UAE sends huge financial assistance to support education in Palestine
For several years, the United Arab Emirates has supported Palestine and its people with all forms of support. It has provided assistance to Palestine, both internally and externally, and in international forums, and has supported the people in all fields, be it political, diplomatic, health, education or humanitarian.
The United Arab Emirates’ humanitarian priority is to help alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people and support their basic needs. Abu Dhabi is ranked fourth among the top 10 countries supporting the State of Palestine financially since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994.
This approach to the UAE’s commitment to Palestine is at the heart of the promise made by the late Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the UAE, at the time of the founding of the UAE in 1971. He said: “Our support for the Palestinian people will continue until they realize their ambition to establish their independent state”.
Since then, the UAE’s rulers have been committed to supporting the Palestinian people in all areas, including the humanitarian field, especially in the education sector.
According to Palestinian figures, the UAE has provided US$2.104 billion in aid to the Palestinian people since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. The UN asserts that Abu Dhabi, in addition to being one of the largest donors to the UNRWA Palestinian Refugee Agency, contributed more than US$828.2 million from 2013 to April 2020 to finance various sectors in the occupied Palestinian territories. In the last five years alone, it contributed more than US$187 million from the previous figure, according to WAM.
The UAE provided some US$ 105 million to support UNRWA education programs, helping the Agency to provide a suitable learning environment for Palestinian children, and UNRWA received more than US$ 218 million in UAE contributions, of which US$ 166 million went to the education sector.
In July 2019, Abu Dhabi provided US$50 million in assistance to the aid agency to provide health services, education programs and other services to more than 5 million Palestinians.
The UAE’s contribution to UNRWA in 2018 amounted to more than US$ 50 million, making it the sixth largest donor to the Agency this year, and much of it was directed towards continuing educational programs for hundreds of schools belonging to the relief agency.
The United Arab Emirates has also chaired the UNRWA Advisory Commission session, which during its 2020-2021 presidency aims to focus on key areas such as education digitization, empowerment of women and girls, youth empowerment and environmental sustainability.
For the third consecutive year in 2015, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Foundation for Humanitarian Affairs adopted the Beit Lahia School of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the northern Gaza Strip amidst a large festive atmosphere in which hundreds of students, dozens of eminent personalities and guardians participated, in addition to senior officials of the UNRWA Education Department. It provided them with full school uniforms for all the school’s 2,700 students, in addition to shoes, a school bag, stationery and other supplies.
The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Humanitarian Action (KHRAF) has also played a prominent role in supporting education in Palestine, providing UNRWA with 5.5 million dirhams to distribute school supplies and tools to students of the Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Elementary Boys’ School and Joint Elementary School in northern Gaza.
The Sheik Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan School in the Beit Lahiya area in northern Gaza is considered one of the best schools at the educational and organizational levels in the Strip, especially since it witnessed a qualitative leap in the level of education after the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Humanitarian Work developed it since its adoption in 2010 until now.
In December 2017, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) signed a cooperation agreement worth AED 40.4 million, then equivalent to USD 11 million, and a tripartite cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, UNRWA and the Dubai Cares Foundation worth AED 14.6 million (USD 4 million) to support UNRWA education programs in the Gaza Strip, with the aim of ensuring that students continue to receive basic education in an appropriate school environment where the basics of education are available through UNRWA schools.
In July 2012, the UAE announced its commitment to provide a contribution of 367 million dirhams ($100 million) to the Global Partnership for Education to support the strategic plan for education programs in developing countries over the next five years 2021-2025.
Reem Ebrahim Al-Hashimi, Minister of State for International Cooperation, stressed the keenness of the UAE, in cooperation with its regional and international partners, such as the Global Partnership for Education, to provide quality education for children around the world and contribute to developing the skills they need to ensure their long-term future despite the bitter reality imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the world scene.
