New national re-encounters since 1948: Palestinian students from Israel studying at a Palestinian university in West Bank-Palestine

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the factors that attract (pull) or discourage (push) Palestinian students from Israel (PSI) to study at a Palestinian university, the Arab American University in Jenin (AAUJ), for the first time since the establishment of Israel in 1948.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative research method using in-depth interviews with 15 PSI who study at AAUJ attempts to define the motivations behind PSI preferring AAUJ, on one hand, and constraints, on the other hand.

Findings

The findings of the study show factors that attract PSI to study at the AAUJ and what subjects they choose to study there, the encounter with a similar culture and nationalism in a Palestinian campus in the occupied West Bank; the most significant difficulties and impediments they face there, whether economic or political, are discussed. This paper contributes to an understanding of the new national re-encounter between two Palestinian groups in a university campus, one under Israel’s occupation and the other that has Israeli citizenship.

Originality/value

It is a unique phenomenon in the trends of international students’ mobility in the world.

Citation

Haj-Yehia, K. and Arar, K. (2016), "New national re-encounters since 1948: Palestinian students from Israel studying at a Palestinian university in West Bank-Palestine", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 504-521. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-05-2015-0034