A group of students from Gaza have started to arrive in the UK for their fully-funded university scholarships after months of campaigning.
More than 100 Palestinian students from Gaza had offers to study at UK universities this academic year; of these, 40 had scholarships, yet were held back due to Visa barriers.
As a result of the ongoing genocide, many were unable to take their places and begin their studies.
However, months of campaigning by politicians, academics, and other students saw the arrival of the first group.
On Monday, 34 Palestinian students with fully funded scholarships arrived in London and Manchester on flights from Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan.
Some students took connecting flights to Northern Ireland and Scotland where they will pursue their studies.
The academics and supporters of these students who campaigned for their evacuation are hoping that this will establish a permanent open pathway so that more Palestinian academics, students, and scholars can make the journey safely.
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An online campaigning group called “Gaza40Plus” was founded to advocate for the Gazan students who have secured places at UK universities, but were being held back by “impossible barriers”.
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, welcomed them, saying: “The flight time from Amman to England is only around six hours, but this was a journey that was months in the planning and years in the making.”
She went on to describe their arduous journey and experiences living through genocide: “These students have lived through the most appalling ordeal. After almost two years of war, many have lost loved ones, and all have had their lives ad their education thrown into chaos.
“Despite all the death and destruction… they’ve chosen to answer loss with learning, despair with determination, and war with hope.”
Their arrival came merely a day after the UK, along with Canada and Australia, declared their recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper also commented on the recent arrival of the students, as she said the UK’s support “reflects the UK’s commitment to the future of postwar Gaza and its reconstruction.”
She also added that the education of “the next generation will play a vital role” in Gaza’s future.
The cohort included recipients of the Chevening scholarship, the government funded scholarship for one-year Masters degrees for international students.
Barriers faced by Palestinian students
Some prospective students could not make the trip, including two women, one with a place at Glasgow University and the other at the Liverpool School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine.
They declined their evacuation once they were told that their young children and spouses couldn’t be evacuated from Gaza with them.
The prospective PhD students were informed just two days before the first bus of UK students was due to leave, that while their families were eligible for visas, they were not eligible for the evacuation.
They were put in an “impossible situation” according to the campaigners, and chose to stay.
Other students included Leen, a law graduate who earned a scholarship to study for an MSc in Defence, Development and Diplomacy at Durham University.
And Israa – who achieved a hard-earned place at the University of Liverpool to study MA Building Information Modelling and Digital Transformation.
As it currently stands, there is no available university education in Gaza.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that out of the 12 higher education institutions in Gaza, all have been damaged or destroyed, completely ending any prospect of university education during the ongoing genocide.
Israel has systematically destroyed every university in Gaza, with the first stage of its bombing taking out the Islamic universities, including the Al-Azhar University.
UN experts are also expressing deep concern over what they’ve labelled a “scholasticide” in Gaza, as over 100 university professors have been killed, and well over 80% of all schools have been decimated.
