Israel’s denial of visas for foreign academics hurting Palestinian education

Israeli authorities’ rejection of visas for foreign nationals seeking to work in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) is hurting Palestinian education, a campaign group said yesterday.

According to the Campaign for the Right to Enter the Occupied Palestinian Territory, seven international faculty members at Birzeit University were refused visa extensions by Israeli officials, with several others having already been forced to leave the country.

Israel’s policy, the campaign added, “has severely diminished opportunities for development of faculty, courses, and research programs at Palestinian institutes of higher education.”

The campaign noted that although international scholars have long faced obstacles from the Israeli occupation authorities, the situation has significantly worsened over the last year.

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“Palestinian educational institutions have been hard hit by Israeli denials or restrictions on entry and presence in the [oPt],” undermining “Palestinian universities’ ability to attract further external expertise as foreign academics are deterred from accepting teaching and research posts by the arbitrary rejections and destructive restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities.”

The campaign called for an immediate halt to Israel’s practices and “arbitrary and abusive practice of denying entry to foreign nationals traveling to the occupied Palestinian territories to promote educational development,” urging the international community to “stand with us in protecting the Palestinian people’s right to education”.