ly to the dean of students. An investigation was begun and evi- br dence gathered, but no disciplinary action was taken. The ad- br ministration explained to the Jewish students that its primary br role was to lessen tensions and preserve the delicate relationship br between Arab and Jewish students. This declaration brought br forth predictable results. Within two weeks the Arab students were involved in yet br another incident. Israel commemorates, annually, the terrible br Holocaust that ripped away the lives of six million Jews. Known br as the Day of the Holocaust and the Bravery, it was com- br memorated at Hebrew University by the lighting of memorial br candles at the entrance of the dormitories. That night a band of br Arab students smashed the glasses that held the candles. Even br as an investigation was launched, the next week—Memorial br Day for the fallen soldiers of Israel—saw similar desecrations of br candles in their memory. Angry protests led to a decision by a br university committee to suspend the students, but the university br administration in a “gesture of goodwill” accepted the appeal br against the “harshness” of the verdict and allowed the students br to return to the benches of Israeli intellect. Not for nothing did br the Arab students see in this retreat further proof of Jewish br weakness. (It is pertinent to note that on Holocaust Day, 1980, br more memorial candles were desecrated. One Arab student, Sul- br iman Hasham, caught as he extinguished one of the lights, said: br “There is enough light in the dormitories. We do not need br candles.”) The pitiful weakness of the Hebrew University administra- br tion under President Avraham Harman inexorably led to br greater brazenness on the part of the Arab students. During the br latter part of 1974, terrorist activity reached a peak, and worried br university officials met with the student organization to set up br regular guard duty in the exposed dormitories. It was decided br that all students who lived in the dormitories—including Arabs br —would have to take a turn at guard duty. The Arab student br organization immediately issued a statement that read: “No br Arab student will participate in any activity aimed at a brother br fedayon [“freedom fighter,” the Arab term for the PLO ter- br rorists], even if this refusal involves self-sacrifice—if this must br be the price of the Palestinian revolution.” At a press conference called by the Arab students on De- br 87
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