Shaath discusses possibilities to engage with Palestinian diaspora through PAS

President of Birzeit University Abdullatif Abuhijleh met on April 1, 2018, with Mahmoud Abbas’s adviser on international and foreign relations and head of the PLO’s committee for Palestinian refugees in the diaspora, Nabil Shaath.

The meeting was attended by director of the Palestine and Arabic Studies Program (PAS) Hanada Kharama, Administrative and Financial Coordinator of PAS Rasha Kassis, Director of the Public Relations Office Lubna Abdel Hadi, and Assistant to the Director Tina Rafidi.

The two parties explored opportunities to connect with the Palestinian diaspora, particularly its younger generation. The goal is to create long-term engagement with Palestinians and their descendants who live outside Palestine, facilitating cultural and language exchange and enabling them to keep alive ties with their country of origin and to spread and enrich the Palestinian narrative abroad.

President Abdullatif Abuhijleh stated that Birzeit University hopes to create long-term engagement with Palestinian youth in the diaspora. “We believe that Palestinians need to build unity among and cooperation with diaspora intellectuals, decision-makers, scientists and artists.” He assured that this cannot be achieved without openness and diversity, values which the PAS program represents and is built upon.

“Our purpose is to provide quality education, enrich the overall campus environment, attract international academic and professional talent, and educate the next generation of leaders,” Abuhijleh explained.

Shaath praised the role of Birzeit University in preserving and fostering Palestinian and Arabic heritage, values, and norms and its success in keeping up with global developments that require universities to maintain academic and cultural openness.

PAS is an academic program at Birzeit University that offers international students the opportunity to combine Arabic language studies with social science courses about Palestine and the Arab World while experiencing firsthand the political and social realities of the area.