study abroad – HolyLandJustice.org

20581 — The bridge connecting the West Bank with Israel. (photo: Chadica / Wikimedia Commons)

The University of Cambridge has taken Palestine off its list of acceptable places of study due to visa difficulties in Israel.

By Patrick Wernham / University of Cambridge Varsity / Oct 22, 2017

“Whilst we do not ban independent travel to, or study in, the Palestinian territories, students cannot choose to spend their Year Abroad in the West Bank for the time being due to recent difficulties faced by students in securing visa renewals from the Israeli authorities.”

The University of Cambridge has banned its students from studying in the Palestinian territories on their year abroad.

In a statement, the University said that the decision was made “due to recent difficulties faced by students in securing visa renewals from the Israeli authorities.”

It is the first time that a destination of study has been marked unacceptable since 2011, when Syria was removed as a result of the civil war.

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Gonzaga students sharing a home-cooked meal with a Palestinian family.

Study abroad program sends students to Israel, plans for program to return in 2019.

By Emily Klein / The Gonzaga Bulletin
August 30, 2017

“The students appreciated a place that I had never been before [The Tent of Nations outside Bethlehem in the West Bank] and this is my 10th time going to Israel. For me it was a very emotional experience, too, because I felt like it’s such a model, it’s such a lesson in life where when you’re stuck in these horrible situations you have to consider how to stand up and be a human being. They could have become suicide bombers, they could have become people who lie in garbage. They said that they were going to find another way. I think that lesson, for the students, was absolutely profound. It was for me, too.”
— Dr. Elizabeth Goldstein, Associate Professor of Religious Studies

Controversies are often told or experienced in a one-sided manner. Israel, its history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict associated with it is often susceptible to such exclusive perspectives.

Every aspect of the Gonzaga-in-Israel program avoided limited perspectives by embracing duality and empathy.

Dr. Elizabeth Goldstein, associate professor of religious studies and a rabbi, proposed the creation of the Israel study abroad experience with dual purposes and perspectives in mind.

“I feel like Israel and knowledge of the Middle East is an important part of a full approach to both the background of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible as well as anything to do with contemporary Judaism,” Goldstein said. “I also felt that it was a part of the mission of the university to look at issues of social justice between Israel and Palestine.”

Continue reading “Gonzaga Sends Students to Israel and Palestine”