A Palestinian student discussed his master’s thesis in business administration, from inside the camps of the city of Rafah – which Tel Aviv threatens to invade – despite a devastating Israeli war that has been ongoing in the Gaza Strip for 7 months.
Al-Azhar University – Gaza said, on its Facebook page, that graduate student Salah Muhammad Ahmed Al-Aidi discussed a master’s thesis in the displacement camps in Rafah, on Saturday, with the Dean of Graduate Studies, Dr. Ihab Al-Masry, following up via Zoom technology.
She added that her Master’s thesis in Business Administration at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Al-Azhar University – Gaza was titled “The Impact of Succession Planning on Retaining Competencies… A Field Study on Banks in the Southern Governorates – Palestine.”
The thesis was supervised by Dr. Muhammad Fares and Professor Dr. Shadi Al-Talbani, members of the faculty of the College of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Dr. Bilal Al-Bashiti as an internal discussant, and Dr. Khalil Madi as an external discussant, and the committee decided to grant the student a master’s degree.
Al-Aidi said that he continues his educational journey despite the loss, wounds and pain, “where hope remains, and on this earth there is what is worth living.”
He dedicated his message to the souls of the martyrs, the wounded, the prisoners, and the patiently displaced persons whose homes were destroyed.
Of the two million displaced people in the Gaza Strip as a result of the war (out of 2.3 million Palestinians), there are about 1.4 million displaced people in Rafah, which Israel insists on invading, claiming that it is the last stronghold of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
Challenge of war
The President of Al-Azhar University – Gaza, Professor Dr. Omar Milad, congratulated the student Al-Aidi on obtaining a master’s degree. He also thanked and appreciated the supervisors and discussants for their extraordinary efforts in the most difficult circumstances, which help the students to complete their studies.
Milad stressed that discussing this message from the displacement tents is a new, continuing challenge for a people who do not know the impossible.
He continued that the students and faculty members are living in difficult and complex circumstances in light of the barbaric and continuing aggression on the Gaza Strip.
He pointed out that the Minister of Education and Higher Education allowed the discussion of master’s and doctoral theses by Al-Azhar University students from displacement tents or via Zoom technology.
Since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, Israel has completely or partially destroyed 5 out of 6 universities in the Gaza Strip, and killed 3 university presidents and 95 university deans and professors, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory.
In total, the Israeli war on Gaza left about 113,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues the war despite the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to stop the fighting immediately, and despite the International Court of Justice demanding immediate measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.