Birzeit University’s Centennial

2024 marks Birzeit University’s centennial commemoration since its foundation as a school in 1924, which later became a college in 1953, and continued its journey as a university in 1972 carrying the message of an Arab Palestinian academic institution, overseen by an independent Board of Trustees that determines its policies and assumes its responsibilities as the first higher education institution in Palestine.

Amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza and war on Palestinian existence throughout Palestine, Birzeit University deferred the commemoration of it first centennial and the events that were scheduled for the beginning of 2024. Birzeit has also postponed its annual graduation ceremony in compliance with its moral and national duty towards the collective fate of the Palestinian people. This came parallel with the end of the first semester of “Birzeit-Gaza for Higher Education”, as part of the “Rebuilding Hope Initiative” that was launched by Birzeit University to support, aid, and reinforce higher education in Gaza. This initiative as part of Birzeit University’s commitment towards institutional solidarity, higher education, and transformative knowledge production, where Birzeit is committed to contributing to the inauguration of a hub of support extended by Arab and international universities for Gaza.

Birzeit University, announcing the upcoming launching of its first centennial’s activities, which will run from October 2024 until August 2026, will be paying tribute and not celebrating, as joy will not begin nor be completed until Gaza’s wound is healed, and its resilient people survive the continuous horrors of genocide. While Birzeit will invest this anniversary to reflect on its achievements as a pioneering national institution that has planted its presence in the consciousness and reality over 100 years of smoud and achievements, it is committed to commemorating the first centennial in accordance with its national vision, which has become a common knowledge and a collective behavior of the university’s community which extends across all Palestinian geography; from the West Bank to Jerusalem, Gaza, and the occupied Palestinian territories of 1948, inside prisons, and in the diaspora. Additionally, Birzeit University announces that the centennial’s events will be a continuation of its goal in fulfilling its national, Arab, and international duty, which is committed to ending of the occupation and being part of the Palestinian national movement’s struggle towards freedom, liberation and self-determination.

Today, Birzeit University stands on the threshold of Palestine’s and its own difficult present, being from and for Palestine, it is inspired by an unfinished past and a hopeful future. While we clasp a bright page of a past that spans a hundred years, on the next page we outline a future that we shall make brighter for a hundred years to come. On this vast page, Birzeit shall continue its message in education through its programs in humanities and social and natural sciences, as a main center for higher education in Palestine, to nurture the human cadres needed for building the local, Arab, and international society; in scientific research and knowledge development to serve all human causes wherever they may be, through local, regional, and international partnerships in all fields, including health, environment, technology, and economy; and in serving society through developmental projects and programs, including the initiatives in social education, public health, and sustainable energy. Moreover, Birzeit University will continue to develop itself as a pioneering hub for political, social, and cultural activity within the frame of the Palestinian national movement and its continuous struggles in which women are at the forefront, and its students, professors, and employees bear the burden of its noble mission toward freedom and liberty in the frame of the Palestinian national culture, with their productions, practices, and politics that have become a model of resilience, challenge, and creativity throughout Palestine.

Birzeit has formed the committees mandated to commemorate its first centennial according to both its foundational and innovated views, amid the dire circumstances and existential threats that our historical homeland faces in light of the genocide on Gaza and the open war on all of Palestine. The university’s administration, union and students’ movement will work hand in hand through these next two years to instill the vision and message of Birzeit University in its three pillars: research, education, and social service, thereby contributing particularly to right the injustices inflected on our people in the steadfast Gaza and the rest of Palestine, and generally to the continuation of the university’s message as a pioneering national institution that defends the right to life and freedom, spreads and protects the values of democracy, pluralism, student and union work, upholds the principles of BDS and fights against normalization – as two global conditions for academic freedom. Birzeit University actively seeks to achieve high standers of education, liberation of knowledge, and all other components of our code of ethics that we carry and that carries us towards achieving our difficult dream of what Palestine is supposed to be.

We hereby announce the upcoming launching of the ceremonies and activities of Birzeit University’s first centennial, which will be organized particularly by the university community. We look forward to the participation of our graduates, partners, and friends from Palestine, the Arab world, and throughout the whole world. As we address our people with words of solace, our Arab brothers with words of support, and all those who support our cause throughout the world with words of solidarity. Together we endeavor to achieve an extended collective event to reflect on our university’s national, Arab, and international legacy, effectively remember the milestones of our people’s smoud, and the sacrifices of Birzeit and Palestine, of martyrs, prisoners, wounded, and refugees, in our historical record of injustice that ought to come to an end.

Birzeit University will commemorate its first centennial proclaiming and practicing the “Rebuilding hope Initiative”, as all the eyes are now on Gaza, which lives in the hearts of millions around the world. We will not sing for the times of darkness, for “the wounds have a song of their own”. Instead, we will echo the prophecy of Kamal Nasser, Birzeit’s first martyr and “Palestinian revolution’s conscience”, he who was born in Gaza in 1924 – the same year in which Birzeit was founded. Nasser’s prophecy heralds freedom and triumph, despite the delay of joy, as the only “end song” we memorize by heart is: “We will not rest while the wounded nation bleeds”, and “the end is for the people, even if the people were delayed…  people shall triumph.”

Aug 12, 2024