Nisreen Deeb, age 25, is not your average University of Indianapolis senior.

A native of Israel, Deeb was adopted at age 13 by her uncle in Florida so she could remain in the United States. After studying at the University of Haifa in Israel for a year, Deeb came back to the United States to major in international business.

Furthermore, she considers herself Palestinian and is a Maronite Christian.

Recently, Deeb discussed her life, thoughts and goals with Y-Press.

She explained that she ended up at the University of Indianapolis because the school has an affiliation with Cyrus Inter-College in Athens, Greece, and with a university in Israel that is 45 minutes away from the city Deeb was born in. Her uncle is connected to that university.

"I went to my great-uncle, and I mentioned to him that I wanted to go study in the United States. He is the one that told me about the University of Indianapolis, and that they are in on the process of building the program with the inter-college between them.

"I wanted to come back to the United States to study because English was a lot easier for me to study in than Hebrew. I mean I liked Hebrew, I'm glad I got the language in, but it wasn't something that I wanted to study, like to read the book, the whole book in Hebrew.

"Jews have more ability to attend almost any college they want, compared to an Arabic student. An Arabic student (can attend college) after they are done with high school, because they don't have to attend military school, compared to a Jewish student at the age of 21 or 22, that's when they start college.

"But you're limited to what you could take. So if you had like the highest SAT scores as an Arabic student, you're still not able to really get to what kind of subject you want. There are some subjects that are limited. I knew with that system that it would be so hard for me to get into business school over there," she said.

"I'm considered the first student to come from Israel to not only get my degree in what I really want, but they're also experimenting on me, how it's going to be for the future, two years from now, when they start bringing students from Israel here.

"It's a lot different in the college life. I actually went to college in Israel -- the University of Haifa. It's the third-largest university. When I attended, I actually did a pre-academic year where I had to learn all the Hebrew language and cultural and literature and history because I left Israel at the age of 12 years old, so I basically didn't have the (credits) that I needed in order to continue college. They didn't accept my credits, but they treated me as being an international student because I had a high school diploma from the United States.

"It's a lot different being Arabic. (I am) originally Palestinian, but born and raised under the Israeli government and Israeli authorities, and an Israeli citizen, not a Palestinian citizen. . . . I would say that I'm half-Israeli and I'm half-Palestinian.

"Originally my great-grandfather was Palestinian. So am I. I don't forget where I come from, but I was born and raised in Israel under Israeli authority. So if I ever go to Palestine, I'm never considered Palestinian.

"I never really faced any conflict with religion because I think my city where I was born and raised is more family-oriented. (The conflict is) tiny compared to Jerusalem, where you see all the conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis. Jerusalem, which is three hours away from where I lived, there is huge conflict because religion plays a huge role there.

Respect for each other

"In my city, our neighbors would be Jewish and we respected Yom Shabbat, which is Saturday, you know, the light of Saturday, which is their quietness, and they respected Sunday as being Christians' (day), and Fridays for the Muslims, when they pray at 12.

"I'm not against Palestinians and I'm not against Israelis. I mean each one is crying out for their benefits and goods, and I just wish that it could stop. I have a Jewish friend there. She is eight minutes away from the hometown where we live. I just told myself, 'If we're able to be friends, knowing that I am Arabic and she's Jewish, why can't it be like that for the rest of the world?' But you know, you can change one person, you can't change everybody.

"There is one conflict that happened to me three and a half years ago when I first came here. We had a flag ceremony, and these flags represent all the students that we have from all over the world at the University of Indianapolis.

"And I took it upon myself to carry the Israeli flag, and one Palestinian guy said, 'Hello, my enemy,' and it just felt like somebody just put a knife through my heart and ripped it down. And I'm not trying to be anybody's enemy; I just respected the flag.

"To me, I don't find it as a conflict, but it is a huge conflict. So every year after that, I would not hold the Israel flag just because I didn't want to face that conflict again because I'm not trying to be Jewish and I'm not trying to be Christian. I'm just trying to be me.

"I don't want to say I was shocked, but you guys have a tendency to have less knowledge about the world in general than we know about you.

"The first question I get, 'Where are you from?' And the first thing that pops in my head, 'Israel.' Oh, you're Jewish.' 'No, I'm Arabic.' 'Oh, you're Muslim.' 'No, I'm Christian.' 'Really? You have Arabic Christians over there?' " she said.

"I tell my friends: I'm going down the road and there are two sides -- I have the Arabic side with Israeli background, and I have the American side, and I take whatever I like with me. I don't really follow so much of (one side), like if I go back home, they feel like I'm too Americanized. If I come here, I'm somewhat American, a lot Americanized in the United States, especially because I came here at the age of 12, but I still have my Arabic backgrounds and my Arabic identity and culture in me."

Editor's note: Last week, Y-Press published a story on Michelle Sharaf, a 19-year-old Pakistani attending Butler University. This is the second and final story on international students in Indiana.

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Alexandra Chtchedrina, 16. REPORTERS: Chelsea McClellan, 13; Ben Rothenberg, 11; Jordan Shepherd, 12.

Who we are

Y-Press is a nonprofit news organization with offices in The Indianapolis Star building. Stories are researched, reported and written by teams of young people ages 10 to 18. For more information, call (317) 444-2010 or send an e-mail to ypress@in.net.

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