Dear friends and colleagues,

I am confident that the almost 800 new students who entered the University this autumn, are now part of the Birzeit experience, with its key aspects of academic challenge, personal development, community service and collegiality. In the last two decades, our enrollment has increased almost ten-fold.

Twenty years ago we were a two-year junior college with a strong academic program in limited areas; today we are a four-year university with strong academic program in four developed faculties of Science, Arts, Engineering, and Commerce and Economics. And, of great importance, we serve a student body from all parts of the occupied Palestinian Territories and from all sectors of Palestinian society. Reviewing our increasingly high levels of research and academic exchange, I feel sure that Birzeit University is an institution ready for the challenges of a new century.

Left: A mathematics class at Birzeit

"Just give us a chance." This motto could serve for Birzeit University. Give us a modicum of stability, a near normal working environment, and the time and security to employ our excellent human resources, and we can work wonders. The stimulating conferences, colloquia and public lectures held at Birzeit University this academic year attest to the present contribution the University is making both to Palestinian academic life and to informed public discussion on issues of concern to our community.

Tragically, as our students were returning to classes after the semester break, Israeli gunfire shattered the peace of morning prayers at the Al Ibrahimiya mosque in Hebron and Palestinian worshippers were massacred. There are no words to express the grief and outrage felt by our University community and the Palestinian people as a whole at these brutal murders. But there must be words and actions to change the reality that caused this horrible loss of life. Here, I believe intellectuals have a special responsibility to look more deeply and speak out more thoughtfully and consistently on the pressing question of the illegal Israeli settlements that threaten, both on a daily basis and in the long-term, to end any possibility a genuine peace based on reciprocity, equality and justice.

Sincerely,

Hanna Nasir
President, Birzeit University