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Why did the U.S. turn away Gaza Fulbright scholars?
By Barak Ravid
Tags: Fulbright Scholarship 

WASHINGTON - "This is one of the oddest things we have encountered in recent years," an Israeli official said of a long sequence of events that began with intense American pressure to allow two young Palestinian students to leave Gaza to study in the United States and ended with the U.S. barring their entry and canceling the visas it had granted them.

It all started around two and a half months ago, when Israel turned down an American request to allow seven Palestinian academics, who had received scholarships sponsored by the State Department, to leave the Gaza Strip to attend a visa interview that would enable them to leave for the U.S. The whole matter turned into a mini-crisis between the State Department and Israel's Foreign Ministry. At its height, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice contacted Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni with a request to allow the students' departure.

After a series of Israeli and American security-assessment procedures, all seven academics received visas. Four left to study in the U.S. Israel maintained that the remaining three had "a problematic security background," and hinted that they had ties to terrorists. But the Americans stood their ground, demanding that the three leave for the U.S., especially given that their visa request had been approved. The request was relayed to Israel by senior State Department officials in Washington, led by Rice's undersecretary for Middle East affairs, David Walsh. Rice, too, was apprised of the details.
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Expired passport

Last Sunday it was decided that two of the three - scholar Fidaa Abed and high school student Ahmed Ma'ari - would head to Jordan and proceed to the U.S from there. To avoid another confrontation with the U.S. administration, all the relevant bodies in Israel were mobilized for the effort. More than 20 officials from the Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Border Crossing Authority, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and the Shin Bet security service, as well as several diplomats at the Israeli Embassy in Washington worked on "the project." "The State of Israel went out of its way for these two guys," said a senior Israeli official who coordinated the effort.

Last Tuesday afternoon, "the operation" was launched. The two academics arrived at the Erez checkpoint, where several diplomats from the American consulate in Jerusalem waited for them, in order to accompany them to the Allenby Bridge crossing. The trip to the border, which started with smiles and optimism, quickly turned into a comedy of errors that greatly embarrassed the State Department.

An Israeli government official said the American diplomats, who exerted intense pressure on Israel to enable the departure of the two, forgot to check if their passports were valid. During the trip to Allenby Bridge, they realized that the high school student's passport had long since expired. When they reached the border crossing, the staff of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories discovered this fact and issued a special travel document.

That was when the problems really started. According to the Israeli official, the Americans did not update the authorities in Jordan, whose territory Gaza residents are not allowed to enter without special permission. And so, after they had already passed through the Israeli terminal, the two Palestinians were left in the no-man's land between the two border crossings, with their entry into Jordan not approved.

However, a senior American official in Israel said the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem and embassies in Tel Aviv and Amman had worked with the Israeli and Jordanian governments to fully coordinate the crossing. The source said the students' 12-hour delay had no connection with any action taken or not taken by American officials.

A protest on the road

At 8 P.M., when the border crossing closes, the Israeli border terminal workers approached the U.S. diplomats and suggested they return to Gaza and try crossing the following day, after having dealt with the passport matter. "I'm not interested, I'm not moving from here until they open the bridge," said one American diplomat and sat down in the road in protest.

After consulting with the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the office of the Shin Bet chief, it was decided to leave the bridge open, until the Jordanians finally agreed to the Americans' request at 9 P.M. and allowed the Palestinians to pass. But this was not the end of the two Palestinians' travails.

The high school student remained in Amman for a few days. His friend departed for Washington on Saturday night. However, after a 12-hour flight, when he got to the border control station in Washington, an unpleasant surprise awaited him. The U.S. immigration officials informed him that his visa has been canceled and put him on a plane back to the Jordanian capital. The high school student, who was still waiting in Amman, was notified that his visa had been canceled, too. He already returned to Gaza yesterday, disappointed, while his friend remains frustrated in Jordan.

