ABSTRACT
Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip had a historically divided educational system until 1967. The detachment of the occupied Palestinian territories from the Arab world, alongside a perpetually rising number of high-school graduates, required new solutions. By the 1970s, a system of higher education at the university level was beginning to develop within the Palestinian territories. The newly founded Palestinian universities required an administrative infrastructure to manage their activities. The Palestinian Council for Higher Education played a critical part in the institutional processes of Palestinian state-building. Within its cultural and political context, Palestinian education in general and higher education in particular - received substantial attention from the Israeli administration. The Israeli administration's desire to supervise the academic faculties of the Palestinian universities led to disputes over the question of academic freedom. Safeguarding the academia was in the shared interest of the Civil Administration and the leaders of Palestinian universities.
