Qatari university welcomes Israeli students
AS we know , there was a vibrant Jewish community in Bahrain in the early 1900s, most of them came from Iraq, Iran and India and today there remains about 30 Jews living in Bahrain.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa
According to al Jazeera Qatar’s neighbour - Bahrain - took the decision to end the boycott of Israeli goods .
In January this year Israeli’s deputy prime minister Shimon Peres held talks Tuesday with the emir of Qatar, during a rare visit by a high-ranking official of the Jewish state to the Gulf emirate.The meeting with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani was also attended by Qatar’s state minister for foreign affairs, Ahmad Abdullah al-Mahmud, QNA official news agency reported.Peres arrived in Doha Monday to take part in a debate on the Middle East with students. He was expected to “put forward the Israeli position in front of 300 students,” Sharon Kravicky, the spokeswoman of the veteran Israeli leader said…The debate is an initiative by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Development.Like most Arab countries, Qatar does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, but the Jewish state has a commercial interests office manned by two diplomats in Doha, and representatives of both countries also meet on a regular basis.
So,it was with interest I read this article about this school in Qatar which is open to Israeli students :
Qatari university welcomes Israeli students
Dean of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar says school open to applicants of all nationalities, doesn’t forsee problems for Israelis seeking student visas
Eldad Beck Published: 04.20.07, 10:45 / Israel News
“Our university is open to students of all races, nationalities and sexes; we accept people based on their individual capabilities and are looking for students from all over the world – including Israel,†said Dr James Reardon-Anderson, dean of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar. “Our university is open to students of all races, nationalities and sexes; we accept people based on their individual capabilities and are looking for students from all over the world – including Israel,†said Dr James Reardon-Anderson, dean of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar.The prestigious American university opened its Qatari branch almost two years ago, at the invitation of the local government. In an effort to prevent the emigration of local researchers from the tiny emirate (only 120,000 residents), the Qatari government decided to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a massive education complex, dubbed Education City, which seeks to become the regional academic hub. Drawing prestigous institutions to join the project was one of the government’s key goals and besides Georgetown there are currently four other leading US universities with campus branches already operating in Doha. These include Texas A&M University, Weill Cornell Medical College, Carnegie Mellon University and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts.Georgetown’s Qatari branch charges $35,000, equal to the tuition charged by the original establishment in Washington DC. However, Dean Reardon-Anderson said foreign students are eligible for scholarships and loans. Due to the small amount of local students, Qatar is trying to attract foreigners through lucrative scholarships granted by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, which was set up by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, wife of the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani. Despite the fact that Israel and Qatar do not maintain diplomatic relations Dean Reardon-Anderson said he does not expect Israeli students to encounter any difficulties in obtaining a viasas.Several Israelis have visited the campus over the past two years, he said, adding that the university’s annual Model United Nations Conference is regularly attended by delegates from Israeli high schools. According to the dean, Israelis should consider enrolling at the university because “the academic level here is equal to that of the Washington campus, but with better learning conditions.” Secondly, he said, Israeli students studying in Qatar can easily go home for the weekend, as the flight is only a few hours long.
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Btw there are Jordanian and other Arab students at Israeli universities and colleges.I know a person who has studied at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel and there were quite a few Jordanians studying there.
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Yeah, Qatar is quite open about things like that.
I actually got to attend the Doha Debates episode with Peres, (not the best episode ever though, because a lot of the students weren’t there to learn from the debate, just for the chance to somehow prove Peres wrong, and he sure held his own), and have also interacted with the students from Israeli High Schools at the MUN conferences. I don’t think any Israeli students would have any problems studying and living here, (except maybe because there’s nothing to do in this tiny city)
This is great! I hope this would increase dialogue amongst all kinds of students within the Middle East. Qatar in many ways is really trying to advance itself and the best way to do it is through being open to all forms of education. It is a big step forward, and I am very excited to go there (most likely this summer) in order to check their many new campuses and facilities out.
Rohan, there are also Doha interfaith conferences in which many Jews, Muslims, and Christians participate in… some I believe are also from Israel. It is refreshing to see that the government is playing a positive role by funding and supporting such events, so this is something to be proud of.
Well done Qatar! Let’s see who else is brave enough to follow.
Yay! That’s good news
Do you think fear might stop Israeli students from wanting to study there? I have to admit this is going to take some courage…
Now, wouldn’t it be great if Israel invited Palestinian students from the West Bank to come and study in Israel. That would be something
All sides need to change int his conflict. All sides have extremists. All sides have moderates. All sides need to change. This is a great step, but “forward” doesn’t exist in the Middle East. We have to take these steps in all directions.
There are some Israelis, for example, who won’t appear with me as a comedian because I am Palestinian; and some venues that are not interested in having our show appear.
Of course, the same exists among Palestinians and Arabs — five groups cancelled my shows when I returned from Israel. But, we are going ahead with the shows in June and we are trying to get Israel to give permission for the show to go to Bethlehem and Ramallah and to allow Palestinian journalists this time to cover the evenet — they were blocked from attending by Israel’s communications bureau last time.
Who knows, though. We keep trying and something can happen.
Ray Hanania
http://www.hanania.com
Fear might stop some Israeli students from coming, but only before they’ve seen Doha. Fact is the Emiri diwan will give them all the overt and covert protection, that there will be no question of any ‘incidents’.
Esra’a, Israeli’s as in generalizing are the least fearful people I know. While ‘hot’ warnings are given not to go to the Sinai for example for the specific terrorattacks, you see them crossing the border with Egypt in their thousands…. So, I don’t think fear will stop Israeli’s from studying there if they are allowed to.
I think it’s superb that there is communication and goodwill between some Arabs and Israelis and hopefully it will increase
Btw a big Israeli fashion chain — Fox-Wizel said awhile back in 2004 that it is planning on opening a chain of stores in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), following a deal it signed with Royal Sporting House (RSH), a subsidiary of a Dubai based company,headed by Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar
Anyone live in Dubai and been to the Israeli/RSH stores
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