Despite the widespread criticism of this move – and recommendations in favor of the program by virtually all relevant professional agencies, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich refuses to budge.
Smotrich’s refusal to transfer funds that have already been approved and allocated directly undermines the efforts of successive governments to better integrate Israel’s Arab community.
The finance minister is reportedly withholding NIS 200 million for east Jerusalem development because it included NIS 2.5m. in funding for Arab students.
The finance minister said that integrating eastern Jerusalem residents into Israeli universities leads to "nationalism and extremism."
A total of 28 students, chosen from 14,000 competitors, will travel to the US as a prize for their innovative projects in the fields of robotics, AI, biology, and biochemistry.
The center’s overarching mission is twofold: to economically empower local women and young adults and to champion urban initiatives centered around sustainability and ecology.
EasTech is a hi-tech complex on Saleh a-Din Street that will host hi-tech companies for free in exchange for hiring programmers from east Jerusalem. Israeli politicians' arrivals complicated things.
The Biden administration decided that US-Israel government-funded cooperation in a variety of areas must take place in pre-1967 Israel.
For eastern Jerusalem, downtown features restaurants, cafes, hotels, and shops. But it also includes ancient historic sites to visit.
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