Sheikha Mozah, the wife of the Emir of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, is more than just the most fashionable woman in the Arab world. She is also a social and political activist who personally funds a foundation that offers hundreds of scholarships to Israeli Arabs. Heading the foundation is Dr. Hanan Falah of Acre, a dentist and herself a remarkable innovator who likes flying light aircraft in her spare time. 

“It’s the first push,” said Falah. “We certainly hope to reach all the Arab students in Israel.” Falah then explained that there is no official organization to help these students with scholarships to cover tuition and living expenses while they are in school. Furthermore, the very fact that they do not serve in the military means that Jewish students have a head start over Arab students. Soldiers who complete their military service receive a stipend upon their release, which is intended to cover at least their first year of studies in one of Israel’s academic institutions. Arab students don’t have this advantage, and are, as the directors of the new foundation like to say, “orphaned.”

But there is another complaint that Arab students direct at the heads of the Arab local authorities. The students claim that these officials won’t lift a finger to help young Arabs as they set off on an academic course that is full of pitfalls. In their defense, the heads of the Arab local authorities argue that the situation they face is hard enough as it is — and they may well be right. Most of their towns and villages have difficulty collecting municipal taxes, while local welfare departments gobble up a significant portion of their budgets. Add in the fact that the conditions they start out with are also below par: Arab local councils suffer from clear budgetary discrimination when compared to Jewish local councils. Under these conditions, scholarship and tuition grants for local students simply aren’t an option.

That is why the foundation approached Mozah, the Sheikha of Qatar. The foundation’s directors avoid sharing details about how they managed to win her support, and rightly so. They are a brand-new organization, and the entire issue is potentially quite sensitive. Nevertheless, the fact is that the money has already been donated.