Palestinians in Israel
250 student sponsorships every year
Every year, we support 250 Palestinian students with financial aid, academic support, & cultural activities. Our aim is to give students the opportunity to study & undertake voluntary work which serves the Palestinian community & is geared towards re-enforcing Palestinian identity & history.
Workshops & volunteer days
Our students are required to participate in workshops such in workshops that focus on Time Management, Critical Thinking & Career Preparation, which help them throughout their studies as well as improve their everyday vocational skills.
Giving back to the community
Giving back is an important part of the Scholarship Programme where our students commit to volunteer work with local civil society organisations. Every year about 3,500 people, mostly children & youth, benefit directly from the volunteering programme.
Programmes for Palestinians in Israel
Our core programme gives Palestinian students access to higher education without sacrificing their identity. The programme is arguably the largest & most comprehensive independent programme available to Palestinian students in the region.
How we support students
Since 2007, we’ve provided over 1,100 students with training & cultural activities. We’ve helped Palestinian students go to university & be better equipped for life after academia.
Our partner, the Arab Culture Association in Haifa, manages our Scholarship Programme. They closely follow students’ progress & provide them with guidance & support whenever needed.
Programmes in Israel
ACA Scholarship Programme
Since it was founded in 2007, the Galilee Foundation has been supporting scholarships for Palestinian Citizens of Israel to study at Israeli universities. The aim of these scholarships is to assist gifted individuals in overcoming financial barriers that might hinder their pursuit of higher education, in a context in which over half of the 1.92 million Palestinians living in Israel live below the poverty line. The Galilee Foundation started the scholarship programme because there are no similar opportunities for Palestinian Citizens of Israel; in the landscape in which we are operating, academic degrees have emerged as beacons of hope, offering opportunities for socio-economic advancement in the face of ongoing marginalisation.
Our scholarship programme offers more than just financial support. It also includes a comprehensive series of workshops aimed at enhancing Palestinian identity and skills for university life and beyond. In partnership with the Arab Culture Association in Haifa, the Foundation supports around 200 students every year, and its alumni – now numbering over 1,100 – have gone on to prominent roles in politics, academia, the NGO sector and business.
Arab Culture Association – Cultural Centre
The Galilee Foundation is supporting the construction of a multidisciplinary cultural centre in Haifa which will benefit the Palestinian community in Israel. The centre will be dedicated to public cultural and artistic services, and will serve as a space to promote and advance cultural independence for Palestinian Arabs in the artistic, literary, and critical fields through initiatives that raise awareness of identity and collective rights. It will become a vital urban space for knowledge exchange, production, and publishing.
Adalah (The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel)
Adalah (“Justice” in Arabic) is an independent human rights organisation and legal centre based in Israel. Founded in 1996, its mission is to promote human rights in Israel in general and the rights of the Palestinian minority, citizens of Israel, who make up approximately 20% of the population, in particular. This work includes promoting and defending the human rights of all individuals subject to the jurisdiction of the State of Israel (e.g. Palestinian residents of the OPT). Adalah is the first Palestinian Arab-run legal center in Israel, and the sole Palestinian organisation that works before Israeli courts to protect the human rights of Palestinians in Israel and in the OPT.
The Galilee Foundation supports Adalah’s annual Palestinian law students’ camp as well as the professional training of Palestinian law students and legal apprentices in the field of human rights litigation in its office in Haifa. Through this direct experience and training, students gain skills empowering them to challenge discrimination and defend Palestinian rights within the Israeli legal system, and to advocate in the international arena. In 2024, the Foundation has also provided emergency funding for Adalah’s work defending the rights of Palestinian students facing disciplinary proceedings by Israeli academic institutions for their social media use since the beginning of the war on Gaza in October 2023.
Baladna – Association for Arab Youth
Baladna – Association for Arab Youth was founded in 2001. It aims to empower Palestinian youth living in Israel, in a context in which 62% of the Palestinian population are under the age of 30. Baladna seeks to build the capacities of Palestinian young people through networking, grassroots activism, critical thinking, community organizing, and advocacy while strengthening their understanding and application of the principles of equality, democracy, social solidarity, and human rights. By organizing youth around their needs and priorities, building their skills and knowledge, and providing safe spaces for civic engagement, Baladna promotes the meaningful engagement of Palestinian young people in their society. Baladna’s activities include a Youth Centre in Nazareth, organised educational hikes a number of regional youth groups, and its Youth for a Peaceful Society project, which is aimed at tackling the high rate of violence among Palestinian Citizens of Israel. The Galilee Foundation is supporting Baladna for Arab Youth with core funding for its operations.
Mada Al Carmel
The only Palestinian research centre of its kind in Israel, Mada al-Carmel works to further the
human, civil and political rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel through applied social research
and policy analysis. It amplifies Palestinian perspectives in Israeli civil and political discourse,
and produces high-quality material based on community-grounded, multidisciplinary, participatory research, informing the ongoing efforts of community activists, NGOs and others working towards improving policies and inter-communal relations.
The Galilee Foundation is pleased to be supporting Mada al-Carmel with core funding and support for its PhD and Higher Education programmes throughout 2024. Mada al-Carmel’s PhD and Higher Education programme aims to support young Palestinian academics and scholars in
Israel, promoting research capacity and the critical perspectives of junior Palestinian academics, and promoting critical knowledge production from and about Palestinians in Israel. Through its series of PhD and graduate student seminars, as well as its annual PhD student conference,
Mada serves as a platform for Palestinian students and lecturers by providing a safe space for mutual support amid a prevailing atmosphere of intimidation and censorship within Israeli academic institutions. Mada’s Palestinian Society Study Unit, Israeli Studies Programme, Policy Unit, Gender Studies Programme and Liberation Psychology Programme all work primarily through publishing studies, academic papers, seminars, conferences and symposiums.
Yaffa Youth Movement Association
Yaffa Youth Movement Association (YYMA) was set up to build a youth movement based on democratic values and human rights and to cultivate a generation of young Palestinian-Arab leaders and foster partnerships for sustainable community development, specifically in Yaffa.
Its approach includes grassroots mobilisation, educational programmes and advocacy efforts to address community needs, and it works to engage young people in dialogue and action in order to encourage them to become active contributors to societal change.
The Galilee Foundation is passionate about supporting grassroots educational and cultural initiatives for Palestinians living in Israel, and is supporting the Yaffa Youth Movement Association with core funding to develop its programmes in accordance with the needs of young people in Yaffa, and to develop its sustainability for the future.
16 students
We partnered with Al-Quds University (AQU) by financially supporting 16 high-achieving but disadvantaged Palestinian students from the West Bank.
120 hours of volunteering
Students at AQU do 120 hours of volunteer work, teaching younger university students, providing library services, as well as organising conferences related to the university.
Meet our high-flying alumni
Give the gift of education
Your generosity helps us empower Palestinian youth by
giving them education, connecting them with their culture
& building their capacities to bring about positive change.