The US State Department has withdrawn all Fulbright grants to Palestinian students from Gaza.
They notified them of the decision by email.
Imagine studying to learn a second language, getting a college degree in a war zone, studying for and succeeding in expensive exams to prove your proficiency in that language, spending time and money applying to study in the US for a PhD or Masters program, and succeeding.
And then one day, before you can go, you get an email tell you sorry, the program has been canceled because the US government is afraid that Israel is making the money we were going to invest in you go to waste. They just won’t give you a visa, even though we give them millions of dollars in a year to continue occupying what remains of your country. Reapply next year if you want.
I mean, they couldn’t even bother to call!
Please Note: While the Fulbright grants are administered by the Institute for International Education, this decision has been made by the State Department. And, IT CAN STILL BE REVERSED. If you would like to write a letter or call, it should be directed at one CONDOLEEZA RICE.
Tarboush tip: Fadi and Tiffany
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This is totally idiotic move, but as a point of clarification the program was suspended because the Fulbright comission learned that Israel would not let students from Gaza leave. Pressure should be directed at Israel to change the policy, it seems to be out of the State Dept.’s hands.
FTA:
Some Israeli lawmakers, who held a hearing on the issue of student movement out of Gaza on Wednesday, expressed anger that their government was failing to promote educational and civil development in a future Palestine given the hundreds of students who had been offered grants by the United States and other Western governments.
“This could be interpreted as collective punishment,” complained Rabbi Michael Melchior, chairman of the Parliament’s education committee, during the hearing. “This policy is not in keeping with international standards or with the moral standards of Jews, who have been subjected to the deprivation of higher education in the past. Even in war, there are rules.” Rabbi Melchior is from the Meimad Party, allied with Labor.
The committee asked the government and military to reconsider the policy and get back to it within two weeks. But even if the policy is changed, the seven Fulbright grantees in Gaza are out of luck for this year. Their letters urged them to reapply next year.
Posted by Nimr | May 30, 2008, 3:38 pmTrue pressure should be directed primarily at Israel. But its embaressing the US can’t get 7 students out of Gaza.
Posted by Mohammad | May 31, 2008, 12:58 amEgypt will step up to the plate here, and make it clear that these Gazan students can leave through Egypt…
…right?
This is a shitty situation all around, and it’s good there’s pressure within the Israeli government to change it. It makes no sense from any perspective; it makes it harder to develop the intellectual capital necessary to run a secular Palestinian state in the future, it hurts Israel’s interests, it’s unfair to the students, it’s just no good for anyone. Here’s hoping it gets reversed.
Posted by Joe | May 31, 2008, 3:49 pmWell, gosh golly darn gee willicker, I sure hope those fine folks in the Israeli (or Egyptian) government can get this straightened out soon too. I can’t imagine that anyone would intentionally not give a shit or something. Everybody loves and cares about the Palestinians and tries their best to not make their lives harder.
You make me want to poke my eyes out with my thumbs.
Posted by safiyyah | May 31, 2008, 5:34 pm“” Well, gosh golly darn gee willicker, I sure hope those fine folks in the Israeli (or Egyptian) government can get this straightened out soon too. I can’t imagine that anyone would intentionally not give a shit or something. Everybody loves and cares about the Palestinians and tries their best to not make their lives harder.
You make me want to poke my eyes out with my thumbs.”"
Safiyyah, ever heard of ‘bad PR’?
This hurts Israel’s long-term strategic objectives by hurting the development and growth of an educated class of secularized Palestinians who are naturally going to be more predisposed toward ending armed conflict with Israel.
This hurts Israel’s short-term interests by providing awful PR for them. Look at the pictures accompanying the article — pictures of Palestinians behaving as normal, middle-class people would under even extremely adverse circumstances, and not the usual rage/grief montage you see in the news accompanying stories of bombings and reprisals.
It’s a lose-lose for Israel.
Posted by Joe | June 1, 2008, 5:07 pmJoe, just curious.
What makes you assume that educated Palestinians are all secularized?
Posted by Mohammad | June 2, 2008, 12:22 amSecular is synonymous with educated and cultured, which are all mutually exclusive to religious and ignorant.
Didn’t you get the memo, Mohammad? Just look at GWBUSH.
Posted by Emily | June 2, 2008, 2:32 am“”What makes you assume that educated Palestinians are all secularized?”"
Who said ‘all’?
We’re talking a statistical distribution, not an absolute.
That said, if it can’t be an assumption, it’s certainly a hope. Religious belief has proven itself to be nothing but a counterproductive poison, and the sooner the Palestinians (and the rest of us) get beyond pretending there’s a Magical Sky Daddy that really truly gives a shit about what happens to us, the better.
Posted by Joe | June 2, 2008, 4:02 amEnforced secularism is the new religious intolerance. You’re entirely more intolerant than I am, Joe, and you are so under the guise of being the most tolerant *ever*. I am so tired of militantly bitter atheism. It’s getting old.
Posted by safiyyah | June 2, 2008, 8:44 amSeriously Joe, I respect alot of your viewpoints but I’ve been following all your comments. Intolerance isn’t exclusive to the religious-from alot of what you say, you are openly preaching intolerance towards those who don’t agree with your liberal, secular way of life.
I mean, you’ve said on more than one occasion that the Palestinian struggle for freedom will not get your support until Palestinians reject religion and embrace secularism. Don’t you think its a bit intolerant to deny people their rights because they don’t believe in your way of life?
