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June 04, 2008

Gaza Fulbright Students Get Scholarships Back, State: We Were Wrong
Posted by Moran Banai

Good news – the State Department has re-instituted Fulbright scholarships to the seven students in Gaza. It has admitted it was wrong for failing to ask the Israelis to allow the students to leave before rescinding the scholarships. In fact, Sean McCormack acknowledged on Monday that the first time the Israeli government was approached about the students was Friday -- after the story leaked that the scholarships had been rescinded. And today, four of the seven students were able to leave Gaza to apply for visas to the United States.

It is puzzling that whoever was responsible for this decision at State did not foresee that it could completely backfire, angering Palestinians, Israelis and Americans alike. After all, when alerted to the situation, the Israelis were willing to work on this issue. Getting their cooperation initially may have required actual diplomacy, which can be tough, but it surely could not have caused more problems or exposed the confusion in U.S. policy more clearly.

This was more than a major screw up. It suggests the lack of a coherent strategy on the part of the U.S. government to deal with the question of Gaza and how not to penalize the people of Gaza in trying to isolate Hamas. This incident suggests that it is essential for the United States to develop such a coherent strategy and explore how to move forward. As I wrote last week, I think that it includes balancing Israel’s critical security needs with an understanding of how our policies affect the long-term interests of all actors in the region, and it also includes finding a way to man the checkpoints in a manner acceptable to Israel, Egypt and the PA so that they can be reopened.

But, the first and easiest step for our government to take immediately is to work with the Israelis to allow approximately 600 other students waiting to go on educational exchanges to leave Gaza. This is a relatively simple way to demonstrate our commitment to the people of Gaza, to better understanding and to a better future. The question is, will we do it?

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