Abstract
While Arab higher education in the Jordan appears to be expanding, Palestinians studying in the West Bank are facing problems grave enough to put their entire educational future in jeopardy. The West Bank, conquered by Israel in the 1967 war and today inhabited by 850,000 Palestinians and about 20,000 Israeli settlers, has four academic institutions: Najah University in Nablus, Bir Zeit University near Ramallah, the Polytechnic of Hebron and the College des Frères in Bethlehem. The first two derive their university status from their membership of the Association of Arab Universities and are financed by donations from the Arab world; Hebron provides an intermediate curriculum tailored to local requirements and paid for by student fees; and Bethlehem, which has applied to join the AAU, is financed by the Catholic community in the United States.