Under the patronage of the General French Consul in Jerusalem, Mr Regis Koetschet, a conference on French orientalism opened at the university aimed at facilitating intercultural dialogue between east and west.

Papers were presented on orientalism, colonialism, the reception of Palestinian literature in Germany, power and orientalism and 'Toward a new orientalism'. The conference began in Jerusalem and closed in Nablus under the title Leo Masineon and European Orientalism.