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Students 'trapped in Gaza'
20/11/2007 14:11 - (SA)
New York - The Israeli government is arbitrarily blocking about 670 students in the Gaza Strip from leaving the tiny territory to go to universities abroad, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
The New York-based rights group said Egypt, Hamas and the Palestinian authority also shared some of the blame for the students' plight.
Israel, which has near total control of Gaza's borders, has denied exit permits needed for students to leave for universities in countries including Egypt, Jordan, Germany, Britain and the United States, HRW said.
The students are among 6 400 Gaza residents with foreign citizenship, permanent residency, work permits, student visas or university admissions abroad who have been trapped in Gaza since the radical Islamic movement Hamas took control of the territory in June, HRW said.
In some cases, Israeli authorities have granted exit permits but later refused to let the students leave through the Erez passenger crossing due to unspecified "security concerns", HRW reported.
"Israel seems determined to punish all Gazans, including students, for the behaviour of Hamas," Sarah Leah Whitson, the director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East division, said.
"Israel should not make young people seeking education pay the price for its conflict with a political or military group," she said.
'Responsibility rests with Israel'
About 400 of the 670 students are trying to study in Egypt, but the southern crossing from Gaza to Egypt at Rafah has been closed since June 9, the rights group said.
Egypt and the Palestinian Authority appear to have bowed to Israel's demand to keep the Rafah crossing closed, HRW said. Reopening the crossing requires the participation of the three governments.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority have proposed the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is inside Israel, as an alternative to the Erez and Rafah crossings, but Hamas objects because it is under Israeli control, HRW said.
"Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas share some blame for trapping the Gazan students," Whitson said.
"But ultimate responsibility rests with Israel, which has the ability and legal obligation as the occupying power of Gaza to promote free movement and access to education."
- AFP
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