The Galilee Foundation
The Galilee Foundation is a UK registered charitable company, launched in 2007, to relieve poverty and advance the education of Palestinians living in Israel & the Palestinian Territories, regardless of gender or faith, in particular but not exclusively by promoting culture, heritage, art, science and research initiatives by the provision of training, advice and support.[1][2]
To work towards these objectives, the Foundation identifies and makes grants to registered, reputable, non-political, and non-sectarian charitable organisations and research institutions for existing or new projects that meet the Foundation’s objectives.[3]
Background
The rationale behind the Galilee Foundation’s charitable activities inside Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories is, as justified by the organisation, a response to the extensive reporting in the Israeli media on the inequalities between Palestinian and Jewish citizens[1][4]. Israel has very high ongoing disparities in wealth of its population and Palestinian citizens fare very badly due to the cycle of marginalisation, systematic erasure of history and culture [5][6][7] and poverty, with historically poor government investment in Palestinian education.[8] Even in 2020, a Jewish high school student received up to 50 percent more than an Arab student in the same socio-economic status.[9][10][5]
Current employment patterns among Palestinians in Israel show a disproportionate number in low skilled, low paid jobs, but poor education does not just contribute to the poverty statistics of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. It also contributes to poorer health outcomes. The Palestinian Arab population of Israel has a lower life expectancy than the Jewish population. Significant effects of educational level on all-cause and cause specific mortality, particularly respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, diabetes and homicide have been found. Research reports highlight the importance of increasing the educational level of the population to promote better health.[11]
Poverty and discrimination have also contributed to the crime wave.[12] The police attribute crime levels to the Palestinian community’s high unemployment among young people, while rights groups say bigger issues, such as state discrimination against Palestinian communities, remain at play. A lack of land and banking services have pushed some to the informal economy, including drug dealing and money laundering.[13]
A quarter of the first-grade children in Israeli schools are not Jewish. They are Arab (Palestinian) children. Arab (Palestinian) children continue to lag far behind the rest of Israel, ensuring that without more help they will struggle to become educated citizens finding high-paying, high-skilled, productive jobs that contribute not only to the Palestinian community's growth and prosperity but also to Israel’s. It is in the interests of all that Palestinian access to education inside Israel is enhanced.[14][15]
Since 2012 when Palestinian citizens of Israel were allocated less than 7% of the state budget, there has been an increase in spending on the Palestinian community. The poverty statistics, low participation in the workforce, and a low contribution to economic growth in Israel, led the government to plan and approve a programme (922 programme) costing 15 billion ILS over a five-year period, for advancement and development of Israeli Palestinian society. Nevertheless although it has led to significant improvements, the gaps remain wide according to figures published by Israel’s Higher Council for Education in 2019.[[16][17] There are also more recent plans recognising the need to close gaps in primary and secondary education spending.[18] although these may be shelved due to other priorities for the new government.
Other studies suggest that, in order to further analyse the data regarding Palestinian Arab enrolment in higher education, the percentage of Palestinian Arab students between the ages of 20-24 relative to the total number of Palestinian Arabs of the same gender and age group must be examined. Such an analysis indicates that the percentage of Palestinian Arab students remains significantly lower than that of the Jewish students.[15][19] so there is still a long way to go for Palestinian youth to achieve parity with their Jewish peers in terms of education and in employment after graduation[20]
Scholarship Programme
The Galilee Foundation’s flagship higher education scholarship program seeks to redress some of the problems described above by providing scholarships to talented but impoverished Palestinians who have a place at an Israeli university but who are typically unable to obtain scholarships through other means,[21]. The aim is to break the cycle of marginalisation and poverty and empower Palestinian citizens through education. The Programme is implemented in partnership with the Arab Cultural Association (ACA), the Foundation’s local partner which is based in Haifa. In addition to financial support, the Programme supports its students through a range of training and capacity building workshops, cultural activities, and mentoring. The Scholarship is advertised publicly in local online news and social media platforms. Students are selected through rigorous application and selection procedures based on pre-set criteria of merit and need. In addition to financial support, the Foundation requires that all scholarship recipients undertake voluntary placements to help their local communities.[22]
In the occupied Palestinian territories, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip - nearly a quarter of the people live below the poverty line, a situation exacerbated by the occupation.[23] [24] As a result, the Galilee Foundation began supporting undergraduate students in partnership with Al Quds University in East Jerusalem in 2019.[25]
Other projects
Besides the scholarship programme, the Galilee Foundation supports a range of other educational initiatives within Palestine/Israel which increase capacity and strengthen Palestinian identity and culture. These currently include the following:
Yafa Al Mustaqbal aka Yaffa Youth Movement Association (YYMA) which aims to build a strong and democratic Palestinian-Arab community in Yaffa. They focus on developing a strong core of young leaders with a shared purpose to create change together, based on democratic values, human rights, and advancement of the community. These core students receive significant support, academic counselling, and mentoring; which are particularly essential for Palestinian youth, who often feel alienated and inadequately prepared to study in Israeli universities.[26]
The Foundation partners with Baladna Association for Arab Youth to support their Youth Leadership Programme (YLP). Through non-formal education, YLP trains university students on innovation, critical thinking and leadership. Following their training, the students then form and lead youth groups from high schools and work with them on identifying and addressing issues of concern within their community including the social, patriarchal and oppressive structures within the Palestinian community.[27]