Israel has asked the State Department in Washington for some clarifications, and local officials are especially upset at the behavior of the American diplomat at the Allenby Bridge. "It's a disgrace," said a senior Foreign Ministry official. "If I had behaved that way at an American border crossing, I'd either be in jail or no longer in the U.S."

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department told The New York Times, which first reported yesterday on the revocation of the visas that the visas were canceled because of new information received by the U.S. authorities. The paper reported that Rice was unhappy about the way these cases were handled and that a thorough review had been ordered to prevent a recurrence.

Gisha, an Israeli organization aimed at protecting Palestinian freedom of movement, says the problems the Palestinian students faced are not out of the ordinary.

"In addition to the particular students who did not receive visas for technical reasons or unexplained security reasons, there are hundreds of students in the Gaza Strip who were accepted by universities abroad and have valid visas," said Gisha executive director Sari Bashi. But, she added, "Israel issues a comprehensive ban on students from Gaza going abroad, as part of its policy of collective punishment toward Gaza residents, thereby impinging on the right to education of hundreds of talented young people who want to study, develop and create a better future in our region."

Some 1,100 university students wanted to leave Gaza to study abroad last September, of whom 480 went to Egypt and from there traveled elsewhere, according to Gisha. However, Israel has not operated such trips from Gaza to Egypt since January.

