The idea of establishing a Palestinian Islamic university in Jerusalem was first raised in 1931, at the General Islamic Congress (al-Mu‘tamar al-Islami al-ʻAmm) held in Jerusalem from December 7 to 16, attended by 130 delegates from 22 countries.1 The idea, which was unanimously endorsed by all delegates, was to establish an Islamic university with the al-Aqsa Mosque with the stated goal to “promote Arab culture and raise the level of proficiency in Arabic among Muslim youth.”2 The first faculties planned were theology and Muslim law, medicine and pharmacology, and engineering. A fundraising drive was held across Palestine in 1932–33, but the funds raised were insufficient and eventually redirected to the needs opened by the 1936–39 Great Palestinian Revolt.3

In the wake of the 1948 War, Jerusalem was divided, with the bulk of the city (its western side) falling under the newly declared State of Israel, and the smaller eastern side falling under Jordan. Given that all the existing municipal infrastructure fell in the Israeli areas,4 and that those areas had been ethnically cleansed of virtually all of their Palestinian residents,5 many of whom ended up on the eastern side as refugees, the city’s Arab leaders were fully preoccupied with basic municipal needs for many years. It was only a decade later, in 1957, that the idea of establishing a Palestinian university in Jerusalem was revived. A board of trustees was formed in Kuwait, which formed an executive committee.6 This committee then tasked the mayor of Arab Jerusalem Ruhi al-Khatib with planning the construction. On January 1, 1965, the first cornerstone for the new university was laid in Arab Jerusalem by al-Khatib, with King Hussein of Jordan and the prince of Kuwait in attendance.

Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in June 1967 created a void in higher education opportunities for the Palestinians of Jerusalem, who suddenly found themselves separated from institutions in Jordan and the rest of the Arab world. Facing this situation, the community rekindled its determination to act.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, several independent specialized colleges were established in Jerusalem and its suburbs—for instance, the College of Daawa and Religious Principles (Beit Hanina, 1978), the Colleges of Medical Professions (al-Bira, 1979) and Science and Technology (Abu Dis, 1979), and the College of Hind al-Husseini for Women (Sheikh Jarrah, 1982).7 In 1984, the administration began the process of unifying these various colleges in response to an accreditation requirement by the Union of Arab Universities.8 Finally, in 1995, in the heyday of the Oslo Accords and likely looking ahead to a desired Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, a basic law and integrated bylaws were created for the colleges, marking the birth of Al-Quds University as one official, united entity.9

Today, Al-Quds serves around 12,500 undergraduate and graduate students—60 percent of them from Jerusalem and inside Israel and 40 percent from across the rest of the West Bank10—with 969 faculty members. Its lectures are primarily conducted in the Arabic language, and it offers unique specializations, such as a Jerusalem studies master’s program taught at the Old City-based Centre for Jerusalem Studies. The university has 15 colleges and 29 centers and institutes across Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank,11 and four campuses. There is the large campus in Abu Dis (in the southeast of Jerusalem, on the West Bank side of the Separation Wall), and three smaller campuses “inside” the wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah, and Beit Hanina.12 Two-thirds of students enroll in programs accredited by Israel (such as health, medicine, law, and social services) and programs not requiring Israeli accreditation, such as business administration, which are taught at the Beit Hanina campus.13

As Israel gradually forced Palestinians’ official representatives and institutions from the city throughout the 1990s (see Representation), Al-Quds University took on the responsibility of community building and strengthening Jerusalem’s Palestinians. The Community Action Center in the Old City, for instance, offers pro bono legal counseling, helping Jerusalemites obtain social and economic legal rights via family unification, residency, national insurance, and other cases.14 Other initiatives are a local library in the Old City’s Hab Rumman neighborhood, renovating the Mamluk hammams (public baths) in Suq al-Qattanin in partnership with the European Union, and connecting youth with local merchants to build community between them and help the merchants strengthen their social media marketing.15

Over the last three decades, Israel has used legal, political, and military pressure to try to get the university to close its doors, especially its campuses inside the wall in the OId City, Sheikh Jarrah, and Beit Hanina. In 2013 alone, 1,769 students and staff members were injured by the Israeli army in 26 different attacks on the Abu Dis campus.16 Al-Quds University managed to obtain permanent Israeli recognition of its medical and health degrees under the condition that it move those departments outside the Israeli municipal boundaries to the Abu Dis campus. To determine whether Al-Quds University medical graduates are equipped to work in Israeli institutions, the Israeli Supreme Court required a cohort of medical students to take the Israeli medical practice exam. Their success rate was 100 percent, compared to 70 percent and 20 percent for graduates of Western European and Eastern European universities, respectively. This exceptional result brought the university immediate recognition of its teaching and degrees.17

