Birzeit University establishes Spanish connections

Members of the Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya, a Catalan union organization, visited Birzeit University’s campus on Monday, April 30, 2018, to get a first-hand look at the challenges that the educational process in Palestine faces and explore possible channels of cooperation. 

The delegation met with representatives from the Public Relations Office at Birzeit University, who briefed them on the university’s history, from an all-girls’ school in Birzeit to one of Palestine’s leading higher education institutions. 

The members also detailed the Israeli-set obstacles in the path of Palestinian higher education ambitions and emphasized the impact of Israeli practices and violations of the Palestinian right to education. 

Dr. Samia Al-Botmeh, a professor of economics at Birzeit University and a member of the BDS committee in Birzeit University’s Union of Professors and Employees, highlighted BDS as a tool for resistance, calling it “an international pressure mechanism” that has an impact on Israeli practices. 

“BDS is a community movement that has proven effective in the path toward freedom. It is a nonpartisan movement that includes professors, students, and activists,” said Al-Botmeh, adding that it’s seen as a long-term solution, with effects that may not be immediately visible. 

The delegation also toured Birzeit University’s campus and visited its eight faculties and eleven centers and institutes.