"What are you doing tonight? Come to our room and visit." Hardly an evening passed last week in which the six students and recent graduates visiting from Al-Quds University didn't invite another group of Brandeis students to join them for an impromptu nighttime gathering in their suite.

Al-Quds, the Palestinian university in Jerusalem, has participated in a partnership with Brandeis officially since 2003, even though Brandeis administrators and faculty have held meetings and exchanges with Al-Quds since 1997.

Dan Terris, vice president for global affairs, director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life and a Brandeis leader in the partnership, said that one piece of the exchange includes a faculty exchange. This involves improving the administrative capacity of Al-Quds University, at their president, Sari Nusseibeh's, request.

Another part of the partnership includes a student exchange.

The first student exchange took place in summer 2007, when eight Brandeis students: Joe Farbeann '08, Jessica Kent '09, Gabriela Lupatkin '09, Yael Mazor '08, Garrett Nada '10, Daniel Pereira '08, Jeremy Sherer '10 and Hilla Shimsoni '10 met eight Al-Quds students in Istanbul, Turkey. There, they studied philosophy and history and discussed the question for a seminar with the theme, "What is a Good Society?" In 2008, seven Brandeis students: Claire Cooper '11, Holly Devon '11, Jared Hirsh '10, Diana Marte '11, Stephen Robinson '11, Danielle Shmuely '10 and Saghi Sofinzon '11 traveled to Istanbul. Both student groups participated in intensive workshops led by Brandeis and Al-Quds faculty members for 10 days.

The second part of the exchange took place in May 2009, when Claire Cooper '11, Garrett Nada '10, Holly Devon '11 and Jared Hirsh '10 went on a 10-day visit to Al-Quds in Jerusalem.

The exchange was made possible through a grant from the Ford Foundation. The foundation's mission, according to its Web site, is "[to work] with visionary leaders and organizations around the world." The organization was founded to "advance social justice."

"During my time in Turkey, I gained insight into the political situation in the West Bank, Palestinian identity and their historical narrative. I also became more acutely aware of cultural differences and the effects of these on political philosophies," said Nada in an e-mail to the Justice.

Open dialogue was a key component of the Brandeis visit to Al-Quds, as well as the Al-Quds visit to Brandeis. On any given night last week, you could walk into Ridgewood suite 150 B, where the Palestinian students were staying, and find them passionately discussing politics, joking around and just hanging out with Brandeis students. Intense discussions would usually end not in anger or sadness but in a broadened sense of understanding. While most of the time Brandeis visitors to suite 150 B were more liberal-leaning on the issue of the Israel-Palestine conflict, a couple of Brandeis students came with more conservative opinions. One night, Shirel Guez '12, who is more conservative in her views about the conflict and very passionate about her connection to Israel, debated the issue with Sinan Abu Shanab, one of the Al-Quds students. The discussion intensified until Abu Shanab said something that caught Guez's attention. He told her that he, too, felt a connection to the land.

"To me it was really eye-opening, because it let me see that [Palestinians] aren't anti-Semitic. They don't hate Israelis. They have a connection to the land as well," Guez said.

"My favorite moments are when we are in the suite and have lot of Brandeis students [over] and [have] the ability to tell them a little about the conflict. I see the excitement in [them] wanting to know more," Abu Shanab said.

While it is easy to find differences between Brandeis and Al-Quds students, whether they be political or in the way they dress, last week's visit revealed that they share many similarities. Relaxing in the Palestinians' suite at night, Brandeis and Al-Quds students alike would head to one of the laptops left open in the room to either check their Facebooks or to pull up songs on YouTube. On other nights, both Brandeis and Al-Quds students played music and danced together.

"The biggest message is to keep an open mind and to try and listen to others' points of view. Challenge yourself and [your] point of view," said Abu Shanab. "I feel like I met people who I never would have met in a normal life, and those people really touched me as a person."

On Wednesday, the Al-Quds students attended Prof. Mari Christine Fitzduff's (HELLER) graduate course, "Coexistence and Conflict." At the start of class, the Palestinian students spoke about their trip.

"I'm so interested and excited to come to Brandeis," said Aqel, a recent graduate of Al-Quds who studied electrical engineering.

The class was filled with mostly international students from countries such as Rwanda, Venezuela, Uganda, Ghana and Turkey. The visiting students were quick to contribute to class and shared their struggles with and hopes for coexistence. "Where is the justice if [I am] kicked out of my land?" asked Abed Aqel, an Al-Quds business student.

On Thursday, the Palestinian students attended a Palestinian poetry night hosted by Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine. There, Brandeis students and visiting Al-Quds students shared some of their feelings of frustration and confusion.

Aqel spoke about missing a final exam once because he was stopped at a checkpoint. Hasan Odeh, an Al-Quds student in his last year who is studying computer science and has a passion for Palestinian hip-hop and poetry, also recited emotional poems.

"I [felt like] there are people representing me and my ideas at Brandeis and in the United States," Odeh said of the poetry night.

"I hope [this visit] builds on a great conversation we have had before and will have in the future," said Terris.

Odeh reflected on his week at Brandeis. "When we started I had fear as a Palestinian [of] meeting Jewish students, and I had fear of what will happen by sharing with [Jewish students] the Palestinian perspective. That changed the second day in Istanbul [in 2007]. We had lots of discussions. There is no reason for what is going on [in the Middle East]," Odeh said.