UAEU Chancellor Zaki Nusseibeh at a panel with Professor Robins President of Haifa University on April 28th, 2021

Scholars as Peace Builders: Israel, UAE & the Academy’, 

Good evening, and Good morning 

I am delighted to be here with you all today – with educators, students,  activists, and so many of you invested in a brighter future for our region. And I’m thrilled to be here with Professor Robins of Haifa University.  

Thank you to the Jewish Community Relations Council for inviting me to speak on the important topic of education and culture as channels to nurture regional relations, particularly between the UAE and Israel. 

Let me start with a few words on the UAE, and our efforts on higher education and cultural partnerships.  

By global standards the UAE is a young country -– we celebrate our Golden Jubilee, our 50thanniversary, this year. Precisely because of our youth and entrepreneurial spirit, the UAE has become one of the key innovation hubs of the region, hosting global financial and trading institutions, cultural organizations like museums and universities, and even a major humanitarian logistics hub at Dubai International Humanitarian City. Notably, we have attracted people from all over the region and the world, with over 200 nationalities living side by side in the UAE. 

The UAE is also a popular destination for Arab youth. According to the 12th Annual Arab Youth Survey in 2020, 46% of all young Arabs named the UAE as their top country of choice to live in, for the ninth year in a row.  

The basis to sustain such a diverse and dynamic society is by providing opportunities for growth and intellectual development. A critical element of this effort is the promotion of inclusion and equality in our higher education. Women make up 70% of all university graduates in the UAE, and 56% of all UAE government university graduates in STEM, are women. 

The UAE takes pride in our diverse population, and in our cultural and educational partnerships with countries and institutions all over the world. This includes hosting campuses of New York University and the Sorbonne University, and attracting thousands of students every year from all over the world.

• Cultural diversity in the UAE is based on the culture of coexistence and tolerance, which has become an integral part of government work. In 2017, the world witnessed the birth of the first Ministry of Tolerance, in the UAE. 
• In 2019, the UAE presented to the world the Human Fraternity Document, issued on the occasion of hosting the “Human Fraternity Meeting” between His Holiness Pope Francisand His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, in the presence of 900 spiritual leaders representing humanity’s rich variety of religions and beliefs.
• And construction has been ongoing, for some time, of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, a place of learning, dialogue and worship, which will be inaugurated in 2022. The Abrahamic Family House will be home to a Synagogue, a Church and a Mosque, which will all be connected by a beautiful garden, to be for the first time a joint community, in which the practices of exchanging dialogue and ideas between followers of religions are strengthened in order to promote the values of peaceful coexistence and acceptance of different beliefs, nationalities and cultures. 

Our own university derives its values from the values of the UAE, as a country that believes in peace, cultural diversity, and acceptance of others, and this is reflected in many aspects of the University, such as:

1-   The diversity in our faculty in terms of nationalities, the universities from which they graduated, and their research interests, with members coming from more than 77 different countries, and where Non-Emirati faculty members represent more than 60% of the total professors at the university. 

2-   The presence of more than 1500 International students on our campus. 

3-   And our partnerships with international universities and research centers, where many professors conduct joint research with professors from different universities around the world. 

Promoting mutual understanding, stimulating intellectual curiosity and building bridges is one of the foundations for the UAE-Israel Peace Accord. The Accord was a historic diplomatic achievement to move our two countries forward into a new era of cooperation. In a region often besieged by conflict and humanitarian crises, two dynamic and advanced societies are working together to be a powerful engine of progress and opportunity, not just for the UAE and Israel but for the entire region.

I would like to emphasize that our efforts to strengthen our ties with the Jewish people predates the historic peace accord, since the UAE has a flourishing nascent Jewish community, led by Chief Rabbi Sarna, who also serves as the Executive Director of the Bronfman Center for Jewish Studies at NYU, and Rabbi Abadie.

On the Peace Accord, we believe that the agreement is a breakthrough moment towards achieving peace and stability in our region 

Particularly with the halting of annexation, which was a part of the Accord, the UAE hopes that this will create an opportunity for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to reengage in meaningful negotiations that will realize a two-State solution in line with relevant UN resolutions and international law. 

Let me emphasize here that our peace accord goes beyond mere normalization. We want to build a warm peace and continuous exchanges not only between our states but between our people. 

