STANISLAUS COUNTY, Calif. — Linda Bunney-Sarhad helped open the first private Palestinian university, Arab American University, in the Middle East back in 2000, and she's asking for people to take a more nuanced view of the people in the area.
"The Palestinians and the Israelis are not the same as their government. They are real people who are trying to raise their families who would like some opportunities for themselves," said Bunney-Sarhad, former California State University, Stanislaus director of the Office of Global Affairs.
According to the university's website, Arab American University was founded in a collaboration with California State University, Stanislaus and Utah State University. The California State University approved the first curriculum and gave the needed expertise to start the university.
"They had a dream and that is that they would create something that would draw Palestinian Students and Israeli students and students from the West together to study, and that out of their relationships, it would form there could be the beginning of a new generation of peace," said Bunney-Sarhad.
She said she was there for the opening ceremony back in 2000.
"There were two things going on. There was this wonderful hopeful ceremony to begin new opportunities for Palestinian students, and there was this fighting, which has really not stopped since then," said Bunney-Sarhad.
With the war intensifying in the region, ABC10 asked how the university that CSU Stanislaus helped launch is faring. The founding president and current academic advisor of the board of directors, Waleed Deeb, told ABC10 the following:
"Total number in both campuses is around 14,000, around 40% are Palestinians with Israeli citizenships. There are more check points and road blocks that makes it hard for students to come to the university. It is difficult but we know that teaching and learning should never stop. As for the recent 'war,' we do believe that what Hamas did was a crime and it does not serve the Palestinian cause at all. At the same time we believe that the people of Gaza mainly the children should not pay the price of Hamas mistake."
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