Nablus - On Monday February 15^th, the Research Journalism Initiative (RJI), in cooperation with Zajel youth exchange program, facilitated a videoconference between An Najah National University and Ithaca College in New York. The exchange featured Dr. Raed Badawi, the UNESCO chairperson for Human Rights at An-Najah National University, Saed Abu-Hijleh, a Palestinian geographer and poet, and Alaa Abu Dhir, the Acting Director of the Department of Public Relations at An Najah. This event was one in a series of videoconferences between these two institutions, and part of RJI’s broader efforts to connect students of An Najah with their colleagues in US classrooms.

Saed Abu Hijleh started the video conference with an analysis of the geo-political aspects of the Nakba. He briefed students on the number of villages destroyed and how, through massacres, their residents were terrorized, expelled and forced to relocate in the West Bank and neighboring countries. Dr. Raed Badawi complemented this briefing with a talk about international law and how it guarantees the refugees’ right of return, and obligates the international community to provide proper living and services until that time, and how the facts on the ground demonstrate a failure to live up to these responsibilities.

Alicia, a student at Ithaca College, asked if Palestinians still feel connected to the Nakba. Ala'a Abu Dhir answered that the Nakba is still happening. "The last 10 years marked another Nakba. The Nakba of 1948 was more apparent, but this Nakba has indirect impact. The wall, the apartheid, everything that happened in the past 10 years caused people to migrate in huge numbers." He continued, "the Nakba in 1948 has a huge emotional affect on Palestine – a mark that cannot be removed."

Another student from Ithaca asked if Palestinians are frustrated. Dr. Badawi explained that from his own experience as a refugee living in Jenin camp, poverty and unemployment inside the refugee camps have become commonplace. "The biggest shock is when you go outside the camp and see that what seemed natural to you, is not what's really natural or how things should be. It's frustrating to refugees."

When asked about the best way to end the occupation, Dr. Badawi explained his belief that the single state solution is the only to end this conflict. A one-state, secular solution for all – Muslims, Jews, and Christians – he said, is the only way to end suffering of the refugees and the conflict over Jerusalem. Mr. Abu Hijleh added that the original plan of the PLO was to have one state that embraces and includes everybody. But that plan, he explained, collapsed with the Oslo agreements. "Maybe it’s the time to go back to that original plan," he continued.

Students at An Najah were asked if they intended to educate their children about the Nakba. Awad Yamani, a student of English Literature, said that he will definitely tell his children about the Nakba and educate them about the legitimate struggle for their rights as Palestinians, just as his parents raised him and nurtured in him a love of his land and people.

RJI’s program at An Najah National University in Nablus is designed to provide new opportunities for cooperation between Palestinian students and their counterparts across the world. RJI is a project of the Assistant to the President for International and Strategic Affairs at An Najah National University and is hosted as an independent global studies initiative at the Korean-Palestinian IT Institute for Excellence. For more information, please visit us at www.RJIPalestine.net.