Five Students from the University if Sussex took part in a visit to a
Palestinian university to strengthen links between the two universities.

Sussex University Students Union (USSU) has been twinned with Al Quds Open
University in Tubas in the West Bank since June 2007. Students from
Brighton have visited Palestine four times in an attempt to build links
with Palestinian students and break the isolation of Palestinians living
under Israeli occupation.

Palestinian students are forced to negotiate Israel military checkpoints
on the way to university, often have to work for Israeli settlements to
fund their education and live under constant threat of Israeli military
incursions. Ten per cent of students at Al Quds Open University have been
political prisoners.

The student delegation aimed to give a message of solidarity to students
in Tubas and to reaffirm the Palestinian right to education. The group
discussed ways to highlight the situation for Palestinian students through
campaigning and bringing a group of Palestinians to Sussex University in
2009.

To read their blogs go to  http://www.brightonpalestine.org
For more details contact:  brightontubas@gmail.com

Telephone: 07984 438655.

Notes For Journalists

From the 20th October to 3rd November 2008 a delegation from Brighton will visit Tubas and the Jordan Valley.

The Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group was set up in 2006 and is a network aimed at fostering links between community groups in Tubas and the Jordan Valley in Palestine and Brighton in England.

The Jordan Valley is an area where Israel is attempting to annex Palestinian land with the aim of removing its Palestinian population.

For background information about Brighton Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group and our work in the Tubas and Jordan Valley region of the West Bank see our website at  http://www.brightonpalestine.org

For more background information about the Jordan Valley project see

www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org