Blog
An Academic Biography
As a witness for more than four decades of various phases of academic development of Birzeit University, and having studied at Birzeit when it was a junior college and served in it as a faculty member as well as in various administrative positions for many years after it became a university, I view the year 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a turning point in the academic life of this institution.
At that time, Palestinian society was very much worried about the future and people were questioning the feasibility of continuing to study and teach while Israeli...
An Erasmus experience of a lifetime: exchange student shares her journey at BZU
Death: when we hear this word, very cold and keen wind starts to blow on your face and slowly walk to your throat, vessels and finally to your heart, making us taste fear. Death is very abnormal, however, very normal. People can die of sickness, war, hunger or cold. People even die of happiness.
It has been more than 80 years Palestinians are dying day by day, piece by piece, drop by drop due to the world's negligence.
In this article, I will try to convey something of my experience after participating in the ICM program from a student's point of view. I do this by reflecting on my...
Snapshots of the Student Movement
The student movement at Birzeit University has always been an essential element in the University’s success and its distinctiveness.
Birzeit became a university in the 1970s, during a period of vigorous popular political activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Popular, broad-based institutions came into being, accompanied by maturity in the understanding of ways to mobilize the community on a continual basis to resist occupation: by paying attention to social and economic development in order to bolster the community’s steadfastness (sumoud); by instilling awareness of the...
The health of Palestinians
I commend Richard Horton (Nov 2, p 1612)1for discussing Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land, including the siege of the Gaza Strip, and the effects this occupation has on health and access to health care.
It also includes WHO data2on attacks by Israel on Palestinian health services, affecting patients, health workers, ambulances, and health facilities. Horton also includes his Israeli colleagues' response to WHO's report.2
Horton's Israeli colleagues responded in a tone that blames the victim. They emphasise their “desire for Palestinians to enjoy the very highest quality...
The March of Return
A traveler I am, and a navigator, and every day I discover a new region within my soul.
Khalil Gibran
I felt rather strange the other day during a presentation titled "Creating Impact on International Youth in Palestine: Challenges and Opportunities." I was speaking at Birzeit University to a group of Palestinian Americans from Project Hope, a Palestinian youth initiative that seeks to connect young adults who live outside of Palestine with the city of Ramallah and to awaken, or cultivate, the spirit of volunteerism within the larger Palestinian community.[i] Repeatedly, I reminded...
Community and Public Health
When I returned to Palestine in September 1978 to join the Biology Department faculty at Birzeit University, I found that the faculty, staff, and students were involved in community development and outreach activities.
Community service was and is an integral part of the University’s mission (as central to its mission as a commitment to academic excellence); and faculty members had initiated the Voluntary Work Program (Munir Fasheh), the Archeology Program (Albert Glock), the Literacy and Adult Education Program (Khalil Mahshi and later, Hiyam Abu Ghazaleh), and the Research Center (...
Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ Will Doom Peace Between Israelis and Palestinians
Despite repeatedly announcing his intention to present a bold, sweeping plan to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. President Donald Trump continues to keep everyone waiting. If he ever does present his plan, it is set to backfire, for several reasons.
For one thing, the Trump administration has been shunned by Palestinians since it recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last December. Palestinians were angered by the move, arguing that the U.S. government violated its role as mediator and sponsor of the peace process by adopting Israel’s position on Jerusalem. Palestinian...
A Bastion of Democracy
How Birzeit University’s Student Council elections became the gauge of Palestinian politics
Back in the summer of 2015, when I was a student in my third year at Birzeit University, a group of American and European graduate students came to visit the university’s campus as part of a student-exchange program. Being an English major who, ostensibly, could hold a conversation in English, I was invited to welcome the students and guide them on a tour of the campus, to be followed by a Q&A session on anything and everything they had in mind.
Now, if you’re an international student...
Palestine still the issue: Reflections on my recent visit to Birzeit University
I find it hard to believe that my recent visit to Birzeit University (BZU) lasted only five weeks – the hills, the sky, the soft, sandy colour of local stones, the colleagues who hosted me, the students I connected with, they all feel so familiar, as if I had known both people and landscape for a long time. And yet it was indeed only five weeks!
I arrived in BZU early May, in the company of my husband Julian Field, thanks to an academic scholarship provided by the Fulbright Commission, yet in no small part as well thanks to the effort and hospitality of Prof. Randa Nasser, her colleagues...
40 Years of Fobzu: a history of supporting Palestinian education
Since 1978, Fobzu has been working to promote the advancement of Palestinian education under occupation and in exile.
Over the past 40 years, Fobzu has furthered the cause of Palestinian education by raising awareness in the UK about the needs of Palestinian students and academics and their struggle, supporting educational projects and providing scholarships and bursaries to students in financial need.
40 Years of Supporting Palestinian Education
During its early years, Fobzu supported Birzeit University by raising awareness among the UK academic community about the difficulties of...
