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Bir Zeit Students Look Past Current Leadership
(Jerusalem Post)Khaled Abu Toameh - Bir Zeit University north of Ramallah has always been a center of Palestinian nationalism. Until this year, the campus was a Fatah stronghold, but in the last student council elections Hamas took 25 of the 51 council seats, relegating Fatah to No. 2. "Off the record, frankly, many students here don't really care" about Arafat, says Ahmed, a student. He explains that Arafat and the PA have failed the Palestinian people and are the main reason for Fatah's defeat in the student elections: "The students who voted for Hamas did so because they were fed up with corruption in the PA. They see nepotism, embezzlement, and mafia-style rule and they don't like it. The vote for Hamas was a protest vote against Arafat." "Before Arafat came here, we had a lot of respect for him. But our views changed when the PA was established. We were very disappointed," said Amal, a female student.