News Release

Palestinian students In Gaza prevented from pursuing studies

October 21, 2008

Saying that Egypt is implicated in Gaza siege, Friends of Humanity International calls the Egyptian authorities to allow Palestinian students to join their colleges abroad

Friends of Humanity International called the Egyptian authorities, in a message sent today Tuesday, 21 October, to resolve the dilemma of the Palestinians students who are studying abroad and all those besieged in the Gaza Strip.

The Organization stated that over seven hundred Palestinian students can not pursue their graduate courses in Egypt and other Arab countries as well as Turkey, Britain and the U.S. because they are not allowed to go out of Gaza. This has caused many of them to drop out last academic year 2007-2008 while they are likely to fail to attend the mid-term exams for the first semester of the current academic year 2008-2009 in case the restriction on their movement out of Gaza continues.

"Friends of Humanity" pointed out that tens of students who have been privileged to get admission or scholarships from well-established international universities are threatened to loose this opportunity of education abroad for the same reason. The Organization confirmed that more three thousand and five hundred residents of Gaza Strip have been prevented for more than sixteen months to travel to resume their offices or join their families.

The Organization condemned the role the Egyptian authorities is playing in tightening the siege on Gaza , and called upon the authorities to cease its support to the efforts of isolating one million and a half Palestinians in the huge prison of Gaza and to facilitate the supply of medicine and food and construction materials. It also demanded that the authorities resolve the issue of all the Palestinians who are trapped on both sides of the Egypt-Gaza borders by opening Rafah crossing point and
removing all travel restrictions.

The organization confirmed that the grave travel restrictions imposed on the Gaza residents pose a violation of the humanitarian law which prohibits collective punishment.


For more information contact:
Hirschstettnerstrasse 19-21/D00
1220 Vienna, Austria
Friends of Humanity International
Phone: 0043 1 2028501
Website: http://www.friendsofhumanity.inf