The idea and first moves towards a website

The first desire for a Birzeit University Website surfaced in early 1995 when Marwan Tarazi, director of the BZU Computer Centre, began to float the idea of having an internationally accessible computer information system based here. With the central role the university has played in many of the developments of the last twenty years, there is a wealth of information to be tapped and made accessible about Palestinian culture and society, as well as the usual university information.

Things sped up when Palestinian academic and former Webmaster at the University of Texas, Elizabeth Bouri came to work with the university for a month in summer 1995. Elizabeth introduced a newly formed Web team to the basic concepts of the Web, offering Website construction and maintainance advice and generally envisioning. We went nuts, swinging from our computers, when we realised the potential! Comprised of members of the Computer Centre, Public Relations Office, and specialists from other departments and the student body, the Web team began to experiment with HTML.

What to expect from the site

• INFORMATION ABOUT PALESTINE - The potentially most significant part of our site is The Palestine Archive project. This is a huge modular proposal to employ 2 people (per module) to work full-time for two years on building the archive, as well as some equipment. If this comes off, it will be the most important development in Palestine's journey into the Internet. For starters, we will compile a virtual tourist guide to the country, covering history, food, politics, maps, restaurants, wild days out, religious sites, shops, mellow days out, art, entertainment, hiking, sports and much, much more. We are looking into possible cooperation with the Palestinian Authority on several modules.
  
  
• INFORMATION ABOUT BIRZEIT - As you begin to browse the Birzeit Archives now, imagine how much more useful they will be when they include all the newsletters, all the human rights reports, all the press releases, etc. The full compliment of all our material in English will provide a facinating focus on a community that has been at the forefront of national and international developments.
  
  
• SEARCHABILITY - The website and all the archives are fully searchable thanks to the htdig search engine. A subject index/site overview will also be added.
  
  
• PALESTINIAN AND MIDDLE EAST LINKS - A source of Palestinian and Middle East-related links, with reviews is being built with priority on local Palestinian sites. See the Complete Guide to Palestine's Websites, part of the World Wide Web Virtual Library and as featured by the New York Times Online.
  
  
• ACADEMIC FREEDOM - Birzeit University has always promoted the ideals of academic freedom, freedom of thought and freedom of speech amongst its staff and students. We aim to see the same freedoms manifest in our website. This freedom does not extend to incitement to racial hatred or the denigration of women via pornography. If you want to debate either of these two points, there are many Usenet newsgroups that provide an excellent forum for this.

Our mission

It has become clear since the beginning of our venture into the Web that we seek to achieve three main things:

1. To provide an information source on the various facets of university life, reflecting the crucial role Birzeit has played in Palestinian society.

2. To serve as a doorway to the wider Palestinian culture and society, bringing a much neglected area into the world information network. Perform a search on any Internet search engine for the keywords, "Palestinian Israeli American", and look at the word and document counts at the top of the page, if you want to get a relative idea of how much material exists. An eye-opener.

3. To offer information and commentary on developments in the country, the peace process and the region.

Nigel Parry
Birzeit Webmaster
webmaster@birzeit.edu