[IHT] U.S. cancels Fulbright grants to Palestinian scholars

I wonder what happens to young men from the Middle East who have one of the few peaceful and productive outlets for their intelligence or ambition taken away from them.

 

Not so fast, we're still playing "bad cop, good cop" with Israel on this one...

US predicts Israel will relent on Gazan Fulbrights

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_palestinians_scholarships

The Bush administration predicted Friday that Israel will reverse its decision to deny visas to Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip whom the U.S. government had selected to receive prestigious Fulbright scholarships.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters that the U.S. objected to the Israeli decision and "they heard our concerns." The U.S. lobbying included a call from the No. 3 State Department official to Israel's ambassador in Washington on Friday morning.

"I expect we'll have some positive outcome for this in the not-too-distant future," Casey said.

There was no immediate announcement from Israel about the outcome for seven Palestinian students who had been notified on Thursday that their scholarships to study in the United States would be deferred. U.S. diplomats had told the students the deferments were necessary because Israel would not grant an exception to its near-total travel ban on Palestinians living in the sealed-off Gaza Strip.

The U.S. had offered eight Fulbrights to Gaza students but one has dropped out, Casey said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to reporters during a trip to Iceland, said earlier Friday that the State Department's decision to pull the scholarships "was a surprise to me, and I am definitely going to look into it."

"If you cannot engage young people and give complete horizons to their expectations and their dreams, I don't know that there would be any future for Palestine," she said. "We will take a look. I am huge supporter of Fulbrights. I am a big supporter of Fulbrights for people in places that have been isolated."

The teeming coastal territory of Gaza and its 1.5 million inhabitants have been controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas for nearly a year. Israel has kept its border crossings closed to everything but humanitarian aid in an attempt to weaken the group and end frequent rocket barrages aimed at Israeli towns.

 

Put the danged money into US students, we need to educate our own more than another countries people.

That is MY tax money they are spending.

DD

 

Educating the elites of foreign countries probably has a high ratio of return. If they stay here, we benefit. It they go back to their country we also benefit if they grow to like our country better. I would say making friends in Gaza to repair the damage of our Middle East foreign policy is important.