Some of the nation’s top universities have received about $10 million from the “State of Palestine” over the course of six years, according to a new report.
Open the Books’s report has revealed that some of these prestigious universities from 2017-2023 received approximately $10 million from the State of Palestine, which is not recognized as a nation by the State Department or the United Nations.
In February 2020 alone, Brown University received a $643,000 gift from a foundation in the State of Palestine to create a professorship in Palestinian Studies within the school’s Center for Middle East Studies, per the report. Beshara Doumani, who founded the center, was appointed as the first Mahmoud Darwish professor of Palestinian studies.
Open the Books classifies itself as an American nonprofit organization working to make government spending transparent “at every level.”
According to federal disclosures, Harvard University received $1.6 million from entities from the State of Palestine, but it is uncertain how the money was spent since the grants were not restricted. Indiana University of Pennsylvania received $6.4 million from the State of Palestine and another $900,000 from an entity within “Palestinian Territory, Occupied,” the report stated.
These funds were used for “payment of tuition and fees for students from Palestine. Funds are also utilized to pay for educational related expenses incurred by the university for these students through their enrollment in this program.”
Not only were the institutions receiving funding from unknown entities within the Gaza region, but they also had connections to Palestinian universities. For instance, Doumani was granted permission to head Birzeit University in the West Bank for two years.
Over the past years, the Hamas-affiliated “Islamic Bloc” won most seats on the university’s student council, and also just days after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians, Birzeit University’s Union of Professors and Employees released a statement saying, “2023 will be recorded historically as the year that Palestinians stood boldly in the face of colonial fascism and screamed in defense of their homes, humanity, and lives.”
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Additionally, Indiana University of Pennsylvania offers business Ph.D and Master of Business Administration programs in association with Arab American, a private university in the West Bank.
“IUP has received instructional agreement income for providing educational programs at various international locations, including one in Palestine, since 2014,” a spokesperson told the nonprofit organization.