history of Palestine. Most of the lessons were about the First and Second World Wars. Palestine was briefly mentioned in these lessons. Also for me, it is very difficult to study in an Israeli university. I can’t enter an Israeli university unless I pass another exam that is called Psychometric Entrance Test (PET), which is very difficult. I didn’t want to waste time studying for the Psychometric test, which I probably wouldn’t have passed with a high grade. Moreover, there’s segregation in terms of getting acceptance from an Israeli university; of course the Israelis are accepted first, and then comes the Palestinians. Although sometimes, they offer a lot of scholarships to Palestinians to study at Israeli universities, so they will work with Israeli organizations after they graduate and all their efforts will go to Israel, not to Palestine. I decided to study at Birzeit University in Ramallah [rather than to study at an Israeli university] because it turned out that it had the best journalism program among the Palestinian universities. As a Palestinian student, it would be very difficult to study journalism in an Israeli university because I would be discriminated against. Now I go back and forth to Jerusalem every day, this is why they cannot withdraw my residency, but I’m very frustrated by the difficulties I face every day on my way to the university. I liked my university, but now I hate myself for choosing to study in Birzeit because of the checkpoints and the borders. Since I live in Sheikh Jarrah [in Jerusalem], I have to wake up three hours before my class starts and ride two or two and a half hours to reach Birzeit in order to be in class on time. Birzeit is only one hour away from Jerusalem, why should it take two hours? It’s all because of the Wall and checkpoints. They [the Israeli soldiers] know very well that we are students and we don’t have time to waste as we have a lot of things to get done, yet they make us wait at the checkpoints. If there weren’t any checkpoints or separation walls, the road would take less than an hour.” Resident of East Jerusalem Interview: 4 November 2016 100

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