Palestinian student prevented from attending Imperial

The Gaza Strip is not the best location for a student with limitless education aspirations and accordingly Zohair has sought education abroad. He successfully applied to study at Imperial College London, starting like other new students on the 4th of October. He was granted a British visa without complications and also won a full scholarship from the Hani Qaddumi foundation, a secular Palestinian charity that supports promising students, to fund his time at Imperial College; the fees alone would be well out of the reach of ordinary Palestinians.
Unfortunately Zohair is unable to take up his place at Imperial. He has been unable to leave Gaza. There are only two crossings through which Palestinians could, theoretically, leave the Gaza strip. The Erez crossing, in the north of Gaza on the border with Israel and the Rafah crossing, in the south on the border with Egypt, are both under Israeli control. Zohair has been denied entry into Israel through the Erez crossing and so is unable to journey to London by this route.
The Rafah crossing is only open sporadically and for short periods of time; a direct result of the chaotic scenes this January when Hamas tore down sections of the border fence separating Gaza and Egypt. 3 weeks ago, the Rafah crossing was indeed open for a brief time and Zohair rushed to the crossing. After 26 hours waiting on a bus, he wasn’t lucky enough to be one of the 60 students, out of around 400, who made it through that day. The crossing is now closed again.
Depressingly this is not the first time that Zohair has had his ambitions crushed. He applied to Imperial after losing his U.S. visa for study at the University of Connecticut; he had gained a Fulbright scholarship. In May, Zohair was first told that his Fulbright scholarship had been cancelled. In an unexpected move, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intervened and Zohair was again hopeful that his dreams would be fulfilled.

He was granted a series of visa interviews at the Israeli border and was then granted a U.S. visa. However, ultimately his visa was then revoked on the basis of Israeli evidence, which has not been made public. Presumably the evidence, if made public, would endanger Israeli sources.
Zohair’s sad story is not at all unique. The 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip have been confined within the Strip since Hamas came to power in June 2007. Mr Yigal Palmor, the spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, although unaware of Zohair’s situation specifically, told felix that the “basic problem is not this or that person” but rather the political situation within Gaza. Hamas have become the de facto rulers of Gaza and as a result “restrictions on the population as a whole” have been imposed. Preventing travel abroad, for the most part, is one of these restrictions. At the core of the issue is the fact that, as he said, “Gaza has become a hostile entity, ruled by a group that have essentially declared war”.

There has been significant opposition to the effect of Israel’s policy on Palestinian students. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in May, “If you cannot engage young people and give them a complete horizon to their expectations and to their dreams, then I don’t know that there would be any future for Palestine”. The chair of the Knesset Education Committee, Michael Melchior said “We are a nation that for years was prevented from studying – how can we do the same thing to another people?” and also that “trapping hundreds of students in Gaza is immoral and unwise” while in the past Israeli cabinet ministers have called for an end to the policy of preventing Palestinian students who study in Israeli universities from entering Israel.

The College, through the International Office, has taken action to help Zohair however possible but the Office refused to go into details other than that the Director, Dr. Piers Baker, has been working hard with his contacts in the region. The British Foreign Office did not comment on Zohair’s case specifically but said they had “raised the issue of Palestinian students with the Israeli government” on a number of occasions in the past and that they “would continue to do so” in the future.

Time is short for Zohair, students must take up their place at the university within two weeks of term’s start; which was the 4th of October. Given that he has been accepted for a one year Masters course, it is unlikely that registry will allow him to attend after the two week limit.

While Zohair waits, it is no comfort for him to know that he is not alone. There are an estimated 600 students who have been accepted into foreign universities in Gaza, this doesn’t take into account promising students who have been deterred from even applying.

This is an issue that should be debated at our university and felix invites you, the reader, to send in your comments.