A delegation of British citizens, from a variety of different backgrounds, visited An-Najah National University.  Before visiting the university's old campus the delegates met with the mayor of Nablus. Upon their arrival at the university, the delegates had the distinguished opportunity to meet with the University President, Professor Rami Hamdallah. The meeting was attended by all members of the delegation, local and international volunteers, as well as Dr. Nabil Alawi, Director of the Public Relations Department.
Professor Hamdallah provided the delegates with a brief history of the university, explaining that the university began as a high school in 1918, became a college in 1941, and in 1971 was recognized as an official university. Today, the university offers sixty five bachelor programs and thirty five master programs to over fourteen thousand students.  Professor Hamdallah also discussed the importance of the thirteen science centers at An-Najah, as well as the vocational training which is available.
After his talk Professor Hamdallah yielded to questions and the conversation shifted to focus on the difficulties the students face as a result of the system of checkpoints.  While Professor Hamdallah admitted that the checkpoints pose significant problems, he said "you learn to live with such restrictions". He hopes in the future his students will not have to live with the restrictions of Israeli occupation. He explained how since the start of the second intifadah the education has suffered. Over eighty percent of the students are forced to live in Nablus and not in their nearby villages with their families. As a result, this places additional financial burdens on many of the student's families. In response to a question regarding student unions, Professor Hamdallah explained that "democracy is very important in Palestine", and that the students hold annual democratic elections.
Most of the British visitors were representatives of universities that have twinned with Palestinian universities. Professor Hamdallah expressed enthusiasm for the twinnings as a form of intercultural dialogue.
One of the British visitors expressed significant concern in regards to recent opposition to the twinning of An-Najah with the University of Manchester. In the future he hopes to speak in favor of this twinning, at which point he will outline the benefits of the twinning and try to dispel some of the false perceptions people in the west have of Palestine.
An-Najah National University was pleased to host the British delegation and hopes in the