AStA: Dear Fatima (names changed by the editors), we’re glad you were able to make time for this interview! For our readers’ information: You are studying medicine at An-Najah University in Nablus, a partner university of the University of Cologne. Many students here in Cologne are deeply concerned about the situation in Palestine; as the AStA, we’ve just launched a solidarity campaign titled “Solidarity with Natalie Abudayyeh, Joulan Abu Awwad, Sama Safi, and Laila Khalil and all the students whose names we do not know!” that anyone can sign. To start, could you tell us a little about what life is like for people in Palestine and the situation at universities and among colleagues in the healthcare sector?
Fatima: I think one of the hardest things to explain is how unpredictable everyday life can be. You can have a completely normal plan for your day: university, hospital, meeting friends, going home, and suddenly it changes because of a raid, a checkpoint closing, a new roadblock, an arrest operation, or something happening nearby. As a medical student, I notice this a lot now because I need to reach hospitals for my clinical training. Sometimes before leaving home, you check the news and ask people which roads or checkpoints are open. Even while you’re on your way, things can change. But I don’t like saying that we are “used to it” or that we have adapted to this life. I don’t think you get used to raids, arrests, people being killed, being stopped or detained, or simply not knowing whether you’ll be able to reach where you’re going. Experiencing something repeatedly doesn’t make it normal. We just keep finding ways around it because we don’t want it to stop our lives. If a road closes, you look for another one. If you think there might be delays, you leave earlier. If university is interrupted, you try to catch up. For me, that’s not accepting this as normal or adapting to it. It’s trying to keep living your life despite it. And in healthcare this becomes even more serious, because patients can’t wait for the situation to become convenient. Hospitals still need to function and healthcare workers still need to reach their patients. Of course, I can only speak from my own experience in the West Bank. What students and healthcare workers in Gaza have been living through is on a completely different scale, and I don’t want to compare my experience to theirs.
AStA: In Germany, hardly anyone realizes just how highly valued education is in Palestine and how well-educated the population actually is—despite the occupation and war, much like in the much wealthier Federal Republic of Germany. A fellow activist from your university once told us: “For us, education means resistance.” We see the images here of how education continues in Gaza amid the destruction, and we know how you study despite checkpoints and roadblocks. Can you tell us a little about the value and significance of education in Palestine?
Fatima: I really relate to the sentence “education means resistance.” Education has always been a big thing in Palestinian families. From a young age, you’re asked what you want to study, where you want to go to university, what you want to become. Families make a lot of sacrifices for their children’s education and they’re incredibly proud of their achievements. For me, studying medicine is obviously about building my own future, but it’s also bigger than that. One day, what I’m learning will be used to treat people here. The same goes for someone becoming a teacher, an engineer, a researcher, or anything else. You’re building yourself, but hopefully you’re also building something you can give back to your community. That’s what “education is resistance” means to me. Not pretending that everything is okay and just continuing as if nothing is happening. It’s more like refusing to let what is happening around you decide how far you can dream or what you can become. You can even see how important education is in the way we celebrate it. (Tawjihi results, getting accepted into university, graduation) these can become huge family celebrations. Academic achievements really mean something here. And when I see students in Gaza still trying to continue their education under circumstances that are much, much harder than mine, I think I understand that sentence even more. Sometimes continuing to learn is itself a way of saying: I still have a future, and this land is still my home.
AStA: In the resolution “For the right to education, peace, health, and development—in Palestine and worldwide,” (https://www.asta.uni-koeln.de/2026/07/09/for-the-right-to-education-peace-health-and-development-in-palestine-and-worldwide/) we, the AStA, together with your student council, other student councils in Germany, and the umbrella organization of PMSA, call for the expansion of international exchange programs with Palestinian universities. How important do you consider such exchange programs to be, and how can they be improved?
Fatima: Before going on an exchange myself, I don’t think I fully understood how valuable these programs can be. Academically, my time in Germany gave me the chance to experience a different research environment, learn new things and see how another academic system works. But honestly, some of the things I value most from that experience have nothing to do with what I learned in the lab. I met people I probably would never have met otherwise. We worked together, ate together, talked about completely random things, and of course sometimes talked about Palestine and Germany too. I got to know Germany through actual people rather than from a distance, and they also got to know a Palestinian student as a person, not only through what they hear about Palestine in the news. I think that’s something really special about exchange. Sometimes a normal conversation over lunch does more than you expect. And it doesn’t necessarily end when you go home. I came back to Palestine with friendships and connections that I still have. Actually, the fact that I’m answering these questions now is partly because of people I met through that experience. So I would definitely like to see more opportunities like this for Palestinian students, especially opportunities that are financially accessible and that understand the travel and mobility difficulties Palestinian students can face. But I also really hope that one day the exchange can properly work in both directions. I got to experience student and academic life in Germany. I’d genuinely love for German students to come here and experience ours too.
AStA: In the first question, we addressed the situation of your imprisoned fellow students. They represent many others and symbolize the constant danger of arbitrary detention and mistreatment. What can and must we do here in Germany to ensure that this situation finally ends and that everyone can study and live free from fear?
Fatima: I don’t think I have a simple answer for what Germany can do to end such a complicated situation. But as a student, I know what I would want from other students and universities. First, listen to Palestinian students and give them space to speak for themselves. Don’t only hear about us when something terrible happens and then forget about us when Palestine is no longer in the news. I actually think this interview is a small example. You wanted to know what Palestinian students think, so you asked us directly instead of speaking for us. And solidarity can also be very practical. Universities can create scholarships, exchange and research opportunities, support students whose education has been interrupted, and keep partnerships with Palestinian universities alive. My own exchange made me understand how much these opportunities can matter to one person. Someone created that academic connection, and because it existed, I got an experience that I brought back home with me. So I think one of the most useful things students and universities in Germany can do is keep these connections open and make sure Palestinian students are not academically isolated from the rest of the world.
AStA: Some members of our AStA have already been to Palestine and are familiar with the incredible hospitality and the resilient, vibrant, and life-affirming culture that persists despite—and perhaps because of—the attempts to destroy Palestinian society. If our goal of creating the conditions to enable mutual exchange as soon as possible were to become a reality, what would you show German students first?
Fatima: First of all, they would definitely have to try proper Palestinian knafeh, maqluba, and musakhan. That’s not negotiable. But honestly, I don’t think I’d want to give them a perfect tourist version of Palestine. I’d rather let them spend a normal day with me. I’d take them to my university, introduce them to my friends and let them see what our student life actually looks like. Since medicine takes up a huge part of my life now, I’d probably want them to see that side of my life too. Then we’d go to the Old City, walk through the markets, eat a lot, drink coffee somewhere, and at some point I’d definitely want them to sit with a Palestinian family. And they’d probably discover very quickly that saying “I’m full” doesn’t really work in a Palestinian house. I’d also want them to see a checkpoint. Not because that’s something I want to “show” a visitor, but because I couldn’t honestly show someone my life while hiding that part of it. I want them to understand why we sometimes check the roads before going somewhere, or why simply knowing exactly how long a journey will take felt so different to me when I was in Germany. But I especially want them to see all the normal things that don’t make it into the news. Students complaining about exams, friends sitting over coffee for too long, families, jokes, plans, people my age trying to figure out their futures, basically the things that make us normal people and not just another story about a conflict. When I was in Germany, people let me into their normal lives. That’s what I’d want to return here. I wouldn’t want someone to leave thinking, “Now I’ve seen the conflict.” I’d want them to leave thinking, “Now I actually know people in Palestine.”