MIFTAH - Fulbright or McCarthy for Palestinian Students?

MIFTAH - Fulbright or McCarthy for Palestinian Students? MIFTAH Join MIFTAH's Pool of Experts Your Key to Palestine Home Arabic / العربية Policy Papers Archive News Fact Sheets Statements Special Studies Articles Women of Palestine Jerusalem Track Key Issues MIFTAH's Op & Ed Agreements & Treaties UN Resolutions Letters & Speeches True Stories Hosted by MIFTAH Media Monitoring About Us Profile Mission and Vision Strategic Plan 2022-2026 Financial Statements Activity Reports Biannual Newsletter Contact Us Privacy Policy Publications All Publications Women Protection Women Empowerment Youth Empowerment Political Dialogue Fiscal Justice Political Participation Women Peace and Security Palestinian Narrative Advancing Human Rights Programs Good Governance and Democracy Fiscal Justice (FJ) Election Support Women Protection from Gender-based Violence (GBV) Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) more ... Communication and Public Diplomacy Women Peace and Security (WPS) Human Rights Program (HRP) more ... ☰ Fulbright or McCarthy for Palestinian Students? Date posted: August 18, 2008 By Fidaa Abed Last week, I landed in Washington, DC, brimming with optimism. Upon arrival, I was whisked into a separate room. An American official informed me that he had just received information about me that he could not reveal. However, it required him to put me on the next plane home. I was shocked. And I was taken aback at the cruelty of snatching away my educational dreams at the last possible moment. As a young Palestinian from Gaza, I had been eagerly anticipating the opportunity to study at the University of California San Diego on a Fulbright scholarship. The chance to escape Gaza's confines and immerse myself in an American education was deeply thrilling. With Israel controlling Gaza's border exits, air space and sea access -- notwithstanding its "pullout" of 2005 -- I imagined the long, open roads of the United States and its people's unchallenged freedom of movement. I love my people and my homeland, but a young person needs opportunities. These are far more abundant in the US than in the besieged Gaza Strip. Last week, I landed in Washington, DC, brimming with optimism. Upon arrival, I was whisked into a separate room. An American official informed me that he had just received information about me that he could not reveal. However, it required him to put me on the next plane home. I was shocked. And I was taken aback at the cruelty of snatching away my educational dreams at the last possible moment. My mistreatment was particularly unexpected because in late May, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice learned that I and six other Fulbright students were being stripped of our Fulbright scholarships, she leapt to our assistance. One by one, Israel let other Palestinian Fulbright scholars out of Gaza, and they made their way to American universities. Then I was mysteriously singled out for last-minute denial based on "secret evidence." Two others had their visas canceled on account of secret evidence before they could even leave Gaza. William J. Fulbright was the only US senator to vote against funding for Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Un-American Activities Committee. It is ironic, then, that my remarkable educational opportunity is being stripped from me on the basis of the sort of secret -- and fabricated -- evidence that Fulbright opposed in the hands of McCarthy. Unopposed, McCarthy destroyed lives. I do hope the US will side with the openness of Fulbright and not the fear-mongering of McCarthy. Israel routinely locks up Palestinians based on secret charges. All sorts of outrageous claims can be leveled based on information that Israeli officials garner coercively. Could the secret evidence against me have been extracted through the torture of some young Palestinian? Was I even the one denounced, or someone with a similar name? Was my "crime" sharing a classroom or a lunchtime conversation with someone Israel believes poses a danger? I have no way of k…