A delegation of five lecturers from the University of Yarmuk in Jordan paid a three-day visit to the University during the first week in April. It was the first time that Jordanian academics have come to Israel specifically to explore the possibility of ties with an Israeli university.

The University of Yarmuk is the second largest in Jordan. University of Haifa aifa Hofficials called it a breakthrough in relations with their colleagues across the Jordan River.

Prof. Mohana Y. Haddad, who headed the delegation, said, “We have come to explore the possible initiation of cooperation and contact with the University of Haifa. We have mutual interests. This gives us the opportunity to talk with people.” Now an anthropologist, Haddad had written his doctoral dissertation on the image of the Jew in Arab literature.

Another member of the delegation expressed surprise at the number of Arabs living in Haifa and studying at the University of Haifa. “We are pleased that people [in Haifa] have found the right formula for living together,” said Dr. Ziad Mohamad Kayad al-Saad, an archeologist.

During their visit, the Jordanian academics met with their counterparts here. One of their hosts was Dr. Daniel Kaufman, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archeology, who showed the group, four of whom are connected with Jordan’s Institute of Archeology and Anthropology, around the Carmel caves where he has excavated as well as University-sponsored digs in Caesarea. “They had been familiar with these prehistoric sites from the literature,” he said, “and now, seeing them in person, they had a chance to ask specific questions.”

“We’ve really broken the ice,” Kaufman reported one of the Jordanian lecturers as saying. “The visit and treatment they received at the University, like meeting its president, and the interactions with colleagues were much more than they had expected,” Kaufman continued. He added that a “good camaraderie” had been formed between the Yarmuk group and those University scholars who acted as hosts. Particularly active in this regard, in addition to Kaufman, were Dr. Ibrahim Geries, head of the University’s Jewish-Arab Center, and other Center staff. The Jewish-Arab Center had assumed responsibility for planning what turned out to be a very successful program for the visiting academicians.

Kaufman revealed that a University of Haifa doctoral candidate in Middle East History has plans to travel to Yarmuk to conduct research. The possibility of joint archeological projects in Israel or in Jordan was also raised, he said.

The archeologist said that another University scholar-host, a Middle East historian, had told him that it was significant that the group came from Yarmuk. The university is located in ‘Irbid in northern Jordan, near the border with Syria, which usually exerts at least indirect influence on that region.

The Jordanians, all of whom were visiting Israel for the first time, toured the city of Haifa in addition to their archeological visits. At the University, a particular attraction was the University Library, which drew them back for a second inspection. Though the Jordanian academicians did not come as an official delegation, they do plan to report back on their Haifa experience to the president of their university, according to Haddad.