Saturday September 06, 2008

The Israeli national broadcasting Authority has refused to allow radio stations in Israel to air ads sponsored by Israeli peace groups that criticize Israel's 15-month long siege on the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

The siege, which is in direct violation of the responsibilities of an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention (signed by Israel in 1953), affects 1.4 million civilians in Gaza – forcing them to live in dire poverty without access to proper medical care, and with chronic shortages of food and fuel. Nearly 150 patients have died due to the Israeli siege, when Israeli authorities refused to allow them to exit the Gaza Strip for needed medical treatment.

New radio ads produced by the Israeli peace group, Gisha, point out one often-forgotten piece of the siege: the hundreds of students enrolled in universities abroad, who will experience serious setbacks in their education due to being imprisoned in the Gaza Strip and unable to return to school.

Palestinian analysts often point out that these young people represent the best and brightest of the Gazan population, and by preventing them from going to university, Israel is fomenting the very extremism that the siege is supposedly trying to punish. These analysts argue that the students who study abroad tend to have a moderating effect on the population, and by imprisoning them, Israel is creating worse problems for themselves than before.

In the banned ad, author Yonatan Getten states, "The right to study crosses borders and conflict. We all have the right to study", and talks about meeting his first girlfriend in Cambridge when he was given the opportunity to study abroad.

According to Sari Bashi, the director of Gisha, around 1000 Palestinian students leave Gaza each year to study abroad. This year and last year, all but a few dozen, have been prevented from leaving. The reason, according to the Israeli government, is that only students who study at prestigious Western universities should be allowed to leave. Most of the 1000, however, are enrolled at universities in the Middle East and Asia. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said, ""exposing Palestinians to a pluralistic and democratic academic environment can only have a positive impact upon the students."

But Israel has no set standards as to what constitutes a 'pluralistic and democratic academic environment', and subjectively judges all schools based on their location. This 'picking and choosing' of who is allowed out and who must stay in is completely arbitrary, and in direct violation of the Palestinian people's right to education under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.