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The Arab Institute Appeals for Help

The Arab Institute’s Financial Crisis: A Threat to the Continuity of Its Educational and Humanitarian Mission

In recent years, the Arab Institute in Jerusalem has faced increasing financial pressures that have directly affected its ability to continue providing its educational and sheltering services, especially after the suspension of one of its main sources of funding on which it heavily relied.

Since its establishment, the Institute has relied heavily on the generous and continuous support from the State of Kuwait, represented by the Kuwaiti Popular Committee for Supporting the Steadfastness of the Palestinian People, which enabled the Institute to cover operating expenses, care for orphans, maintain facilities, and provide essential needs for its students.

However, this vital funding completely stopped in 2016 due to political changes and restrictive measures imposed on external funding, leading to a severe financial gap that has threatened the stability of the institution and the future of hundreds of students benefiting from its services.

The crisis is further aggravated by the absence of stable and permanent funding sources, as the Association currently has no committed donor to cover even the minimum operating expenses of the school or the boarding section. Amid the difficult economic conditions affecting the region, securing basic operational costs has become a monthly challenge that includes teachers’ and caregivers’ salaries, food, electricity, maintenance, stationery, as well as medical and psychological services.

The Institute also faces additional burdens resulting from previous obligations toward some employees whose services have ended, which require providing their rightful financial compensation in the absence of any allocations or financial reserves capable of covering them. At the same time, it is not possible to forgo recruiting new qualified teachers and supervisors, in order to ensure the continuation of the educational and caregiving process at the required level, which places the Association in a difficult equation between maintaining quality and covering costs.

Saving this educational and humanitarian institution is no longer a choice, but a national and moral necessity that requires urgent and supportive action from donor entities and charitable initiatives.

Current sources of income

• With the absence of external support, the Institute has come to rely on:
• Tuition fees from students who can afford them (covering only 30% of the costs).
• Donations from benevolent individuals inside and outside the country.
• Limited support from some partner organizations.

However, these sources do not cover the costs of care, education, and housing, and they have accumulated heavy debts on the Institute, including dues owed to former employees, and a debt to the Institute’s Association, which supported the Institute in its most difficult times.

The Impact of the Current Economic Situation in Palestine

• Thousands of Palestinians have lost their jobs as a result of being prevented from entering the occupied interior.
• Employees’ salaries have stopped due to the withholding of clearance revenues.
• The private sector has collapsed, and families’ ability to pay school fees has crumbled.
• The number of students in need has increased, and requests for tuition exemptions have risen.

In this context, the Institute bears a doubled responsibility, for it is not merely a school, but a shelter and a safe haven for the poor and orphans, and despite the crisis, the Institute does not turn away any student in need, but strives to provide education to everyone who comes to its door, placing the humanitarian principle above all else.

The Humanitarian Appeal: A Cry from the Heart of Jerusalem

The Arab Institute stands today at a critical crossroads, after dedicating decades to serving Palestinian education and caring for orphans and the children of martyrs in the heart of Jerusalem.

This longstanding institution, which has carried hope in the hearts of hundreds, now faces the risk of halting and shutting down due to a severe financial crisis that threatens its ability to continue fulfilling its educational and humanitarian mission.

Save the Arab Institute in Jerusalem
Save the future of orphaned children
Save national education in the heart of the Holy City

The survival of the Institute is not merely the survival of a school; it is the survival of an identity, the steadfastness of a nation, and the continuation of a noble mission that believes education is a right, care is a duty, and hope is life.

O people of merciful hearts, O those whose hearts hold an undying human spirit…

The Arab Institute Association – Jerusalem, which has carried the banner of education and care for more than sixty years, now faces the threat of fading and shutting down. This institution, which embraced orphans, raised the children of martyrs, and educated the children of Jerusalem at the gates of Al-Aqsa, now struggles alone against the darkness of a financial crisis, with no stable resource and no compassionate hand to wipe away the dust of hardship and neglect.

The Institute has been exhausted, and the sources of support that sustained it for decades have come to a halt. Since the interruption of Kuwaiti funding in 2016, the crisis has deepened, capabilities have diminished, and debts have accumulated to the point that the boarding section is now threatened with closure, the school with shutdown, and the teachers with loss of their positions.

O brothers in humanity…
O supporters across the Arab and Islamic world…
We cry out to you… we appeal to your hearts…

We reach out to you in the name of the children who have no home but the Institute, no food but what it provides, and no future except within its classrooms and curriculum.