January 28, 2009

Bethlehem university welcomes european de la salle brothers

By Manar shomaly (BU'10) and wala' Al- bakri (BU'10)

Fifty De La Salle Brothers from different parts of Europe and the Middle East visited Bethlehem University on Saturday, 17 January 2009 to meet and discuss with students about the life of Palestinian youth in the West Bank .

As they concluded a week of meetings in Jerusalem , the Brothers from the leadership councils of the provinces of Europe and the Middle East came to Bethlehem for some time with students. The discussions were on a range of topics, including Christian-Muslim relations on campus, the situation in Gaza , employment opportunities after graduation, and daily life under Israeli military occupation. Commenting on Christian-Muslim relations, Jane Lolas, a second year accounting major, summed up the experience of Bethlehem University students saying, “We live together as neighbors and friends and we have good relations among each other – we are all Palestinians.”

The visiting group of educators expressed interest and concerned about the daily difficulties of transportation to and from the university due to Israeli military occupation. Jacoub Sleibi, second-year Computer Information Systems student, talked about how his classmates living in Jerusalem and their daily struggle with travel restrictions, including checkpoints, curfews and the 10-foot separation wall. “Every time my classmates from Jerusalem cross the checkpoint, their IDs are being checked and they are constantly humiliated by the Israeli soldiers,” Jacoub explained. “Many times I take notes for them in class as they are often late for their classes,” Jacoub added.

"The major difficulty we face is that we cannot live in security," Yousif Dali, third-year English major added. “We never know when the soldiers will come into Bethlehem and take someone from his home or demolish someone's home.”

The visiting Brothers were welcomed to Bethlehem University by Br. Peter Bray, Vice Chancellor, Br. Robert Smith, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Br. Jack Curran, Vice President for Development, Mr. Sami El-Yousef, Vice President for Finances and Planning, in addition to other brothers, staff and students who took part in the various discussions.

Brother George Absi, the Provincial of the Freres of the Middle East and a member of Bethlehem University Board of Trustees, along with Brother Thomas Johnson, Vicar General of the Brothers, second in charge of the Brothers worldwide and also a member of the International Board of Regents for Bethlehem University , led the visiting group of Brothers.