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  • Gaza Fulbright scholars meet U.S. visa officials, hoping to ease travel ban e
  • Rice to Israel: 'Extremely important' to grant exit visas to Gaza Fulbright students
  • Israel eases exit restrictions for 4 of 7 Gaza Fulbright scholars
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      1.   the best way to get freedom of movement is live peacefully 06:07  |  ralph 06/08/08
      2.   SNAFU or FUBAR? 06:13  |  Mark of Lewiston 06/08/08
      3.   That Was Murphy`s Law 06:38  |  Yosemite 06/08/08
      4.   Let the light shine on this case 06:51  |  Natallie Durson 06/08/08
      5.   What`s the name of the American Diplomat 07:28  |  John 06/08/08
      6.   If Arabs will insist on calling themselves PALESTINIANS 08:00  |  Dagma 06/08/08
      7.   Shalit should be in university 08:07  |  Ilan 06/08/08
      8.   American diplomat? 08:14  |  sorand 06/08/08
      9.   The Fullbright schoolarships were meant to ease 08:15  |  Kris Lazar 06/08/08
      10.   Rice should firsr read THE PALESTINIAN CHARTER 08:25  |  The Threadmill 06/08/08
      11.   DURSON The US did not tie itself into enough knots for them? 08:29  |  PETER SM 06/08/08
      12.   Let us remember 9/11 and those uni=educated Hijackers 08:52  |  Dolly 06/08/08
      13.   Extremely Sad Indead 08:53  |  Arab American 06/08/08
      14.   #Ralph. Individual merit. 09:00  |  Maureen Ann 06/08/08
      15.   Remember those three Americans murdered 09:05  |  justiceforall 06/08/08
      16.   Collective Punishment 09:34  |  Roger 06/08/08
      17.   To Natallie Durson # 4 - Good enough reason 09:43  |  Dolly 06/08/08
      18.   Who needs US brainwashing - students should come to Britain 10:16  |  Chanalau, Tova 06/08/08
      19.   Livni caved in to Rice 10:20  |  Karl 06/08/08
      20.   JEWS NEED THESE SCHOLARSHIP MORE THAN ARABS 10:21  |  indrajaya 06/08/08
      21.   these scholarships do not work 10:59  |  paulo2005 06/08/08
      22.   CHANALAU Arent you boycotting Israeli products? They CHOSE the US 11:07  |  PETER SM 06/08/08
      23.   INDRAJAYA exactly.Brothers can come to Indonesia worlds best 11:09  |  PETER SM 06/08/08
      24.   Indrajaya no 16- Israel has the 2nd largest no of University 11:20  |  College Professor 06/08/08
      25.   CHANALAU You tell the natives what`s best for them 11:43  |  PETER SM 06/08/08
      26.   Why export terrorism? 12:01  |  Joseph 06/08/08
      27.   Visa Boycott for scholars [sic]! 12:08  |  eddie - Haifa 06/08/08
      28.   Israelil oppression and American incompetence 12:17  |  Murray 06/08/08
      29.   Chanalau 12:27  |  Victoria 06/08/08
      30.   |To paulo 2005 - These Scholarships don`t work.... 12:32  |  Onlooker 06/08/08
      31.   "The State of Israel went out of its way for these two guys," 12:40  |  Tarik 06/08/08
      32.   These Scholarships are Dangerous! 12:43  |  Josephus 06/08/08
      33.   Several americans diplomats to accompany them 12:49  |  Tamir Palestine 06/08/08
      34.   sad 13:18  |  rm 06/08/08
      35.   Not just right to education; leadership 13:23  |  Tenar 06/08/08
      36.   Is there anything the Bush Admin can get right? 13:39  |  Aphemia 06/08/08
      37.   collective punishment--so what? 13:58  |  bob 06/08/08
      38.   Ooops you forgot this Barak Ravid 14:16  |  Sam 06/08/08
      39.   #1 Then you should be rejoincing 14:42  |  Outsider 06/08/08
      40.   #26 bob 14:42  |  Boycott 06/08/08
      41.   #17 Building in Palestine 14:44  |  Outsider 06/08/08
      42.   #18 A choice that many make 14:46  |  Outsider 06/08/08
      43.   #29 Eh? 14:51  |  Outsider 06/08/08
      44.   To Kris Lazar 15:04  |  Mrs. Fatso from USA 06/08/08
      45.   Give all the Palestinians visas 15:19  |  Mrs. Fatso from USA 06/08/08
      46.   Head in the Sand 15:27  |  James 06/08/08
      47.   Outsider...while Europe`s schools fill up 15:35  |  Lynn 06/08/08
      48.   # 5 John The diplomat did a good job 15:39  |  Nick Ferriman 06/08/08
      49.   #36 Aphemia....another reason for the down 15:56  |  Lynn 06/08/08
      50.   But they dont turn away illegal immigrants. 16:18  |  noor 06/08/08
      51.   #13 Arab American in Jordon. 16:26  |  John Allen 06/08/08
      52.   #45 Lynn-no hope for that with our Dems/Repubs 16:39  |  Aphemia 06/08/08
      53.   The fact is Homeland Security is in charge of visas 16:50  |  Gee 06/08/08
      54.   Farcical !!! (end) 17:03  |  Free Gilad Shalit 06/08/08
      55.   American Diplomat 17:43  |  Geoff 06/08/08
      56.   Lynn, Aphemia, Arab American - Debates 18:00  |  Mark of Lewiston 06/08/08
      57.   49 Gee - DHS is a Bureaucratic Nightmare 18:15  |  Mark of Lewiston 06/08/08
      58.   Israel is the only souper power 18:47  |  Davis 06/08/08
      59.   #51 Geoff.....Didn`t do much good 18:51  |  Lynn 06/08/08
      60.   #43 Outsider...1100 kilos of hashish 18:54  |  Lynn 06/08/08
      61.   #48 Aphemia...it is my personal belief 18:59  |  Lynn 06/08/08
      62.   #23 Peter thanks for making my day 19:07  |  Big Sur 06/08/08
      63.   # 52 Mark of Lewiston...good question 19:07  |  Lynn 06/08/08
      64.   #28 Murray perhaps read the article first 19:12  |  Big Sur 06/08/08
      65.   #52 Excellent debate question Mark 19:32  |  Aphemia 06/08/08
      66.   Every right to turn away foreign students 19:44  |  Jane 06/08/08
      67.   An Israeli Slap In Rice Face? 19:59  |  El Caro