Education When the Palestinian Authority (PA) assumed responsibility for education in the West Bank and Gaza in 1994, it marked the first time in recent history that Palestinians had control over their own educational system. Since 1994, educators and policymakers in Palestine have faced the enormous task of creating an entire curriculum for schools in the West Bank and Gaza, constructing new schools to meet the needs of the increasing population, and equipping schools with libraries, science equipment, and computer labs. This task has become far more daunting during the Second Intifada due to Israel's attacks on Palestinian infrastructure, its policy of closures and over 700 checkpoints in the West Bank alone. At the same time, the majority of international donor funding has been focused on the PA's infrastructure programs, rather than supporting the work of the Palestinian NGO community. As a result, NGO's have seen their funding decrease dramatically in the past seven years. Unfortunately, the PA has been unable to assume responsibility for services that were previously provided by NGO's, including primary and secondary health care, early education, special assistance services for disabled children, and training programs for the physically handicapped. Acutely aware that Palestine's future belongs to her children, The Jerusalem Fund continues to support early learning centers, schools for the visually and physically handicapped, and programs to bring computer literacy to thousands of Palestinian children. Featured Project Al Mawrid As the result of an overemphasis on rote learning, the Palestinian educational system suffers from serious deficiencies in critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In response to this problem, the Al-Mawrid Teacher Development Center in Ramallah created the Science-Technology-Society Education Project. This initiative was supported by The Jerusalem Fund to help enhance these important skills among Palestinian students. The project began in September 1998 with a group of ninth-grade science teachers who designed a teaching unit for science classrooms on the technology and history of bread making. The participants then taught the lesson in their classrooms the following semester. Said one of the teachers: "My priorities have changed. . . . I no longer believe that only content is important. . . . I assign equal importance to [teaching] critical thinking and problem-solving skills [to] my students." Recently, the bread-making lesson was published and made available to Palestinian schools. The first component in the program emphasizes the development of analytical skills using an interdisciplinary approach encompassing science, technology, agriculture, and history. This program represents an important step forward in the Palestinian educational system. Featured Project Al Quds University Archaeology Program In 1999 The Jerusalem Fund Board of Directors acquired the Ben-Ari library collection of archeological resource materials and donated it to the archeological department of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. This important collection, which was owned by a private individual, contained several hundred rare volumes including geographical and historical studies, and field reports published in the 19th century. This acquisition considerably enhanced the bibliographic resources of this fledgling department at an important Palestinian university. Hani Nur al-Din, the director of the Al-Quds Archaeology Department, said that these older reference books, along with contemporary publications, would form the nucleus of the department's library. Mohammed Manasara, a student in the department added that due to Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank a large percentage of archaeology sites were off limits to Palestinians. Furthermore, the inability of students to travel to Jerusalem where the majority of academic resources are housed was also a significant obstacle confronting scholars who study archaeology in Palestine. The Al Quds library supported by The Jerusalem Fund has helped to alleviate some of these problems. "We use the [library's] books continuously," said Manasara.
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