Palestinians decry Israeli visa restrictions on foreign academics
Experts fear the quality of university education will go downhill as a result of Israel’s refusal to renew visas for many foreign professors teaching in universities in the West Bank.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — More than half of the academics who work at Palestinian universities and hold a foreign passport have faced denials or delays in visa processing from Israel during the past two years, Sabri Saidam, the Palestinian minister of education, said in a July 12 press conference held at the Palestinian Ministry of Education in Ramallah. Saidam said that Israel is obstructing the process particularly for academics of Palestinian origin who hold foreign passports, preventing them from acquiring and renewing visas for travel to Palestine for the purpose of teaching at a university.
“[Israel's] unjust policies have made Palestinian and foreign academics less willing to accept educational and research positions at Palestine’s institutions of higher education,” Saidam added. “These unjust policies have also hurt our appeal to this group of academics, undermining the quality of education and research programs at our universities.”
