The Education System in Palestine – and Germany

Palestinian Universities and Their Special Relationship with Germany: A Lecture Series

For 150 years, Germany has shaped the Palestinian education system through Protestant and Catholic mission schools that also lead to the German Abitur; numerous Palestinian intellectuals speak German, and many professors at the twelve Palestinian universities were educated in Germany. But in the West Bank, the restrictions imposed by over 50 years of military administration weigh heavily on faculty and students. And in the Gaza Strip, teaching and research are now online almost exclusively online , after all university buildings have been destroyed—as has happened repeatedly over the past 20 years.

• Katja Dorothea Buck, M.A. (Specialist journalist covering religious minorities and religious freedom in the Middle East, Tübingen): German Pioneers of Education in the Holy Land: The Significance and Legacy of the German Protestant and Catholic Missions in the Palestinian School System.
• Prof. (ret.) Dr. Helga Baumgarten ( Birzeit University, former DAAD Professor of Political Science): 50 Years of Palestinian Universities: Freedom of Teaching and Research Under Occupation?
• Prof. Dr. Ahmed Abu Shaban (Al-Azhar University, Gaza, Agricultural Studies / York University, Toronto, Environmental and Urban Change): From Weakening to Annihilation: Higher Education and the Systematic Destruction of Universities in Gaza.