army after its troops killed a university student in violent clashes.

Classes resumed immediately for the 3,000 students at the university’s two campuses north of Jerusalem, and officials said they will try to make up lost time by October.

Birzeit is a traditional focal point for protests against 20 years of Israeli occupation.

The closure in April was the longest in Birzeit’s 11-year existence and the fourth since December, 1986, when two students were killed by troops during violent demonstrations by the student body, which militantly supports the Palestine Liberation Organization.