On June 20th, 2025, Palestinian students from IJCLab and Université Paris-Saclay organized their traditional "Palestinian Day at Paris-Saclay", a convivial lunch that demonstrates the richness of a unique scientific partnership. This edition brought together Her Excellency Ms. Hala Abou Hassira, Ambassador and Head of the Palestinian Mission in France, as well as Delphine Placidi-Frot, Vice-President for International and European Relations at Université Paris-Saclay, with Ahmed Bassalat, the representative of An-Najah National University.
An exceptional partnership with An-Najah University
Since 2016, the collaboration between IJCLab and An-Najah National University in Nablus (Palestine) has continued to strengthen. This partnership, supported by European Erasmus+ funding representing approximately €600,000, has enabled the mobility of more than 160 Palestinian students to Paris-Saclay and IJCLab.
Achille Stocchi, Director of IJCLab, and Ms. Hala Abou Hassira, Ambassador and Head of the Palestinian Mission in France © Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
Ahmed Bassalat and Achille Stocchi, leaders of this collaboration on the Palestinian and French sides, emphasize the remarkable scope of these exchanges: "More than 50 students have attended training at Université Paris-Saclay, from bachelor's to doctoral level, in physics, mathematics, and engineering."
Thanks to this collaboration, An-Najah has become a center of excellence in high-energy physics in the Middle East. This collaboration benefits from CERN's continued support, which notably donated high-performance computing servers to An-Najah, now installed and operational for three years. The French Consulate General in Jerusalem also provides regular support to these exchanges, as evidenced by recent visits from consular delegations to the Palestinian university.
We want to recall here that this collaboration started with the organization of the WISHEPP (Winter School in High Energy Physics in Palestine) winter schools from 2016 until the Covid pandemic and the start of the war. This school welcomed each time about fifty students each year for 25 hours of courses taught by international experts.
Paths of excellence despite challenges
Ms. Hala Abou Hassira and Delphine Placidi-Frot, Vice-President for International and European Relations at Université Paris-Saclay with students from Gaza © Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
The students' presentations illustrate the diversity and quality of their research. We can mention here some of them. Omar Istaitia, a PhD student in physics under the supervision of Dimitris Varouchas, continues his work on the ATLAS inner detector upgrade and participates in measuring vector boson scattering using LHC Run-3 data. His master's work, conducted under Ahmed Bassalat's supervision, resulted in a joint Paris-Saclay/An-Najah publication on thermal and supply voltage analysis of optimized ring oscillators for pixel detector readout chips.
Iyad Walwil presents his research on algorithmic optimization and his academic journey from An-Najah National University to Télécom Paris during Palestinian Day © Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
Iyad Walwil, a PhD student at Télécom Paris under the direction of Olivier Fercoq, presents his innovative research in applied mathematics on algorithmic optimization. Graduated first in his class at An-Najah in 2021, he develops more efficient stopping criteria for algorithms, notably the "Smoothed Duality Gap." His work, published in Mathematical Programming Computation, illustrates how optimization methods find applications in fields as diverse as artificial intelligence and financial modelling.
Rasha Abu Keshek presenting her academic journey and research. © Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
Rasha Abu Keshek, another example of a Palestinian woman pursuing a PhD in a cutting-edge field, is contributing to the development of the future particle accelerator, PERLE. Her work is under joint supervision by Achille Stocchi and Hadil Abualrob, and her journey began with a Bachelor's degree (L3) in Physics at Université Paris-Saclay.
Zaidan Braik and Raneem Madani. © Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
The new mathematician couple Zaidan Braik and Raneem Madani are both also performing Quantum Stochastic Optimization and working at Laboratoire des Signaux et Systèmes, at CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay.
Ikhlas Enaieh, Zaidan Braik and Rasha Abu Keshek during the Palestinian lunch. © Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
A very special day for Ikhlas Enaieh. Her exemplary journey from An-Najah University to a PhD at Télécom Paris, via a master's in optimization at Paris-Saclay stands as a testament to the excellence of this academic pathway. She successfully registered a patent for her research, which she has been conducting for the past four years, using advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to develop innovative smart glasses for visually impaired patients.
The newly graduated PhD, Afnan Shatat (left on the picture), who has been part of IJCLab for the past five years and is now pursuing a postdoc at École Polytechnique, has inspired many students through her long and dedicated journey at IJCLab.
A scientific bridge to major international collaborations
This collaboration extends far beyond student exchanges. An-Najah University is now an associate member of the ATLAS collaboration via IJCLab and a full member of the PERLE collaboration, making it the first Palestinian university and one of the few institutions in the Arab world to participate in these major particle physics experiments.
Hadil Abualrob, Her Excellency Ms. Hala Abou Hassira and a student from the mathematics department. © Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
Hadil Abualrob, An-Najah's representative in PERLE, presents the challenges of this innovative project: the first multi-turn energy recovery linac based on superconducting technology, designed to operate at high power (10 MW, 20 mA, 500 MeV). This technology opens promising prospects for future accelerators for particle and nuclear physics as well as applications for very intense light sources.
Training the next generation of scientists
The program has already enabled the defense of seven doctoral theses, including those of Sali Salama, Bashir Kalbouneh (Marseille), Afnan Shatat, Yahya Khwairah, Theraa Tork, Manar Amer, and Shaymaa Hussein. Eight others are currently underway, notably those of Omar Istaitia, Rasha Abu Keshek, Mohammad Hussein, Omar Najjar, Ikhlas Enayah, Iyad Walwil, Raneem Madani, and Zaidan Braik. This work covers a broad spectrum: from high-energy physics with ATLAS and ALICE, to medical applications of accelerators, including nanosciences and applied mathematics.
Future prospects
Ahmed Bassalat and Her Excellency are participating with the students and their supervisors in the Palestinian lunch at IJCLab © Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
Building on this success, the partnership is moving toward creating a double degree in physics between An-Najah and Paris-Saclay. An international research network (IRP) project with CNRS is also in preparation, involving other French institutions such as LPNHE, Marseille, and Grenoble. The Erasmus+ program is guaranteed until summer 2027, ensuring the sustainability of these exchanges.
This Palestinian Day reminds us that science has no borders and that academic excellence can emerge under all circumstances. These students, whose journeys testify to determination in facing the challenges of travel and adaptation, enrich the IJCLab scientific community through their presence and work, and contribute to the international influence of French research.