In 2018, Israel attempted to withdraw recognition of the university’s social sciences degrees as an attempt to pressure Al-Quds University to also transfer those departments outside of the Israeli municipal boundaries. Had they done so, they would have been considered degrees from a “foreign” institution, not unlike the fully West Bank Palestinian universities, Birzeit University and Hebron University.18 (Israeli institutions recognize degrees from those institutions held by graduates with Israeli IDs, but they must still pass a Hebrew matriculation exam and take certain additional training to continue their education or be licensed, depending upon the field.) Only after a legal battle at the Israeli Supreme Court was the university able to maintain official Israeli recognition of its social sciences degrees.19

Israel has followed a calculated multifaceted plan to create permanent Jewish dominance in Jerusalem (see, for example, Israel’s Vision of a Greater [Jewish] Jerusalem); one part of this plan is dismantling Palestinian institutions in the city. Weakening Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem reduces the Palestinian national claim to the city and forces Palestinian residents to turn to Israeli institutions, thereby diminishing Palestinians’ self-sustainability and reinforcing Israeli control and occupation. If Al-Quds University is removed from Jerusalem, Palestinians in the city will have no alternative to Israeli higher education institutions (which have steep barriers to entry, such as Hebrew language requirements), or institutions on the Palestinian Authority-administered side of the Separation Wall (which are harder to access physically and may not offer a direct path to employment in Jerusalem, as detailed above).

Second, universities are hubs for intellectual and self-exploration, allowing space for critical thinking. Al-Quds offers lectures and classes within Jerusalem, providing young Palestinians an intellectual and academic space in their native language in the heart of the city—a rarity due to years of Israeli attacks and the marginalization of Palestinian institutions. Israel clearly recognizes the role of education and educational spaces in forming and maintaining Palestinian national identity and has passed numerous laws seeking to regulate “nationalist” curricula in schools, aligning it with “terrorism”20 (see Hassan Jabareen: “If You Succeeded in Closing UNRWA, Why Not Continue and Close Schools and Fire Teachers?”).

While Israel cannot legally interfere with Al-Quds University’s curriculum since it is a private, independent university, it has applied pressure in other ways, hoping Al-Quds will eventually succumb. In 2024, for example, Israel dug up a road near university grounds, damaging university power lines, creating a dangerously deep ditch right outside of the campus, and disrupting student and staff access. Security forces prohibited the Abu Dis municipality from fixing the damage and threatened to confiscate its equipment.21

Notably, the university is known for an outspoken student movement that organizes demonstrations and university-wide strikes in solidarity with fellow Palestinians. It frequently releases statements to denounce Israeli violence and commemorate Palestinian martyrs and political activists, some of whom Israel classifies as “terrorists.” Pro-Palestinian activism and speech are punishable by law in Israel and could amount to “incitement of terrorism”; such protests and statements are risky for the students and can be used to justify punitive measures against the university. For instance, members of the Islamic bloc in the university have been arrested administratively (without a charge) and held as political prisoners.22 Israeli border guards have threatened students, dropping leaflets stating “there is terrorist activity in your university which could harm you directly. Your activity in the [Islamic] bloc is exposed and surveilled. Resuming your activity will harm your future and could result in your arrest.”23

The physical and political space that Al-Quds University holds in the heart of the city resists Israel’s grasp on Palestinians’ imagination, intellect, and self-expression.

To limit student enrollment, the main source of life for the university,24 Israel sets up bureaucratic and access obstacles for Al-Quds University students during and after their studies. While recognizing the university’s nursing degrees, Israeli authorities may still claim a graduate has obtained insufficient education and deny them eligibility for the government nursing licensure exam. Basma, a nursing alumna from Jabal Mukabbir, hired a lawyer to help her navigate the Israeli licensure system and was only able to take the required exam after a legal battle.25

After passing the test and landing a job (her practical training) that would allow her to obtain a license, Basma observed significant gaps in wages and social benefits between Israeli and Palestinian university graduates, even in identical positions.26 Several nursing graduates from Al-Quds University remain unemployed, despite passing the exam and graduating with accredited degrees, as Israeli health centers may discriminate, choosing graduates of Israeli universities over those from Palestinian universities, regardless of level of qualification.27

