In cooperation with the Public Relations Department of An-Najah National University the Research Journalism Initiative (RJI) organized a videoconference between the teachers of the American International Studies School Association (ISSA) and lecturers at An-Najah. The videoconference took place during a session organized by Jennifer Klein of RJI at the Annual conference of ISSA in Tampa, Florida (Jan 17-19, 2009).

This conference aimed to give American teachers interested in new ways of teaching about the Middle East a window of interaction with Palestinian academics teaching under the adverse conditions of Israeli military occupation.

The conference was attended by Dr. Nabil Alwai, Professor of English Literature, Saed Abu-Hijleh, Lecturer of Political and Environmental Geography, and Ms. Yasmine Sharour, the Acting Director of An-Najah PR Department.

Dr. Alawi and Mr. Abu-Hijleh addressed several key issues that explicated the realities of living and teaching under the Apartheid system that Israel created in the occupied Palestinian territories. They explained the ongoing Israeli violations of the Palestinian Right to Education evident in the restriction of movement for students and teachers on Israeli military checkpoints, the arrest, torture, and killing of students and professors by the Israeli military.

Dr Alwai encouraged American teachers to scrutinize Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights and quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

In answering a question about the unique rewards of teaching under such turbulent conditions, Mr. Abu-Hijleh asserted that "education is the main activity that gives hope to our youth; they can grow, they can dream of self actualization, they can belong to a community of sisters and brothers, and that they are part of the building process of their nation." He added that "education is empowerment and if education did not break the cycle of oppression then it can be used to reproduce the structures of oppression. When I see the power and the urge to break the chains in the eyes of my students, I feel the reward."

Both Dr. Alwai and Mr. Abu-Hijleh complimented RJI for the good work with Palestinian students at An-Najah University, exemplified in the poetry and media training workshops, and for the several videoconferences RJI conducted between Palestinian students and college and high-school students in the USA and around the world.

During the videoconference, the questions asked by ISSA teachers expressed a clear keenness to learn with an open mind about realities of conditions in Palestine away from stereotypes and negative imagery, and all participants expressed eagerness to continue this interaction and cooperation in the future