According to a recent report, the “State of Palestine” has given over $10 million to some of the best colleges in the country during a six-year period.
The State of Palestine, which neither the State Department nor the UN recognizes as a nation, gave almost $10 million to several of these esteemed colleges between 2017 and 2023, according to a study by Open the Books.
According to the report, a charity in the State of Palestine gave Brown University a $643,000 donation in February 2020 alone to establish a chair in Palestinian Studies under the school’s Center for Middle East Studies. Beshara Doumani, the founder of the center, became the first Mahmoud Darwish professor of Palestinian studies.
Open the Books describes itself as a nonprofit American group that strives to increase transparency “at every level” in government expenditures.
According to federal reports, entities in the State of Palestine gifted $1.6 million to Harvard University, but the use of these unrestricted gifts remains unclear. According to the report, Indiana University of Pennsylvania got $900,000 from an organization within “Palestinian Territory, Occupied” and $6.4 million from the State of Palestine.
These grants had the stated purpose of “paying tuition and fees for students from Palestine.” The institution uses the funds to cover other educational costs that these students incur as a result of their program attendance.
The organizations have ties to Palestinian colleges in addition to receiving cash from unidentified sources in the Gaza area. For example, Doumani received approval to lead Birzeit University in the West Bank for a period of two years.
The “Islamic Bloc,” which is affiliated with Hamas, has gained the majority of seats on the student council at Birzeit University in recent years. Additionally, the Union of Professors and Employees at Birzeit University released a statement a few days after Hamas attacked Israeli civilians on October 7, declaring that “2023 will be recorded in history as the year that Palestinians stood up in the face of colonial fascism and pushed back in defense of their homes, humanity, and lives.”
Additionally, in collaboration with Arab American, a private institution in the West Bank, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania provides Master of Business Administration and Ph.D. programs in business.
A representative for IUP informed the NGO, “IUP has received instructional agreement money for offering educational programs at numerous overseas locations, including one in Palestine, since 2014.”