Mada Al-Carmel - Arab Centre for Applied Social Research - PhD Students Programme and Core Funds: This project was developed jointly with the partner organisation as a continuation for the Scholarship Programme. It aims to supporting students who wish to continue their higher education and to provide them with academic training. The Programme is the first of its kind available to Palestinian PhD students. The general public, researchers, academics, journalists and civil society organisations have benefited from the outcomes and the publications of the project.[25]
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel: The Foundation started a partnership with Adalah in July 2020 to support them by employing four law students and legal apprentices on trainee contracts during one calendar year. Under the supervision of Adalah’s senior legal team, the legal trainees provide legal research for cases and legal and advocacy reports, draft legal interventions and participate in Knesset committee meetings.[28]
Webinars
Since 2021 The Galilee Foundation has organised webinars exploring the situation on the ground for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Contributors have included Palestinian intellectuals and professionals, all experts in their fields. Titles have included: "What does Israel's new far right government mean for Palestinians" in which Areen Hawari, Hassan Jaboreen, and Sami Abu Shehadeh spoke with Khalil Jahshan, Galilee Foundation trustee and Executive Director of the Arab Centre, Washington DC[29][30] and
"Palestinian Students at Israeli Universities Access and Challenges", in which Profs Ayman Agbaria, Sarab AbuRabia and Mohanad Mustafa talked about the issues and where support is needed with Khalil Jahshan,[31][32]
In 2021 The film director Farah Nabulsi joined the Galilee Foundation for a screening of her short film "The Present" which went on to be Oscar and Bafta nominated, followed by a question and answer session with viewers.[33]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Charity Commission. "The Galilee Foundation". Gov.UK. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Companies House. "The Galilee Foundation". Gov.UK. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ The Galilee Foundation. "The Galilee Foundation About Us". The Galilee Foundation. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ The Galilee Foundation (18 October 2021). "Galilee Foundation in Context: Lots accomplished, lots more to accomplish". The Galilee Foundation. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Adva.org (February 20, 2020). "Israel – A Social Report 2020: The Public Interest Needs to Return to Center Stage". Adva.org. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Echin, Netan (28 August 2022). "Opinion | How Israelis Are Taught to Erase the Palestinians". Ha'atetz. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Benn, Aluf (26 May 2022). "Opinion | And Suddenly, Violent Arabs Appeared". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ "Israel: origin of discriminatory 'two level schooling' exposed". Middle East Monitor. 14 December 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Kashti, Or (26 August 2022). "The New Plan to Save Israel's Arab Education System". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Robinson, Kali (9 March 2023). "What to Know About the Arab Citizens of Israel". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Goldberger, Nehama Frimit (13 August 2021). "Educational level, ethnicity and mortality rates in Israel: national data linkage study". Israel Journal of Health Policy Research. 10 (1): 47. doi:10.1186/s13584-021-00483-9. PMC 8364056 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 34389049 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ The New Arab Staff (16 August 2021). "Palestinian-Israeli men 36 times more likely to be victim of gun violence than Jewish-Israelis". The New Arab. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Hoyle, Charlie (18 October 2019). "A deadly gun violence epidemic has gripped Palestinian communities. Is Israeli police neglect to blame?". The New Arab. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Arlosoroff, Meirav (11 March 2014). "In the Money | Ignoring Arab Education Imperils Israel's Future". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Zaken, Danny (24 October 2019). "Why more Israeli-Arabs go to university". Al Monitor. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Asharq Al Awsat (23 October 2019). "Numbers of Arab University Students in Israel Doubled in 10 Years". Asharq Al Aswat. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Dattel, Lior (24 January 2018). "Number of Arabs in Israeli Higher Education Grew 79% in Seven Years". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Kashti, Or (26 August 2022). "The New Plan to Save Israel's Arab Education System". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Zaken, Danny (17 March 2022). "More Israeli Arabs earning degrees, but inequalities still wide". Globes. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Gamss, Netanel (14 October 2021). "Only 1 Percent of Arab Israelis Are in High-tech, With a Wage Gap to Boot".
- ↑ Hashmonai and Kashti, Adi and Or (8 June 2022). "University of Haifa Scholarship Effectively Excludes Arabs". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ The Galilee Foundation (29 June 2022). "Report and financial statements For the year ended 31 August 2021". Gov.UK. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Oxfam America (24 November 2021). "Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel". Oxfam America. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Jansen, Michael (27 November 2022). "Israeli restrictions 'cost Palestinian economy €50bn'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 The Galilee Foundation (30 June 2020). "Report and financial statements For the year ended 31 August 2019". Gov.UK. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ The Galilee Foundation (6 June 2018). "Amended report and financial statements For the year ended 31 August 2017".
- ↑ The Galilee Foundation (29 June 2019). "Report and financial statements For the year ended 31 August 2018". Gov.UK. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ The Galilee Foundation (13 October 2021). "Report and financial statements For the year ended 31 August 2020". Gov.UK. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ↑ Arab Centre Washington DC (2 March 2023). "What does Israel's new far right government mean for Palestinians". Arab Centre Washington DC. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
- ↑ Turki, Tamara (8 February 2023). "How Israel's new right-wing government impacts Palestinians". Arab News. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ↑ Arab Centre Washington DC (23 March 2023). "Palestinian Students at Israeli Universities Access and Challenges". The Arab Centre Washington DC. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
- ↑ Abukwaik, Aseel (3 June 2023). "Obstacles Faced by Palestinian Students at Israeli Universities". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
- ↑ "Galilee Foundation Q&A with Director Farah Nabulsi after the screening of The Present". Galilee Foundation You Tube. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
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