Israel says to help Gaza students travel for studies

[oberliner]

JERUSALEM, June 1 (Reuters) - Israel said on Sunday it would try to assist Palestinian students in the Gaza Strip hoping to study overseas achieve their aim by letting them leave the blockaded territory, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Israel's agreement to help came in response to a request by the United States on Friday that the Jewish state allow seven students set to receive coveted U.S. government Fulbright fellowships to travel to Jerusalem for a visa interview.

Israel tightened its cordon around the Gaza Strip after Hamas Islamists took over the the coastal strip nearly a year ago and only a very small number of Palestinians, mainly humanitarian cases, are allowed to leave the enclave.

"There are various students that we were asked to help with ... the U.S. discussed it with us and we are looking into it to see if we can help," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSL01176401

[notfullofit]

1. This is

great to hear, thanks for posting.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Good news!

[ProgressiveMuslim]

3. "Help?" WTF? I guess international shame is a good motivator.

BSD NOW!!!

[oberliner]

4. Pressure from Condi Rice seems to have been the main factor

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to reporters during a trip to Iceland, said earlier Friday that the State Department's decision to pull the scholarships "was a surprise to me, and I am definitely going to look into it."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i7UDiBk6gDXewURkPUUYnP62wVBgD9106H300

[LeftishBrit]

5. Sounds like it.

For once, it was pressure in the right direction. ("Naughty Israelis to dare to talk to Syria without asking our permission!" seems more typical of pressure from the current American government.)

Anyway, I'm really glad about the decision. I work in a university that gets lots of international students and visitors, and sometimes not from the most politically stable areas of the world, so I've occasionally seen how disastrously similar problems can affect students. Good luck to these Palestinian students, and to many more in the future!

[azurnoir]

6. Hopefully good news

It will be interesting to see how the interviews go.

The U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem on Sunday wrote to the seven students telling them that it was working to secure exit permits for a visa interview in Jerusalem so that they can travel to the U.S

[Scurrilous]

7. Court tells Israel to review Gaza student travel

<snip>

"The Israeli Supreme Court on Monday criticised the government for preventing Palestinian students from leaving the Gaza Strip to study abroad and gave it two weeks to review its policy.

The court heard a petition filed by an Israeli human rights group on behalf of two Palestinian students whose requests to leave Gaza to study in Britain and Germany have so far been rejected by Israel.

On Friday, Washington pressed Israel to let seven Gaza Palestinians travel to the United States to study on coveted U.S. government Fulbright fellowships and Israel said it was working on the issue.

The U.S. said this week that it was reinstating its Fulbright grants to the seven Gazans after they had previously been withdrawn because of Israel's refusal to allow them out of the coastal enclave.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department said it had erred by not asking Israel sooner to help the seven Gazans leave.

Palestinian human rights groups in Gaza said hundreds of students would miss deadlines to pursue studies at universities abroad if Israel did not relax its travel restrictions soon."

more

[oberliner]

8. Israel eases restrictions on Gaza Fulbright students

Israel allowed four of seven Palestinians who were awarded prestigious US fellowships to leave the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to apply for visas to the United States, an Israeli human rights group said on Wednesday.

Israel allowed the four Fulbright students to travel to the US Consulate in Jerusalem for visa interviews. They will return to Gaza later in the day and remain there until their visas are finalized, the human rights group, Gisha, said.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3551887,00.html

[Violet_Crumble]

9. Rice to Israel: 'Extremely important' to grant exit visas to Gaza Fulbright students

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday it was "extremely important" Israel allow three Palestinians to leave the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to take up prestigious U.S. fellowships.

Earlier this year the U.S. government was embarrassed when it became public it had withdrawn Fulbright fellowships for seven Gaza students because Israel had not granted them exit permits from the blockaded territory.

Israel tightened its cordon of the Gaza Strip after the Hamas Islamist group took control there nearly a year ago. Israel gives few Palestinians, other than some who are gravely ill, permission to leave. After media reports about the students' case, the United States restored the fellowships and formally asked Israel to allow them to leave Gaza.

Israel subsequently allowed four of seven Palestinians to leave Gaza to apply for U.S. visas but the other three have not received permission to leave for visa interviews at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, Sari Bashi, the head of the Israeli human rights group Gisha, said.

<snip>

An Israeli official who coordinates civilian affairs between Israel and Gaza said security concerns were the reason for the refusal to travel.

"The three were denied permits to travel because of specific security concerns and is the reason they were not allowed out (of Gaza)," the official, Peter Lerner, said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/992963.html