GAZA Blockade 2016

Among the universal basic human rights, the right to education and to freedom of movement are particularly important for me. In Gaza, most people are deprived of both.

 The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. In mid-2007, the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, won a majority in the Legislative Council elections, and took full control of the coastal strip. With the already shaky balance of power among Palestinians gone, Israel imposed a strict air, land, and sea blockade on the territory, citing security concerns.

 For the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the ongoing siege “undermines the living conditions in the coastal enclave” while fragmenting “its economic and social fabric”, a phenomenon aggravated by Egyptian restrictions on Rafah, Gaza’s sole crossing point with Egypt on its southern border. As a result, basic educational services, among many others, have severely deteriorated. Higher education is extremely limited and lacks many disciplines. Consequently, many students seek to further their education abroad.

 My focus in Gaza was on Palestinian women whose ambitions of academic enhancement abroad are in limbo due to harsh and unjustified travel restrictions.

 My attention was drawn to this category during a chat with a friend at a coffee shop in Amman. My friend was from Gaza,but she was stuck in the Jordanian capital while waiting to receive a place at a university in the UK.

 The Israeli blockade restricts freedom of movement for Gaza residents, preventing many students from pursuing higher education abroad. Leaving the enclave requires getting to Egypt or Jordan, via one of the border crossings, after a lengthy process to obtain multiple travel permits.

 Many aspiring students have to wait for months to get an exit permit. Many others have their applications rejected, and thus end up losing their scholarships.

 During my stay in Gaza, I met four women dealing with the complicated process of getting travel permits. Their stories reflect how they patiently dealt with the uncertainty of their situation in a place that has barely time to breathe between wars, and how they handled the anxiety and anguish inherent in theunpredictable procedure.

 I asked them: “Why is it important to continue your education?”