I guess that since Gaza University is closed, Cal Berkeley has decided to provide the historic education about Arbs and Palestine. Wonder if they will explain why Egypt refuses to allow Palestinians in their nation? Or why the countries of the Middle East signed the Abraham Accords, to stop the violence in the region.
“The Israel-Hamas war, which led to a national movement of protests that called for a ceasefire in Gaza and pressured colleges to divest from Israel, also spurred a demand to better understand the history and culture of Palestinian people, the Los Angeles Times reported. As a result, UC Berkeley will launch one of the nation’s few Palestinian and Arab Studies programs.
Anonymous donors gifted the university $3.25 million to establish the program and fund research opportunities and cultural activities, the Times reported. The program, announced Monday, is a “groundbreaking effort to build understanding about the Palestinian people,” said Ussama Makdisi, a UC Berkeley history professor, leading scholar of modern Arab history and the inaugural chair of the program.”
Are the donors anonymous because they are supporters of the Hamas/Nazi’s? Are they governments that support Hamas, like Iran? We have a right to know who financed this program and is the program just a support system for the Hamas/Nazi’s?
UC Berkeley to launch Palestinian and Arab studies program, one of few in the nation
Lasherica Thornton, Edsource, 9/10/24 https://edsource.org/updates/uc-berkeley-to-launch-palestinian-and-arab-studies-program-one-of-few-in-the-nation
The Israel-Hamas war, which led to a national movement of protests that called for a ceasefire in Gaza and pressured colleges to divest from Israel, also spurred a demand to better understand the history and culture of Palestinian people, the Los Angeles Times reported. As a result, UC Berkeley will launch one of the nation’s few Palestinian and Arab Studies programs.
Anonymous donors gifted the university $3.25 million to establish the program and fund research opportunities and cultural activities, the Times reported. The program, announced Monday, is a “groundbreaking effort to build understanding about the Palestinian people,” said Ussama Makdisi, a UC Berkeley history professor, leading scholar of modern Arab history and the inaugural chair of the program.
He told the Times that the program will allow students to explore the Palestinian people’s complex history in the context of the wider Arab world and connect it with parallel fields of inquiry with Indigenous, Latinx and Black communities.
UC Berkeley is supporting the program by pledging $500,000.
“At a time when understanding the complexities of the Middle East is more crucial than ever, this gift allows the Social Sciences to take a leading role in fostering critical scholarship and dialogue,” Raka Ray, the division’s dean, said in a statement, per the Times. “It’s an opportunity for us to deepen our commitment to outstanding scholarship; to explore important but neglected fields of study; and to build inclusive education.”
The program is considered one of a few in the nation to focus on Palestinians, joining Columbia University’s Center for Palestine Studies, established in 2010, and Brown University’s “New Directions in Palestinian Studies” research initiative housed in the Center for Middle East Studies, launched in 2012.
