MIDDLE EAST: American university Texas A&M says it will open a satellite campus in the Israeli-Arab city of Nazareth, dubbing it a "peace campus"

Record ID: 346850

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: American university Texas A&M says it will open a satellite campus in the Israeli-Arab city of Nazareth, dubbing it a "peace campus"
  • Date: 4th November 2013
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (RECENT - OCTOBER 23, 2013) (REUTERS) **CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** JOURNALISTS SITTING IN NEWS CONFERENCE AHEAD OF SIGNING OF AGREEMENT TO ESTABLISH A BRANCH OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY IN NAZARETH ISRAELI PRESIDENT SHIMON PERES SMILING DURING NEWS CONFERENCE TEXAS GOVERNOR RICK PERRY SEATED DURING NEWS CONFERENCE NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English
  • Embargoed: 19th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem, Israel
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: International Relations,Education
  • Reuters ID: LVA85WPRVYE6UA75SBLJ3D6AEBB1
  • Story Text: United States university, Texas A&M, will open a new branch in the Israeli Arab city of Nazareth, officials said, in a move that is aimed at encouraging coexistence through education.
    The new university, the Peace Campus, opening in the so-called "Arab capital of Israel", will boast an Arab, Jewish and international student body and faculty.
    Christians revere Nazareth as the boyhood city of Jesus, and home to the church of the Annunciation. Nazareth today is Israel's largest Arab city with a population of 60,000 people.
    Two-thirds of the population are Muslim, while a third are Christian.
    In a news conference in Jerusalem attended by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Texas governor Rick Perry, Peres said that education would be able to achieve what politics could not.

    "The promotion of Nazareth, I think, is symbolic, to promote a better relation. On top of it, it is the real call of our time, namely, an age which is built on science more than on land. Land has borders, has limits, has control. Science doesn't have borders, doesn't have limits," Peres told reporters.
    Officials said the university would offer undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programmes in English and is due to open officially in October 2015.
    Texas A&M, which has branches around the world, is a public university in the United States. Financing for the new campus will come from private donors, and much of the funding so far has come from evangelical Christians.
    Officials said up to 5,000 students would be able to enrol, most coming from Nazareth and the surrounding cities and villages.
    Texas Governor, Rick Perry, who signed the agreement with Peres, said that Texas A&M hoped to build a community spirit on its new campus.

    "This is a place that instills in young people the true value of community, of service, of sacrifice. Aggies (referring to Texas A&M students or graduates) are taught to be a part of something, something bigger than yourself, regardless of your faith or your philosophy, you are part of a family," Perry told reporters at the news conference.
    The new university will be established at the Nazareth Academic Institute, a small college in the city that mostly caters to Nazareth residents.
    The Institute's President, George Kanaze, said he welcomed the establishment of the new university, saying it would bring many benefits to the local population.

    "The talk is about establishing a large university with different buildings, branches and research centres. This is, of course, beneficial economically, socially and academically to all those who live in the surroundings of Nazareth and the Galilee," he said.
    Media student Maria Abu Hana also said she was excited at the prospect of a large, international university opening in her city.

    "It is a source of great pride that we would have an officially recognised university in the Arab sector, and this will greatly help the community here. It is a great honor, and will make us happy that there is something here for Arabs," she said.
    Arabs make up 20 percent of the population in Israel, some 1.6 million people in a country of eight million. But they make up only 11 percent of students enrolled in higher education.
    Israeli Arabs complain of inferior services, higher unemployment and poverty rates and unfair allocation of funds in an avowedly Jewish state.
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