The first of PASSIA's visiting scholars for the academic year 1993-94, was Dr. Hisham H. Ahmad who completed his year at PASSIA in April 1994. Dr. Ahmad gained his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1988. Since then he has been a lecturer in this field teaching a variety of courses, ranging from Middle East Politics to Foreign Policy Analysis. Dr. Ahmad was at PASSIA under the auspices of the Fulbright Programme and he spent a productive year doing research on the evolution of the Hamas movement. This study was completed and published by PASSIA in May 1994.

The second of PASSIA's visiting scholars in 1994 was Dr. Andrew Rigby, senior lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. He was actually a returning scholar having spent time at PASSIA on more than one occasion in the past.

This year Dr. Rigby stayed at PASSIA throughout September and performed intensive research on the current state of Palestinian education and its prospects for the future under the Palestinian Authority. This research, given the working title of, "Palestinian Education: The Future Challenge", is currently being considered for inclusion in the PASSIA Research Studies Programme of 1995. Some of the background material contained in this study is taken from, " The Intifada: the Struggle over Education, " previously written by Dr. Rigby and published by PASSIA in July 1989. PASSIA also published another paper by Dr. Rigby in September 1988, entitled, " Economic Aspects of the Intifada."

PASSIA hopes to continue providing an academic base in Jerusalem for visiting scholars and also intends to develop exchange programmes whereby a Palestinian scholar can have the opportunity to study in Europe or the United States. PASSIA is trying to ensure that this proceeds on a yearly basis.