We realize how vitally important is the role of the Academy in promoting this ideal, when it encourages, as it did in Plato’s time in Athens or at the House of Wisdom in 9th century Bagdad, the acceptance of a diversity of perspectives and the discussion of alternative views so as to reach a clearer and more moral understanding of the great issues that challenge our societies. 

In the words of Maimonides, “At times the truth shines so brilliantly that we perceive it as clear as day. Our nature and habit then draw a veil over our perception, and we return to a darkness almost as dense as before”.

So, for scholars seeking to build bridges, Maimonides teaches us that truth must be confronted, and must not be ignored. This should be the guideline for bridging between an Israel with whom we are keen to normalise relations, and an Israel that continues its occupation of Palestinian land. Are scholars from both sides up to the task?

Haifa University is a perfect platform for encouraging its scholars to tread this path: With almost 30-40% of its student body being Palestinian Israelis, and its willingness to appoint Arabs in its highest academic and administrative posts, Haifa may have what it takes to encourage joint scholarly quests that 'do not draw a veil over our perception', and that can use the normalization and Abrahamic accords to help bring justice to be realized. We would like to see the UAEU play a similar role.

We have already begun to see the fruits of our peace accords in our Academies. The UAE’s Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science have agreed to work together on advancing and developing artificial intelligence. This was the first Memorandum of Understanding signed between Israeli and UAE higher education bodies. We can expect more to come.

So how can we help as universities to build tolerance through scholarship so as to build on our peace accords? Here are some examples: not an exhaustive list

-       Our universities can promote and support the recruitment of faculty and students from Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

-       Our academics may collaborate in research and consultancy consortia, drawing on each other’s resources and expertise to address common challenges of social and economic growth. 

-       We have the opportunity to organise joint conferences and symposia to share our resources.

-       Our universities also have many international partnerships outside the UAE and Israel, both within the region and further afield.  These connections are a resource we can draw on to enrich our collaboration. 

-       The disciplines represented across our universities encompass arts and humanities, and there is a wealth of artistic, linguistic, musical skill and talent in our faculty, staff, and student communities. The medium of culture presents itself as an opportunity to bridge communities and celebrate the multiple heritages, diversity of influences, and common interests we share. 

-       Our curricula and campuses can deliberately form programs of peace and conflict education. 

For as long as I can remember, as a child in Jerusalem streets to my years in England and subsequent settlement in Abu Dhabi, I have witnessed an endless succession of conflicts, wars, and acts of brutal violence ravage the societies of the Middle East, bringing unbearable misery, suffering and loss to the millions of its inhabitants. Even today as we survey the region we live in, we continue to experience an environment of divisiveness, instability and fear that nourishes conflict and dissent. 

The world too, is becoming more and more polarized. In 2019, there were over ten deadly attacks on places of worship around the world, and, with the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, we saw the exacerbation of discrimination and xenophobia. However, the UAE is eager to promote cultural diplomacy, fostering mutual understanding through the exchange of art, ideas, and knowledge, to combat these challenges. I hope all of you will have soon the opportunity to visit the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The collection draws attention to our universal history, highlighting the similarities and particularities of forms of artistic expression that surpass any geographical limitations.

It has been our destiny so far to live in a turbulent region besieged by conflicts, extremism, and humanitarian crises. Academic institutions will not be able to make conflict or differences disappear overnight, as if by a magic wand. They could, however, play a critical role in helping us revisit our assumptions, consider innovative solutions, and highlight positive example. They could help us perhaps have what it takes to encourage joint scholarly quests that can use the normalization and Abrahamic accords to help the people in the Middle East shape a more just,more prosperous, and more peaceful future for all.

Universities, just like museums and other institutions, have an essential role to play in building bridges between communities. Let me encourage students here at Haifa University and around the world to contribute to finding new solutions to some of the region’s most intractable problems. 

The UAEU is very happy to salute the new relationship between the UAE and Israel, and we are looking forward to exploring the possibilities for collaboration.  We remain committed to the spirit of friendship, and motivated by the academic ethics of collegiality, curiosity, and advancing social wellbeing. 

Thank you

Zaki Nusseibeh, UAEU Chancellor

Abu Dhabi 28th April, 2021