As we enter the third year of the onslaught on the dignity, education and rights of Palestinians in Gaza, we are reminded that the scholasticide has not ceased. All universities and over 90% of schools in Gaza remain closed, leaving over 700,000 young Palestinians without formal, in-person learning.
Alongside the destruction of the rights of young Palestinians in Gaza, we see an unprecedented crisis of education in the West Bank, where schools and universities increasingly face closures due to suffocating access restrictions and acts of oppressive violence. Between 8% and 20% of all schools in the West Bank suffer temporary closures, and this number is expected to rise.
In Israel, too, a constant wave of laws disproportionately alienates, targets, and criminalises Palestinian citizens of Israel, revealing a trend that increasingly oppresses young Palestinian students for simply expressing dissenting views from the government. A recent publication by our partner, the Adalah Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, analyses reports from over 40 academic institutions and 100 disciplinary cases, and shows a clear hardening of a toxic system of apartheid within higher education between Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian students.
Funding shortfalls in Gaza and cuts across the West Bank and Israel exacerbate the widening gap of inequality and reinforce an environment where Palestinians live in an economic and social catastrophe.
Despite this, young Palestinians have not faltered in their determination to build a better future. We see this in the report by our partner, the Friends of Palestinian Universities, “Scholasticide in Gaza,” which documents the Palestinian community’s ingenious resolve: resuming education in tents, establishing virtual classrooms, and creating an institutionalised “Emergency Committee of Universities in Gaza.”
Education is the primary ingredient in improving the chances of young Palestinians and their communities, and this is why the Galilee Foundation exists. Where schools and universities have been destroyed, closed, or threatened, education is an act of resilience and hope. It preserves skills and knowledge, sustains communities, and keeps alive the possibility of a future with dignity. From tents to virtual classrooms to the Emergency Committee of Universities in Gaza, Palestinians are proving that scholasticide will not succeed. As long as Palestinians have access to education, we believe there is hope for a better future.
Your continued support for Galilee projects that provide educational opportunities and scholarships is the lifeline young Palestinians need. It also sends a clear message of solidarity: their right to learn has not been abandoned, and their future is still worth investing in. Thank you.
In Solidarity
The Galilee Foundation
Photo credits: Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages under CC BY-SA 3.0
