Al-Quds University, a university in East Jerusalem with which Brandeis has a suspended academic partnership, experienced two significant events in the past week. Last Wednesday, Sari Nusseibeh, the president of Al-Quds, announced his retirement from the university presidency. The previous Sunday, a large group of students staged a pro-Hamas rally on the Al-Quds campus.

The rally, according to a March 27 article from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, lasted almost two hours and involved students wearing black ski masks and carrying replicas of rockets.

Nusseibeh announced his retirement that Wednesday, a decision that "has been planned for a long time," said Daniel Terris, the director of Brandeis' International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, in an interview with the Justice.

Imad Abu Kishek, who is currently Al-Quds' executive vice president, will succeed Nusseibeh and serve as the acting president in the coming academic year. Nusseibeh will continue to serve on the faculty of Al-Quds.

Profs. Susan Lanser (ENG) and Daniel Kryder (POL), who traveled to Al-Quds in November with Terris to investigate and understand an earlier student demonstration, similarly wrote in an email to the Justice that there was no connection between the timing of the pro-Hamas rally and Nusseibeh's retirement. "It has been in the works for months, and the timing was tied to a [B]oard of [T]rustees meeting which had to approve the transition to an acting president," she wrote.

Lanser also wrote that she knew Abu Kishek, the incoming acting president of Al-Quds, quite well. "Indeed, he spent two years at Brandeis studying university administration; he knows us well and we know him well," Lanser noted.

Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen de Graffenreid wrote in an email to the Justice that the partnership between the two schools remains suspended. "There are ongoing conversations between faculty members at both institutions regarding the future of this partnership and we are seeking further information on recent events," she wrote. 

"However, we will not respond to specific issues in the public media," she added.