Two Palestinian students accepted for study at UK universities but trapped in the Gaza Strip by Israeli travel strictures have issued pleas for Britain to intervene on their behalf.
Abir Abu Warda, accepted for a master’s in urban design at London Metropolitan University, and Wisam Abuajwa, accepted for a master’s degree in environmental studies at Nottingham University, told the JC that only the intervention of the Foreign Office could save their study plans in the face of a blanket Israeli ban on Gazans travelling abroad for higher education.
The American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, intervened on behalf of seven Gaza students awarded Fulbright scholarships for study in the US after the New York Times published an article about their plight last Friday.
Ms Abu Warda, 29, has been awarded a fellowship for her one-year course by the US-based Ford Foundation. “I have been living in hell. I’m afraid I will lose the scholarship. We don’t have my field of study here and even if we did, I have the right to choose where to study.”
