Visiting scholars learn of U.S., explain their culture

The Southern Illinoisan

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- One spring day in 1967, when Abderrahman Ibrahim was 9 years old and living in the Palestinian town of Tuikarm, bombs fell on his family's house.

It was the start of the Six Day War, during which Israel first occupied the Gaza Strip and Golan Heights, the Left Bank, and East Jerusalem.

But Ibrahim didn't know that. He and his family hid under beds and tables, the children crying while their mother prayed and read the Quran.

"I was too young to really understand what was going on, but I was terrified," said Ibrahim. "After a few days, some young Israeli soldiers came to our door and told us we had to leave. We went to another village about ten kilometers away and lived in the street for about two weeks."

Ibrahim's family was later allowed to return to their village and the little boy grew up be a political science professor at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem.

Usually he teaches undergraduates about the U.S. political system, but this summer Ibrahim is in Southern Illinois, taking a turn at being a student himself. Ibrahim joins 17 other international scholars at the Fulbright American Studies Institute, which takes place for six weeks at Southern Illinois University.

Although the fellows, each of whom teaches a course on U.S. politics in his or her home country, are here to learn about America, they also want America to learn about them.

"The American people have a very limited and often false view of Palestinian people, because the U.S. media portrays us in such simple black and white terms," Ibrahim said. "But the situation in the Mideast is a very complex one."