Kuwait has pledged $1 million to help Al-Quds University, a Palestinian university operating in eastern Jerusalem, the Kuwaiti News Agency reports. This according to International Affairs Correspondent Michael Freund. At a meeting in Kuwait City with university president Sari Nusseibeh, Kuwaiti Education Minister Misaed al-Haroun said that his country wished to strengthen the Palestinian institution to “empower them to achieve independence”.
Earlier this year, on July 7, Public Security Minister Uzi Landau ordered the Jerusalem offices of the university closed by police on suspicion that it was illegally operating at the behest of the Palestinian Authority in Israel’s capital. Shortly thereafter, when Nusseibeh signed a document disavowing such activity, the university was allowed to reopen.
A petition before the Supreme Court submitted by B’tzedek and demanding the university’s closure is scheduled to be heard some time in the next few months. The B'tzedek petition notes that Israeli law requires any institution of higher education which confers degrees to first obtain a license from the Israeli Council of Higher Education. Failure to do so is a criminal offense. Nevertheless, Al-Quds University has no license, yet it continues to grant degrees to students.
Earlier this year, on July 7, Public Security Minister Uzi Landau ordered the Jerusalem offices of the university closed by police on suspicion that it was illegally operating at the behest of the Palestinian Authority in Israel’s capital. Shortly thereafter, when Nusseibeh signed a document disavowing such activity, the university was allowed to reopen.
A petition before the Supreme Court submitted by B’tzedek and demanding the university’s closure is scheduled to be heard some time in the next few months. The B'tzedek petition notes that Israeli law requires any institution of higher education which confers degrees to first obtain a license from the Israeli Council of Higher Education. Failure to do so is a criminal offense. Nevertheless, Al-Quds University has no license, yet it continues to grant degrees to students.