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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/dawoud09042008.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/dawoud09042008.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>September 4, 2008<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>How I Lost My
Fulbright Scholarship <br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Israel Hinders Academic Pursuits
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By OSAMA
DAWOUD <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">N</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>ot many people in the Gaza Strip spend their
time thinking about Utah's Great Salt Lake. I have been dreaming of it
for months. This year, I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the
University of Utah to study in the department of civil and environmental
engineering. Palestinians in Gaza suffer from critical water and
environmental contamination problems. I planned to focus my Utah
education on water resources and environmental engineering so that I
could return home and help to alleviate these problems. But I will not be
attending this fall. On the basis of secret evidence conveyed by the
Israeli government, my American visa was canceled.<br><br>
I am a scientist dedicated to advancing the well-being of the Palestinian
people. Yet despite playing by the educational rules and excelling in the
academic arena, I am being hurt by an Israeli government that has bottled
Palestinians up in Gaza rather than allowing them to pursue opportunities
abroad. Hundreds of students in Gaza have been accepted to foreign
universities but are nonetheless prevented from attending by
Israel.<br><br>
After Hamas won elections supported by the Bush administration, Israel
put financial restrictions on Gaza and then imposed a devastating embargo
in June 2007. While Israel claims it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip,
this is belied by Israel's control over our land exits, airspace and
seaport. Our economy has been pulverized by the embargo and by Israeli
military airstrikes. We are encaged here 1.5 million people
collectively punished for the results of a democratic election whose
results Israel rejects.<br><br>
My dream of a first-rate American education in a Ph.D. program may well
be over. Financially, I do not have the means to pursue an education
without the help of a scholarship. Unemployment here is 45 percent. A
Fulbright scholarship is an extraordinary lifeline extended by the United
States.<br><br>
I have spent my life learning or teaching others. I have been a model
student and example of high academic achievement for younger Palestinian
students. Such students, including two of my own younger brothers, will
surely grow doubts about the worth of pursuing higher education when they
see Fulbright scholars being denied entry to the United States on grounds
obviously trumped up by the Israeli government.<br><br>
The Great Salt Lake and unusual Utah environment were particularly
enticing to me. Having never been to the Dead Sea, because Israeli travel
restrictions make the short trip practically impossible, I looked forward
to learning about a salt lake thousands of miles away.<br><br>
It's the water contamination in Gaza, however, that draws me to Utah and
the expertise of the university's professors. Israel's settlers,
illegally occupying our land in the Gaza Strip, used a disproportionate
amount of water until their departure in 2005. But most of the salinity
in our water supply is, in fact, a consequence of Israel's confining a
million refugees to this narrow strip of land. Additionally, Israel's
cutting of our electrical supply leads to waste water not being properly
treated. Through a Ph.D. at the University of Utah, I hoped to expand my
expertise and help solve Gaza's acute water pollution. My individual
loss, however, is part and parcel of Israel's decision to keep Gaza
impoverished and ill-educated.<br><br>
My people long for their freedom, and our young people champ at the bit
when limited to a spit of land 25 miles long and six miles wide.
Education and travel provide our students with tremendous opportunities
to learn and return to contribute to the well-being of the Palestinian
people. A remarkable program is now faltering on account of Israeli
policies.<br><br>
<b>Osama Dawoud</b>, a Fulbright scholar accepted to the University of
Utah, currently lives in the Gaza Strip. <br><br>
<br><br>
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