<p>Hi, I'm a rising senior looking to narrow down my college list/make sure I'm not missing any schools I should be considering, and right now I'm mainly focusing on their Middle Eastern Studies programs (I'm going to major either in that or IR) and study abroad opportunities. However, right now I'm struggling with finding schools that will support my current study abroad plan. While I realize that things could change, right now I'm tentatively hoping to spend a semester in Israel and a semester in the West Bank. Only two of the schools I'm considering send students to the West Bank through Bir Zeit University (Swarthmore and Claremont McKenna), and I'm emailing some of the others to ask how open they would be to me making my own plan to study abroad in Palestine. I realize that there are safety and legal issues, but this is something that's really important to me and I think it will be worth it.</p>
<p>So I was wondering, do any of you know of any schools (under 10k students with good programs in IR and MES) that send students abroad to Palestine, or are open to students creating their own study abroad plans?</p>
<p>Thanks for your help! :)</p>
<p>Hi</p>
<p>the experience of my American friends in the ME has been highly mixed. The problem tends to be one of insurance. That means that certain places are on some sort of State dep list of either dangerous or critical places. While living in the WB is totally relaxed, SD and other US officials tend to be overcautious and the lists are also normally a bit politically skewed. Palestine will be beyond reach for most schools. Here are some alternatives:</p>
<p>1) Go to Jerusalem. Al-Quds university in EJ (and the old city) is not the best Palestinian uni, but then again the quality difference isnt that huge. You’ll be able to live on soil that is de facto Israeli and avoid much of the legal hassle.</p>
<p>It is also important to note how tiny Israel/Palestine really is. Even if you studied in Jaffa you could prob still visit the WB every other day. With foreign passports travel between the two areas is easy and hassle-free. So you’ll prob already get nice exposure to Palestine during your semester in an Isreali university. </p>
<p>2) Go for a summer. There are numerous educational programs in Palestine during the summer semester. Especially Birzeit’s famous program for palestinian studies offers courses during the summertime. You could combine this with a semester in Israel and then still pick another place to go abroad.</p>
<p>3) Go to Jordan or Egypt. Both countries will be far better for your Arabic (everybody in PA speaks proper English) and you’ll still be able to enter Israel easily (especially from Jordan through King Hussein bridge). Egypt will even give you the opportunity to visit Ghaza.
This will also let you avoid an Israeli stamp. That is important, bc if you are to spend a year in the ME, you should take the opportunity to explore: Syria, Beirut and others are very interesting and wonderful places.
AUB, AUC and others offer great programs for native English speakers and have numerous exchange programs. The entire experience will also be cheaper</p>
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<p>There are many options available and you should consider taking one semester in Isreal and one in an Arab country. Isreal and especially Palestine is tiny (Ramallah/Birzeit will bore you to death after about three days, no kidding), you will get more out of a year if you go to an Arab country.</p>
<p>Hope I could help</p>
<p>Wow thanks, that was really helpful!! Ok it’s great to know I can have other options, and thanks for telling me about how easy it would be to visit Palestine when I’m studying in Israel (I’d still rather do both but it’s nice to know there’s a backup option). And thanks for the idea of doing a semester in Israel and a semester in an Arab country, I’ve only recently started really thinking about this so that idea hadn’t occurred to me, but it seems like that would be a really cool option too. Thanks for all your help!! :)</p>