Birzeit University Offers Bedouin Student Special Scholarship

Israel’s restrictions on education for those who live in Area C are pervasive. The education of the Bedouin Jahalin tribe is undermined by the destruction of educational facilities, unequal learning opportunities close to home, and poverty and hardship perpetuated by restrictions on movement and lack of water and electricity and other services.

Birzeit University has announced a special scholarship to be awarded to Samar, a member of the Jahalin tribe, after she achieved the outstanding score of 92.8% in the high school matriculation exam, the Tawjihi. Birzeit University seeks to meet its national responsibility to support the fundamental rights of Palestinians and in particular the right to education of Bedouin Palestinian communities, who face near-daily threats of eviction from their homes by Israel’s occupation.

The Jahalin tribe originates from the Tel Arad district of the Negev. The majority of the Negev Bedouin were forcibly evicted from their ancestral lands in the Negev by the Israeli authorities in the years immediately following the 1948 conflict. Five of the tribes subsequently moved to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Samar and her family now live in Al-Jib village after being driven from Khan Al Ahmar, Anata and Beit Hanina Al Tahta by the Israeli occupation.

The Dean of Student Affairs Mohammad Al Ahmad said that the struggle of the Jahalin cannot be separated from the struggle of the Palestinian Bedouin and the Palestinian cause in general. “Samar is a symbol of a long struggle of a community fighting for their land and for their children’s education.”

Her dream is to become an Arabic teacher and make a significant contribution to the development of knowledge in her community.

Al Ahmad explained that education in Palestinian Bedouin communities often suffers because of poor environmental conditions and the restrictions of the Israeli occupation. For that reason, the university is committed to offering opportunities for distinguished students to pursue their academic ambitions.

Bedouin, like Samar’s family who live in the countryside to the East of Jerusalem, find it a challenge to continue their semi-nomadic lifestyles, as they have been forcibly moved to designated areas not suitable for herding or farming. The families, whose livelihood usually comes from herding, are restricted by fences, Israeli settlements, and hazardous waste flowing out of the settlements.