Palestinian researchers defy restrictions to compete internationally

By Salam AbuSharar

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Passionately waiting to welcome young Palestinian researchers at the Birzeit University in occupied West Bank, Majdi Mafarja is happy to see his fellow Palestinians defying Israeli restrictions to take their ideas for creating breakthroughs to the Falling Wall Conference in Berlin.

Falling Wall is a world-class, interdisciplinary pitch competition for students, researchers, and early-career professionals and their breakthrough ideas.

The competition is inspired by the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall that set the stage for the reunification of Germany on Oct. 3, 1990.

“Palestine is full of creative minds that can convert the theoretical knowledge to applied projects that can compete internationally,” Mafarja, an assistant professor at the Department of Computer Science, Birzeit University, told Anadolu Agency.

The university organizes the competition for the 5th consecutive year despite Israeli restrictions that deny Palestinian researchers from the Gaza Strip the opportunity to participate in the event.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza since 2007, badly affecting livelihood in the Palestinian territory.

Anger has been growing across the occupied Palestinian territories as conditions for its residents increasingly worsen. Travel and imports are heavily controlled by the Israeli military, so researchers find it almost impossible to get to international conferences or labs and to access research materials.

- Open jail

Despite the Israeli restrictions and blockade, ZOOM meetings have become an alternative for Palestinian researchers and entrepreneurs from Gaza to present their projects.

“Palestine is full of walls,” said Mafarja, a member of the university’s competition jury. “It is a large, open jail for the people as there is no way to travel to establish cultural and scientific associations and play a critical role in the development of humanity.”

This annual competition allows Palestinian researchers to share their ideas for creating breakthroughs.

Participants present their projects to a jury within three minutes. The best projects will be selected to qualify for the final competition in Berlin, which coincides with the anniversary of Germany's reunification and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The competition adopts the slogan “Which Are The Next Walls to Fall?”, in an indication of creative ideas that challenge barriers.

“I worked with tens of researchers from Gaza. They always prove they are highly skilled. They blossomed even though the suffering they are experiencing as a result of the Israeli blockade,” Mafarja said.

- Challenges

Mafarja said Israel imposes multiple restrictions on the Palestinian science community in an attempt to isolate it from the global science community by imposing a travel ban on researchers to limit their opportunities to improve themselves and share their knowledge with different scientific platforms.

“Despite the occupation, our researcher students are tirelessly working to produce knowledge and create projects that can compete in the best universities,” Mafarja said. “You can imagine what they can do if there are no Israeli restrictions.”

Mafarja, who is a software entrepreneur, said many Palestinian youths lost real opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge because of the unjust Israeli restrictions.

“This issue must be highlighted,” he said. “The development of knowledge and skills is a basic right to the Palestinian youth who can do great researches in the best universities in the world.”