London, 20th February 2026 – The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has written to the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom (GMC) seeking clarification over the Council’s policy on recognition of primary medical qualification (PMQ) certificates issued by the Dr Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson School of Medicine at Ariel University in the illegal Israeli settlements.
Ariel University is located in the Salfit District of the occupied West Bank on lands illegally seized from Palestine by Israel in 1978, in territory occupied since 1967. Like all Israeli settlements, the Ariel settlement is illegal under international law.
Established in 1982, Ariel University was granted full university status in 2012 – a decision that was condemned by then Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt, who said, “Ariel is beyond the Green Line in a settlement that is illegal according to international law. This decision will deepen the presence of the settlements in the Palestinian territories and will create another obstacle to peace”, and that the UK called on Israel to “urgently” reverse the decision and to take “no further steps aimed at expanding or entrenching settlement activity”.
The university’s Adelson School of Medicine was officially opened in 2019, sponsored by the American donors Miriam and Sheldon Adelson. The Adelson School conferred its first Doctor Medicine degrees upon a cohort of 53 graduates on the 25th of September 2024, with around 350 students currently enrolled in the medical school’s Doctoral programme.
The GMC, as a UK public body, has specific legal obligations, established under the 2024 International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion and by resolutions of the UN Security Council, that make it unlawful to recognise the qualifications granted by Ariel University.
Órlaith Roe, ICJP’s Public Affairs and Communications Officer said:
“In 2012, the UK’s own government officials decried the decision to grant Ariel University full university status. There was no precedent for it then, and there should be no precedent for it now.
It is vital that we ensure the qualifications awarded by institutions established on stolen Palestinian land remain unlawful and unrecognised within the UK’s valued medical sector, and that Israel’s normalisation of settlements is seen for what it is: illegal, unconscionable, and a further attempt to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their own homeland.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians is an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law.
- For more information, or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson, please contact the ICJP news desk at [email protected].
Image: Trocaire via Wikimedia Commons
