Chairman Ayman Odeh of the Joint List, the unified slate of predominantly Arab parties, was invited to tour the Arab American University in Jenin on Nov. 6, and to a meeting with the university’s heads. The objective of this get-together was not a mere courtesy or get-to-know you visit, but to show Odeh the integration of Israeli-Arab students in the only private academic institution in the West Bank.

The Arab American University in Jenin was founded in cooperation with California State University, Stanislaus, in 2000, just before the start of the second intifada, in the city that is at the forefront of the armed struggle against Israel. In fact, Jenin was often called by Israeli media “the capital of suicide terrorism.” In the university’s early years, it operated in the shadow of a complex security situation involving frequent closures, encirclements and military operations. In the past two years, with the aid of contributions from all over the world, the university built itself up to the position of a leading academic institution in the territories. In this way, it also became attractive to Arab students with Israeli citizenship.

According to the university’s communication office, half of the 10,000 students who are currently enrolled are from Israel. Most of them enrolled in degree programs such as nursing, pharmacy, engineering or law — majors that give them a high chance of finding employment in the future. But the department that is most attractive for Israeli students is dentistry. This is a profession that will — most probably — allow them to make an honest living within the supportive Israeli-Arab sector, without having to "ask favors" of Jewish employers or being subject to frequent discrimination during the process of finding work.

Other universities in the West Bank, such as An-Najah University in Nablus and Birzeit University just outside Ramallah, also have many students from Israel. These students decide to study in the West Bank for two main reasons. Some feel that the incitement messages advocated by the Israeli right-wing government have infiltrated academia. Thus, Israeli academic space has become much less tolerant of them. Others find it extremely difficult to pass the acceptance exams of the Israeli universities. These young people feel that the exams are tailored to Hebrew speakers and those who grew up in the Jewish-Zionist culture, without making allowances for minority groups. For example, Technion, the Haifa technology institute, raised the bar of its entrance exams in Hebrew this year.This change mainly harms members of minority groups who want to study at Technion.