Teaching Europe in Palestine

Abstract

With the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994 following the Oslo Accords, support for the peace process with Israel, within the framework of the two-state solution, became the ‘new normal’. This ‘new normal’ was supposed to be reflected also in education. Donor countries, among them very prominently European actors, openly connected their support for Palestine’s education system with such an expectation. The Oslo Accords have put in motion a process of institutionalisation (that is, governmentalisation) of higher education programmes in Palestine. So far, such a process has not fully undermined the independence of universities in determining their programmes and curricula. Palestinian universities therefore continue to provide a different narrative, often critical of the status quo resulting from the Oslo Accords and its presupposed paradigm, the two-state solution. Within this context, this chapter assesses the manner in which Europe is taught at Palestinian universities. It conducts such an analysis within the larger context of how Palestinian higher education developed, and how Palestinian universities adapted to this ‘new normal’. The chapter thus uses the study object ‘Europe’ as a case study to problematise overall implications for present and future higher education programmes in Palestine.