Loading ...Arab City Founder Al-Masri Launches Harvard Kennedy School Program for PA Students
SOURCE: JEWISH PRESS
Arab-American wealthy entrepreneur Bashar al-Masri, the founder and visionary force behind Rawabi, the first planned, high-tech Arab city in Judea and Samaria, is now funding a Harvard Kennedy School fellowship program for current and emerging leaders from the Palestinian Authority.
The Rawabi Fellowship for Leaders from Palestine will provide tuition, health insurance, and stipends for Palestinian Authority students in the School’s degree programs, as well as financial aid for PA participants in the school’s executive education programs.
“Principled and effective public leadership is needed to tackle the range of challenges that the people in the region are facing,” said Douglas W. Elmendorf, Dean and Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. “This generous gift will empower future generations of leaders to strengthen the region’s political, social, and economic development.”
Rawabi (“The Hills”), located near Birzeit and Ramallah, is touted as the “flagship” of a future Palestinian State. Construction began in January 2010, and by 2014 650 apartments were made available, for an estimated 3,000 residents. On March 1, 2015, al-Masri announced that Israel would connect the city to the Israeli-run water grid, making it possible for residents to move in.
Al-Masri is one of the few PA Arabs who follows a rational and constructive plan to establish a Palestinian State which bypasses the political thugs who run the Authority. He was named “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum,a nd ranked 38th on Fortune Magazine’s list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Palestine Development and Investment Company, and the Board of Trustees of An-Najah National University. He is also a member of the Deans’ Council of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
It’s safe to say that had the PA Arabs had two or three additional operators of al-Masri’s caliber they would have had their own state long ago.
“With its exceptional faculty and students, and its tremendous power to convene disparate groups and individuals, Harvard Kennedy School is uniquely qualified to educate Palestine’s future leaders,” al-Masri said. “It is critical that we support those who are, or will become, catalysts for positive change in Palestine, with the goal of moving toward a prosperous and peaceful future.”
During their time at the school, the Rawabi Fellows will have access to events and programs at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Middle East Initiative. The Initiative, which will provide travel and internship support for the fellows, will serve as a base to build community among the fellows and other students.
“The Rawabi Fellowship will make it possible for us to attract academically gifted Palestinian students to the Kennedy School, and to contribute to their development as leaders, policymakers, and intellectuals,” said Tarek Masoud, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations and faculty affiliate of the Middle East Initiative. “Training the Arab world’s best and brightest is one of the principal ways in which the Kennedy School contributes to development and progress in the region, and the Middle East Initiative is proud to be part of this effort.”