STUDENTS IN GAZA ‘DEVASTATED’ OVER FAILED BELGIUM PLAN

Belgian government unable to agree on evacuation of 13 students to take up scholarships at universities.

Students who are unable to leave Gaza and take up scholarships at Belgian universities have said they are devastated after Belgium’s government hit deadlock on a plan enabling them to leave the war-torn territory.

Ahmed Abujami, a 28-year-old doctor in Gaza, said he was “deeply disappointed” after Belgium’s five-party coalition government last Friday failed to agree on an evacuation plan for 13 students and researchers in the territory. Abujami has a scholarship to do a one-year master’s degree in public health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. He hopes to gain skills and experience to rebuild Gaza’s shattered health system.

“I was devastated by the failure to reach an agreement on Friday,” he told the Guardian via a messaging app. “We have already lost so much because of the war and now we are facing the possibility of losing another academic year.”

Like many of the 12 other students, he is unable to apply for a visa to Belgium, which can only be done in person in Jerusalem or Cairo, but is blocked from leaving the Gaza Strip.

He said: “We are 13 students who followed every rule, went through a strict academic selection process and earned scholarships to study in Belgium. We have nothing to do with the political disagreements surrounding our case.”

Salwa Abu Elhaj, a 23-year-old graduate, still hopes to take up her place to study communications sciences at KU Leuven, but said “with every passing day, that hope becomes more difficult. I have worked very hard for this opportunity and it is heartbreaking to see it becoming uncertain because of circumstances that are completely outside my control.”

- Author: Jennifer Rankin, The Guardian

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