UNAIR NEWS – As a world-class university, the students of Universitas Airlangga are not only from Indonesia, but also from various parts of the world. One of them is Ahmed Muhammad Omar Al – Madani. The student from Gaza, Palestine, known as Ahmed, has completed his studies by undergoing an open doctoral examination at Adi Sukadana Room, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UNAIR on Monday, July 16.
In his doctoral exam, Social Science FISIP UNAIR doctoral student presented a dissertation entitled “HAMAS AND IRAN: A STRATEGY ALLIANCE BETWEEN A STATE AND A NON STATE ACTOR (2005-2015)”. Ahmed has had a long journey as he has been UNAIR student since November 2013.
He studied by obtaining a Premium Scholarship for foreign students granted by the Government of Republic of Indonesia through the Ministry of Education and Culture. His journey was not easy before studying in Indonesia, especially about his process of getting out of his country.
As Ahmed told UNAIR NEWS, he should have arrived in Indonesia and attended classes in September 2013. However, the situation in his country made him postpone his departure until November 2013.
“To get out of Gaza, I have to pass the Rafah Border. Rafah Border is a barrier between Gaza and Egypt. Rafah Border is always closed and only certain people can access it, “he said.
Every day Ahmed comes to Rafah Border to negotiate the guards there so he could get out and fly to Indonesia. In November 2013 after a difficult negotiation Ahmed finally managed to pass Rafah Border and flew to Indonesia.
“At that time, there were only two choices, I stayed in Gaza or I got out of Gaza and made my life better,” he recalled.
The struggle was not in vain, in presence of his examiners Ahmed successfully defensed his dissertation well. The exam was attended by Prof. Falih Suaedi as the Dean of FISIP UNAIR, Prof. Ramlan Surbakti as a lecturer in Political Science and a promoter, along with other examiners, Ahmed gave an explanation about the alliance strategy between Hamas and Iran.
Furthermore, he added, in his dissertation he tried to define the purpose of the relationship between Hamas and Iran, as well as the impact of the Palestinian state on the conflict.
“The results show that Iran maintains relations with Hamas on the basis of Religion to Sunni society. Iran and Hammas also limit the relationship to the political sphere only, “he explained.
For his excellent dissertation, the examining committee stated that he was graduated with “Very Satisfactory” result. Ahmed was named as the 214th doctor of Universitas Airlangga FISIP.
Author: Nuri Hermawan
