Gaza students killed while waiting for visas to study abroad : NPR

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In Gaza, all universities and colleges were destroyed or heavily damaged by Israeli military strikes during the war. Some students have managed to continue their studies abroad, but many of those trying to enter Canada say their visa applications have been delayed. And, as UK-based Palestinian journalist Abu Bakr Bashir tells us, some students have lost their lives while waiting for these visas.

DALIA GHAZI IBED: Hello. My name is Dalia Ghazi Ibed.

SALLY IBED: My name is Sally Ibed and I am a mechanical engineer based in Gaza.

ABU BAKR BASHIR: Dalia and Sally Ibed, 26-year-old twin sisters, recorded these audio messages when they were applying for higher studies abroad. Dalia spoke about her skills.

D IBED: In terms of technical skills, good command of languages ​​like Python, Java and C.

BASHIR: Sally was really excited.

S IBED: Thank you for taking the time to learn more about me. THANKS.

BASHIR: After the war in Gaza began, they both got full scholarships to study mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo in Canada. It is a field that combines mechanical, electrical engineering and robotics. Last year, the twins were in their room in northern Gaza, studying alone when two tank shells hit their building, said their father, Ghazi Ibed.

GHAZI IBED: (Through interpreter) The first shell killed Dalia, Sally, their mother and two more of their siblings. The others were killed by the second shell.

BASHIR: Dalia and Sally Ibed were still waiting for their Canadian student visas when they were killed. Another student, Sakher Yousef, 27, was also accepted into a study program in Canada and lost his entire family while waiting for his visa.

SAKHER YOUSEF: Our four-story house was bombed and now my family is under the rubble.

BASHIR: Just applying to study abroad is a struggle for Gaza students, according to Caitlin Procter, a political anthropologist who studies forced youth migration in the Middle East.

CAITLIN PROCTER: Writing applications, taking interviews and entrance tests from tents while displaced from their homes, often with very weak internet and even under bombing.

BASHIR: More than 80 students in Gaza received full scholarships to pursue master’s and doctoral programs in Canada during the war, and they are still waiting for their visas. That’s according to a group called Palestinian Students and Scholars in Danger, or PSSAR. Nada El-Falou, director of student services for the group, blames Canadian authorities for delaying their visas.

NADA EL-FALOU: It’s very, very clearly discriminatory against Palestinian students, and I believe it’s Canada’s decision and Canada’s lack of political will to help these students and resolve the process.

BASHIR: She told NPR that a special Canadian security screening was applied to Gaza students with no time frame specified for its completion. Many students have been waiting for a visa for over a year and have no idea how many more months they will have to wait.

EL-FALOU: The point where they get stuck is the background check, which is a real black box. We don’t know what’s going on in there.

BASHIR: The Canadian government’s immigration agency told NPR in a statement that it was aware of the increased processing times for applications, but denied that the screening was discriminatory. He said it is difficult to facilitate a student’s exit from Gaza and that once they leave Gaza, the biometric requirements for a visa can be met in neighboring countries like Egypt. But one student who managed to leave Gaza for Egypt a year and a half ago still hasn’t received his Canadian visa, Alaa Hussain told NPR.

ALAA HUSSAIN: I passed, of course, all the steps like biometrics and eligibility check and others. All this is done and requested. I’m just waiting this whole time, just to get stuck in the background check.

BASHIR: Students and academics in Gaza say that – unlike Canada – France, Ireland and the United Kingdom have relaxed their visa rules. The Irish government claims to have hosted 200 students from Gaza during the war. In recent months, 78 students have arrived in the UK from Gaza. Around 20 more are expected to be made soon, said Nora Parr, a researcher at the University of Birmingham. In total, only a few hundred students managed to enter international universities outside Gaza. Procter, the political anthropologist, says these students are vital to the future of the Palestinian territory.

PROCTER: These are the young people who will become the future leaders of Palestine.

BASHIR: Tens of thousands of other young students remain in Gaza, not going to school or taking the bare minimum of online studies at other Palestinian universities. They do it alone, in a tent or among the rubble of their destroyed homes. For NPR, my name is Abu Bakr Bashir.

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