1000 GAZANS TRAPPED IN STRIP

Al Quds, 22 Rabu’ul Akhir 1436/12 February 2015 (MINA) – About 1,000 students from the Gaza Strip who are studying at universities abroad have been stranded in Gaza since last summer’s war with Israel, Haaretz newspaper said Wednesday.

“The students, whose studies and, in some cases, scholarships have been jeopardized by their failure to return to their campuses, are among some 8,000 Gazans on the Palestinian Interior Ministry’s waiting list of those who wish to go abroad if Rafah crossing is opened.” The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“Other than in exceptional cases, since 1997 Israel has not allowed Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip to go overseas by traversing Israel.”

The newspaper pointed out that Rafah crossing is Gaza’s sole gate for the outside world.

Due to the frequent closure of Rafah crossing and the unstable security situation in Sinai, thousands of people are still waiting to leave through Rafah crossing.

According to Haaretz, Israel has agreed to meet Palestinian Authority’s demand to allow 150 university students to leave to Jordan during January through Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing.

Haaretz noted, however, that only 38 students crossed into Israel and left through the border with Jordan, while the rest had passed through Rafah crossing.

“Palestinian Authority also asks Israel to allow 100 other stranded students to leave through Jordan crossing.”

The delay in their departure from Gaza in some cases could result in the loss of their scholarships and residence permits, the newspaper said.

Majdi Ismail, a student from Gaza, told Haaretz that he is worried that he would lose his scholarship and residence permit to study medicine in Tunisia if he is not allowed to travel by the end of this month. He planned to leave in August of last year, but his plans were scuttled by last summer’s war.(T/P008/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)