US withdraws Fulbright scholarships from 8 Palestinian students in Gaza

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"The State Department has yanked Fulbright scholarships from eight Palestinian students from Gaza because Israel will not grant them exit visas, a spokesman said Thursday.

The eight won the prestigious grants for education at U.S. universities and are still eligible, spokesman Tom Casey said.

"The issue was that they could not get visas, so the decision was made to transfer the Fulbrights to the West Bank rather than lose them for this year," Casey said.

Israel has sealed off the small seaside Gaza Strip in an effort to protect bordering Israeli towns and punish the Hamas militants who took over Gaza last June. Israel controls movement in and out of the territory as well as utilities for about 1.3 million Palestinian residents in Gaza.

It was not clear whether replacement candidates were already in line. Casey said the decision to defer the scholarships was made because time was running short for students to make arrangements for the coming school year."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/30/america/NA-GEN-US-Palestinians-Scholarships.php

[MadMaddie]

1. Another Legacy item for the * admin...they will never

reach the bottom of their hell hole...

[oberliner]

2. Your link isn't working

Here is a link to the article from the NY Times that was the original source of this story (it also contains quite a few interesting quotes and details that may be of interest):

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/world/middleeast/30gaza.html?em&ex=1212206400&en=2c3167bfca582e7a&ei=5087%0A

[Scurrilous]

3. Fixed the link.

Thanks. :thumbsup:

[azurnoir]

4. This is the State Departments way

of supporting the siege of Gaza before I read both stories my thought was that if the State dept had spoken to the Israeli government on behalf of these students then they most likely would have been granted visas, but instead chose to pulled their scholarships, what a sad statement of real the intentions here on the part of the Bush government, however would any of present candidates have done differently?.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Wouldn't Israel want these students in the U.S. versus their villages with the

hopes that education and exposure to cosmopolitan ideas render these students less likely to become "terrorists"?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

6. This is precisely why world-wide academic boycott against Israel is called for.

I'll be the student from in side the Green Line have their plane reservations made.

[notfullofit]

7. Just think

how disappointed those poor students must feel having worked so hard to achieve scholastic excellence!

What a shame.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

8. Perhaps those progressives in Israel should petition their gov't to change their stance. nt

[notfullofit]

9. Somebody should. nt

[notfullofit]

10. Looks like somebody will

Rice 'surprised' by Gaza scholarship incident

Published: 05.30.08, 16:54 / Israel News

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she was surprised to learn that the
State Department had yanked Fulbright scholarships from eight Palestinian students from Gaza.

Rice said Friday she is going to look into it since she believes it's important to help young Palestinians. She said that engaging young people is key to the future of a Palestinian state. (AP)

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3549906,00.html

and another........

US presses Israel on exit visas for Gaza students
Published: 05.30.08, 18:24 / Israel News

The US State Department said on Friday it was pressing the Israeli government to allow seven Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip to travel to the United States to study on coveted Fulbright fellowships.

"We are trying to revisit this issue with the Israeli government," State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters, referring to Israel's failure to grant exit visas for the students. (Reuters)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3549928,00.html

[LeftishBrit]

11. Prepare to faint, because I'm about to say something that I NEVER do...

"Good for Condi Rice!"


Did I really say that??!!!!

But ressure from the American government may be one of the few things that can make an immediate difference here.

I agree that there need to be petitions on this from Israeli and other progressives.

[azurnoir]

12. Heard the report on NPR a couple of hours ago

good news for once!!

[ProgressiveMuslim]

13. The US should revoke any invitation to Israeli students, until the visas for the Gazans are

approved.

Just one of the many faces of the occupation that isn't.

[henank]

14. Israel surprised - students can leave Gaza to study abroad

Officials in the Prime Minister's Office Saturday night expressed "surprise" at State Department criticism of Israel for reportedly not letting seven Gazan students leave the Gaza Strip on Fulbright scholarships, saying that the State Department did not directly contact the PMO about the issue.

State Department says it's working with Israel to facilitate exit of Fulbright scholars

According to the officials, there is an individual in the PMO whose job it is to facilitate the passage for humanitarian needs of certain individuals from the Gaza Strip.

"Israel has an interest in seeing future Palestinian leaders go to Western democratic countries to study," one official said.

"In the past, many countries have approached us, and we have made it possible to facilitate study abroad. In this case they just did not approach us, and assumed it would be impossible."

On Saturday night Israeli officials said the students would be allowed to leave for their studies.

more in the Jerusalem Post

[Violet_Crumble]

15. The US isn't to blame for this massive cockup...

From the article: 'Security officials clarified that exit visas were only granted "for exceptional humanitarian and urgent medical cases." They also noted that the universal right to education did not extend to higher studies.'

Pressure from the US in this case means that the students will be able to travel to the US, but this is due to the media attention and pressure on the Israeli govt. How many other students are left high and dry due to not being allowed to leave Gaza?

Reading that does make me wonder why everyone (including myself) treats proposed boycotts of Israeli academics as wrong when Israel does the exact same thing to Palestinian academics...

[notfullofit]

16. All's

well that ends well.

Great news, thanks for the update