Graduates with degrees in fields not accredited by Israel and that don’t have a national licensure exam—such as education, science, and technology—must enroll in completion programs at Israeli educational institutions in order to work in Israeli institutions.28

Students also cited Israeli officials’ overt disregard for the university’s students, faculty members, property, and its inherent educational sanctity. They have experienced armed attacks on their campuses, where Israeli security forces have fired tear gas canisters, sound bombs, and live bullets and carried out vandalism. Border police are increasingly bold about breaking into the campus during class hours, indiscriminately beating up or arresting students, endangering lives, and causing tension for the entire Abu Dis community.29 The Separation Wall was originally planned to cut through the Abu Dis campus, confiscating one-third of its grounds, but after intensive lobbying by then university president Sari Nusseibeh, who led the student body in explicitly nonviolent protests, Israel agreed in 2003 to reroute the eight-meter-high cement barrier so it hugs the edge of the campus grounds instead.30 Still, it remains a physical barrier to access. Students and staff frequently encounter Israeli police and soldiers at several checkpoints while traveling to the university.

Transportation to Al-Quds University’s Abu Dis campus is the most common challenge for students from Jerusalem. Basma, the previously mentioned nursing graduate from Jabal Mukabbir, spent many hours just trying to get to her classes. Were the Separation Wall and military checkpoints to vanish, her car ride from Jabal Mukabbir to Abu Dis would not exceed 10 minutes. To contextualize this, driving from Jabal Mukabbir to Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem takes about 20 minutes. As the crow flies, the distance between Damascus Gate and Jabal Mukabbir is about 3.5 kilometers (approx. 2 miles), while the distance between the Abu Dis campus and Jabal Mukabbir is about 1.7 kilometers (approx. 1 mile).31

In actuality, the alumna had to pass through the Sheikh Sa‘d checkpoint in Jabal Mukabbir, a route only allowed for pedestrians local to the village, then grab a taxi to Abu Dis on the other side of the checkpoint. These taxis are unregistered and unregulated, making Basma feel unsafe.

When the checkpoint was closed (the military closes checkpoints at whim or during Jewish holidays or security events), Basma rode a bus to the central bus station in East Jerusalem outside of the Old City, then took the 263 Ma‘ale Adumim bus line to the campus—a trip that lasts 1 hour and 10 minutes but could last up to 3 hours in heavy city traffic or with checkpoint searches and closures.

Long hours on the road are a common experience, even for students living in Abu Dis. The medical program, for instance, requires practical experience in Jerusalem hospitals, adding additional checkpoint crossings. Besides the exhaustion from the long commute, the uncertainty and delays result in tardiness and compromise students’ academic standing.32

Despite the challenges Israeli authorities create for Al-Quds University students, they continue to choose it over Israeli higher education institutions in the city. Interviewed Jerusalemites chose Al-Quds University for its high-level academics—especially in the health and medical fields—and for proximity to home, the ability to speak Arabic at university, and—importantly—a desire to remain aligned with their sociocultural and political values.33

Many Palestinians in Jerusalem refuse to enroll in Israeli educational institutions because, from their perspective, paying them tuition funds the Israeli occupation. They want to avoid normalizing integration into Israeli society. They recognize that studying at Israeli institutions may force them to suppress their Palestinian identities and lived experiences in order to avoid being perceived as a threat to the institution; they want to avoid the fear of harassment, expulsion, or even suspension.34

While Palestinians with Israeli citizenship—for example, from the Galilee—usually opt for Israeli universities because they are the only option nearby, some are willing to travel to Al-Quds University because it offers an additional, excellent track to health and medical training. Emir, a student from Shafa-‘Amr, said that his grades were too low for admission to Israeli medical programs, but instead of traveling abroad like some of his peers, he preferred to study locally among his people. While other Palestinian universities may charge Palestinians with Israeli citizenship higher tuition because they aren’t West Bank residents, Al-Quds University charges all Palestinian students the same tuition.35

The university has stood firm in the face of the many barriers put up by Israel. Besides its educational mission, Al-Quds nurtures Jerusalem’s Palestinian character by preserving and empowering the Palestinian population in the city and affirming Palestinians’ cultural identities and right to live a dignified life.