Four-year, $20.0 Million Project to Improve Educational Access,
Youth Development Opportunities in the West Bank

Washington, DC, April 16, 2013 — AMIDEAST is pleased to announce that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has selected it to implement a four-year initiative that will provide support for 50 Palestinian public and private schools. The School Improvement Program (SIP) will focus on strengthening leadership, teaching quality, and community engagement in these schools. In addition, the program will provide career guidance, life skills training, and experiential learning in order to overcome low student achievement.

In a Nov. 16, 2012, speech, AMIDEAST President and CEO Theodore H. Kattouf underscored the vital role of education in ensuring a successful outcome of the revolutions in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa. Addressing the joint annual benefit of the National Arab American Medical Association (NAAMA) and Egyptians Abroad in Development (EAD) in Chicago, he said, “A bright future for the region is one in which its many young men and women are able to improve their life circumstances and realize their dreams of political and social inclusion. The region must create many more jobs, but it must also prepare youth to have English language, IT, and critical thinking skills required in a 21st century global economy that is increasingly knowledge-based and high tech.”

By Cathy Mentzer

Wilson College holds the distinction of being one of only eight women’s colleges in the United States to enroll students as part of the NeXXt Scholars Initiative in its inaugural year. Ghada Tafesh, of the city of Gaza in the Palestinian Territories, is one of 12 international students to participate in the program, which encourages young women from countries with predominantly Muslim populations to obtain a world-class STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) undergraduate education at one of 38 U.S. women’s colleges.

AMIDEAST strongly condemns the offensive film that has inflamed passions across the Middle East and abhors, as do the vast majority of Americans, the hateful intentions behind it. Such actions must not be allowed to undermine the bonds of friendship that exist between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East. AMIDEAST likewise strongly condemns the senseless violence that caused the deaths this week of four American diplomats in Libya, who were there to assist the Libyan people rebuild their country. Peaceful demonstrations are a right, but there is no justification for violence.

Since fall 2010, AMIDEAST’s new advisory board in Lebanon has enabled AMIDEAST to expand its offerings of scholarships and other opportunities for youth in Lebanon. In June, AMIDEAST’s office for the West Bank and Gaza became the second field office to adopt this community-based approach to strengthening its ability to respond to local needs.

AMIDEAST mourns the loss of Dr. Fahim Qubain, who passed away in April at the age of 88. Qubain will be long remembered as the founder of the Hope Fund, an organization that in one decade has made a made a life-changing difference for nearly 70 young Palestinian men and women from refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza.

Ramallah, June 21, 2012―AMIDEAST is pleased that the following prominent Palestinian business and professional leaders have agreed to serve on its new advisory board in the West Bank and Gaza: