Travel restrictions hit Gaza students

IRIN, Oct 23, 2009

Some 838 students formally offered places and/or enrolled at foreign universities are unable to leave Gaza, according to the Palestinian interior ministry and Gisha, an NGO campaigning for freedom of movement.

Of the 1,983 Gazan students in this position, only 1,145 have been able to leave Gaza since the beginning of 2009 due to a combination of travel restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles.

Many studying in the USA, for example, cannot get a US visa as they have been prevented by the Israeli authorities from travelling to the US consulate in Jerusalem.

According to Gisha, the criteria for departure set by Israel include obtaining a recognized scholarship and studying only in a country with diplomatic representation in Israel. Students who wish to leave through Israel must also be accompanied by a diplomatic representative.
http://imeu.net/news/article0017736.shtml

Maybe Israeli officials will re-think this cruel policy when their politicians hear from enough outraged Israeli parents.

seriously....they don't work in israel anyway, they don't need israel to recognize their degrees or anything....egypt regularly opens up their border for importing to gaza now when ever it wants to

name me one real reason why hamas doesn't look south?

I don't understand this israeli obsession......the gaza attitude and yours should be "fuck israel....we dont need your stinking charity or permission...."

why?

Should vent their anger at Hamas for this and toss them out in the next elections (If Hamas decides to allow them) and elect a government less interested in attacking Israel and more interested in rebuilding Gaza.

Just a thought.

Israel surely does all it can to foster partners for peace.

you keep setting yourself up and then complain about not getting what you want.

news flash: israel doesn't give a shit about gaza...its a dumping ground for israeli produce (that have over stocked) and thats about it. It aids in the export of some gaza products (flowers), but not much more than that....
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so explain to me again, why there is no pressure on egypt to open the gates wider?......

is it really just politics?...knowing that if they do open up, israel can no longer be blamed for the happenings in gaza? and that life will improve for them?


and this is agreed to across the board all over the world (as per the lack of articles on it)? Pretty pathetic...even you seem to prefer that the gazans suffer just so you can complain about israeli policies......

STOP PREVENTING IT.

It's evil, man. Maybe this is something you could contact your reps about.

it must break your heart that HRW, AI, the UN, EU, Arab govts, as well as proPalestinian bloggers, your friends here at DU, etc.... aren't the slightest bit interested in putting pressure on Egypt to alleviate the problem ASAP.

gazas got 4 borders.....3 are troublesome...one is your friendly border.....why in the hell dont you go where your friends are instead of knocking your head against the wall?

i don't want gazans going through israel to get permission for anything......i want gazans to face up that israel is "non existent" to them and to adjust to life without israel...no imports, no shooting NOTHING......

i'm sure once gaza is booming the sea blockade will also be removed
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now explain to me, why so many prefer to pressure israel and get nowhere as opposed to putting pressure on egypt. I can barely find a single article that mentions the egyptian/gaza border and what is happening there.

you too, seem to prefer that the gazan students NOT go and learn if they can't go through israel, at least that is my impression. and that goes for all the posters here. Will you explain to me why its more important to put pressure on israel rather than get those students out to learn anyway they can?
explore the egyptian option?

is it really true?....its preferable not to improve the gazan lives if it means opening up the egyptian border and exposing the fact that there is no israeli induced ghetto? that the gazans are not starving, that they are not trapped by israel?...is that really it?

If Egypt were free to create its own policy, you might actually have a point.

Your "democratic" gov't has a STRANGLEHOLD on Gaza. There is enough food to stay alive and that's it. It practices the ugliest kind of apartheid in the WB, there the Arabs "have it good."

You should be ashamed of yourself, Pelsar. Seriously. Posting as though your country's siege of Gaza and control over the WB doesn't exist.

What a bunch of bullshit.

israel isn't budging.....so try something else.....i don't get it...there is absolutely ZERO pressure on egypt....whats more important...getting those students out, building materials in etc....or playing "put the pressure on israel and let the gazans suffer?

there is and never has been any pressure on egypt...never even tried.

Israel can be as isolationist toward Palestine as it wishes, once Palestine is an independent state. But as long as Gaza and the West Bank are under its jurisdiction, it bears some responsibility toward them.

Egypt are also implicated (and hypocritical about it as ever); but it still does not let Israel off the hook on this issue.

People concerned about this might consider supporting Gisha

www.gisha.org

Gaza has 4 borders....3 closed by israel, one by egypt. Israel is not "playing" nice for quite a few reasons. What is most glaring is how the "whole world" as its called is once again using the Palestenians, this time the gazans to pressure israel.

if the goal, in this case was to get the students out legally, if that was the only goal, then everything would be tried. Specifically looking south, once via north to israel has failed.

Was it tried?...actually yes, but:
The students also have difficulty leaving through Egypt via Rafah crossing due to the fact that it is closed most of the time

http://www.gisha.org/index.php?intLanguage=2&intItemId=1612&intSiteSN=113

yet for all of those complaining about the trapped students, it appears there are other options available that don't require israel...but one sure doesn't read about any pressure on egypt to open the borders just a "little bit more."

so what do we see..and we see it here as well. Pressure on egypt seems to require that their be pressure on israel for some odd reason. And if that can't be worked out, then no pressure on egypt?

i.e. if israel doens't budge, than its far better to let the gazans suffer than push for an alternative that either "does israels bidding (not good) or does israel a "favor".

even the left prefers to use the Palestenians to "get to israel"....
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btw , that website has a very very informative PDF about the situation, whos responsable (EU, PA, israel, hamas, egypt), why, the history etc.
http://www.gisha.org/index.php?intLanguage=2&intItemId=1612&intSiteSN=113

Egypt has the physical capacity to open Rafah crossing…..

it does so for humanitarian purpose sporadically and ad hoc, informing israel of these openings.

Even in the absense of an agreement between the other parties, Egypt is obligated to open Rafah Crossing…..

interesting fact : after 1994 the rajah terminal was used importing with hundreds of trucks monthly entering gaza.....

http://www.clink.co.il/gisha/Rafah_Report_Eng.pdf

It's a pretty lengthy read, weighing in at over 170 pages, but I get the feeling I might learn a fair bit from reading it (my knowledge of how land borders work is understandably not the greatest considering my country has none at all) and I was impressed with the map of the crossings (a visual person like me needs to see things like that to get a grasp of things) and also that they've started things off with saying that it's hard to place responsibility on a single party for the continued closure of Rafah, and that they've all been finger-pointing at each other for closing the crossing. I would have copied and pasted that bit, but when I paste it it turns into weird wing-dings....

they go through each of the groups and go through the history what their responsibilities are, were etc.....and blame everybody...which is probably the most honest, straightforward answer i've come across


you cant copy i also tried...and i've just skimmed it so far......its usually hard to impress me with a report, but this one did.

and getting the same results.

They expect us to think they honestly expect different results.

I'm not sure if they're insane--the old 'doing the same thing and expecting different results' off-the-cuff definition of insanity--or if they assume we're nowhere near as cynical as they are.

They're wrong.

Good for the ones who managed to get their ducks in a row. Pity about the others. Perhaps they shouldn't have made assumptions about how perfect everything was while living in a virtual war zone. Or they should have made alternate plans.

That it's all so unnecessary, in many ways, is the pity. Yet so many people in their enthusiasm and fighting spirit (wink, wink) seem to have actively worked to bring about and maintain the current situation.

Not particularly fair to the Americans who don't indulge in the arrogant attitudes where a person's right to freedom of movement and education is only a right if they're an American or from a few other favoured locations, but there does seem to be an awful lot of Americans who have very arrogant and patronising attitudes to people who aren't American...

I won't repeat it, since some obvious facts are not allowed to be stated here, and the moderator is very stern about enforcing some unwritten rules.

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