 Abdulrahman Abdullah, a Palestinian Fulbright candidate, in Gaza City, May 2008 |
"We discovered new information that led us to revoke those visas," said an official at the US consulate in al-Quds, without giving any further details.
The four Gaza students include Zuhair Abu Shaban, Fida Abed and Osama Daoud, who were supposed to study under the Fulbright scholarships and another Palestinian who planned to study under a different program in the United States.
US consulate officials issued visas for the three Fulbright scholars last month after hours of interviewing and fingerprinting them at a passenger terminal on Gaza's border with Israel, called Erez.
"They gave us the visas on July 30 and two days later we were told the visas were not valid," says Shaban, who wants to pursue a second degree in electrical engineering.
"It was a great shock. We had hoped to complete our studies, especially after we were granted the visas. We were packing our bags," he says, adding that Abed had even flown to the United States via Jordan, only to be turned back at the airport.
One of the four also said that he was afraid the visa revocation would make it impossible for him to be accepted at any foreign university.
Neither Israel nor the US would say why the visas were revoked.
This is the second time this year that Gaza students with Fulbright scholarships have had their visas revoked by the US.
The US government at first withdrew the visas because Israel did not grant the Palestinians exit permits, but reinstated them later after international outrage over the issue.
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