Two recent graduates of
Bethlehem University, along with a school official, detailed the
challenges involved in getting an education -- and in daily life -- in
Israeli-occupied Palestine. Lubna Alzaroo, now a Fulbright scholar attending the University of Washington, said that while it is required that English be taught in Palestinian schools, there is a severe shortage of English-language books for students, including storybooks for children.
Christian Brother Peter Bray, the New Zealand-born vice chancellor of Bethlehem University, said he would love to have professors worldwide use sabbatical time to be guest faculty at the school, but that Israeli visa laws make it next to impossible.
"Bethlehem's almost completely surrounded by the separation wall," the Israeli-built series of cement slabs, barbed wire fences and security roads dividing Palestinians from the growing number of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, said Nagib Kasbary, who graduated in June with a business degree.
"Bethlehem is becoming like a prison," he added.