Ties between the Israeli army and universities are well-documented — for instance, the dedicated training programs for soldiers, like Talpiot and Brakim, explicitly aiming at developing novel technologies for the military.

Not all universities follow suit. In Europe, and even more so in the United States, college students and researchers have played a significant role in movements in support of Gaza. Even some Israeli-affiliated scholars have spoken out. In turn, college-based activism has been a pretext for governments around the West to curb freedom of speech and research on campus.

Yet, while the spotlight often turns to universities abroad, Palestinian academia has rarely been a focus of attention. If this might seem a minor concern amid such massive atrocities, it also fits into a broader media dehumanization of Palestinians, in which their lives must appear as unlike Western ones as possible. Understanding Palestinian academia not only cuts against this oversimplification of Palestinians’ lives but may open up possibilities for future political and scholarly cooperation.