Palestinian universities facing financial crisis

All Palestinian universities are facing a crippling financial crisis and some have not been able to pay salaries regularly over the past two years, a union leader said Monday. Amjad Barham, who heads a union of university professors and staff, told Ma’an that most Palestinian universities have accumulated unpaid salaries and other expenses. Thus, he added, universities will not be able to afford the basic preparations to provide a decent education if the situation remains unchanged. He highlighted that the crippling financial crisis was a result of failure by consecutive Palestinian governments to pay even a minimum of the financial aid they were supposed to provide to universities. Governments, he said, pledged certain sums of aid in the past two years, but only 10 percent of that pledged aid was delivered. As for 2013, only 5 percent of the financial support to universities approved by the government has been delivered. According to Barham, universities will not be able to fulfill their essential role in providing a decent education to Palestinian students if financial difficulties are not resolved.