Sorry I know this particular post isn’t the right forum for this…I’m just saying.
Posted by Mohammad | June 2, 2008, 10:32 amI respect none of Joe’s viewpoints.
Posted by QuiQui | June 2, 2008, 12:08 pm“”Enforced secularism is the new religious intolerance. You’re entirely more intolerant than I am, Joe, and you are so under the guise of being the most tolerant *ever*. I am so tired of militantly bitter atheism. It’s getting old.”"
Who said anything about enforced secularism, a-la Turkey?
We can hold something up as the ideal without enforcing it via the law.
Individual Liberty. It’s important.
And since when am I bitter? I’m actually quite hopeful – the world seems to be moving in a positive direction, all things considered.
Posted by Joe | June 2, 2008, 12:31 pm“”
I mean, you’ve said on more than one occasion that the Palestinian struggle for freedom will not get your support until Palestinians reject religion and embrace secularism. Don’t you think its a bit intolerant to deny people their rights because they don’t believe in your way of life?”"
I don’t mean ‘reject religion’ in the personal sense. I mean reject religion in the PUBLIC sense, as in, rejecting religion as a way of RUNNING society.
And no, it’s not intolerant, because running a society based on religious belief inherently constitutes a measure of fantastic violence — against homosexuals, against atheists, against blasphemers, women, against anyone who just wants to go out and be ridiculously promiscuous, against anyone who wants to freely express themselves. It’s an inherently fascistic arrangement that brooks no dissent.
To the extent that a majority of people buy into and support such restrictions, that’s classic mob rule — a form of mass despotism.
What you’re talking about isn’t a ‘choice’. It’s violence by another name.
Posted by Joe | June 2, 2008, 12:36 pmI do actually agree with Joe on this one…
Why is it prasieworthy to offer any validity to the extreme idiocy of the “holy books”?
If a man turned up tomorrow proposing the same poorly written, scientifically ignorant and transparently inconsistent nonsense that is found in the Koran, the Bible or the Torah, or any other collection of prehistoric fables, he would be in a lunatic asylum.
And rightly so.
If the Koran (or Bible, etc) is the revealed word of God, how come the big guy knows so little….?
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 3, 2008, 7:55 amI do actually agree with Joe on this one…
Why is it prasieworthy to offer any validity to the extreme idiocy of the “holy books”?
If a man turned up tomorrow proposing the same poorly written, scientifically ignorant and transparently inconsistent nonsense that is found in the Koran, the Bible or the Torah, or any other collection of prehistoric fables, he would be in a lunatic asylum.
And rightly so.
If the Koran (or Bible, etc) is the revealed word of God, how come the big guy knows so little….?
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 3, 2008, 7:55 amI do actually agree with Joe on this one…
Why is it prasieworthy to offer any validity to the extreme idiocy of the “holy books”?
If a man turned up tomorrow proposing the same poorly written, scientifically ignorant and transparently inconsistent nonsense that is found in the Koran, the Bible or the Torah, or any other collection of prehistoric fables, he would be in a lunatic asylum.
And rightly so.
If the Koran (or Bible, etc) is the revealed word of God, how come the big guy knows so little….?
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 3, 2008, 7:55 amI do actually agree with Joe on this one…
Why is it prasieworthy to offer any validity to the extreme idiocy of the “holy books”?
If a man turned up tomorrow proposing the same poorly written, scientifically ignorant and transparently inconsistent nonsense that is found in the Koran, the Bible or the Torah, or any other collection of prehistoric fables, he would be in a lunatic asylum.
And rightly so.
If the Koran (or Bible, etc) is the revealed word of God, how come the big guy knows so little….?
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 3, 2008, 7:55 amI do actually agree with Joe on this one…
Why is it prasieworthy to offer any validity to the extreme idiocy of the “holy books”?
If a man turned up tomorrow proposing the same poorly written, scientifically ignorant and transparently inconsistent nonsense that is found in the Koran, the Bible or the Torah, or any other collection of prehistoric fables, he would be in a lunatic asylum.
And rightly so.
If the Koran (or Bible, etc) is the revealed word of God, how come the big guy knows so little….?
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 3, 2008, 7:55 amI do actually agree with Joe on this one…
Why is it prasieworthy to offer any validity to the extreme idiocy of the “holy books”?
If a man turned up tomorrow proposing the same poorly written, scientifically ignorant and transparently inconsistent nonsense that is found in the Koran, the Bible or the Torah, or any other collection of prehistoric fables, he would be in a lunatic asylum.
And rightly so.
If the Koran (or Bible, etc) is the revealed word of God, how come the big guy knows so little….?
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 3, 2008, 7:55 amI do actually agree with Joe on this one…
Why is it prasieworthy to offer any validity to the extreme idiocy of the “holy books”?
If a man turned up tomorrow proposing the same poorly written, scientifically ignorant and transparently inconsistent nonsense that is found in the Koran, the Bible or the Torah, or any other collection of prehistoric fables, he would be in a lunatic asylum.
And rightly so.
If the Koran (or Bible, etc) is the revealed word of God, how come the big guy knows so little….?
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 3, 2008, 7:55 amAnd let’s not go with the “Well, the whole world was backward back then so nobody would have understood God if he kicked some knowledge” argument.
The things written in, for example, the Torah, actively promoted people to reject science and modernity when it came to them. That’s actually what Hanukkah was all about — the Maccabees were the Taliban of their day. Greek culture had come in along with colonial occupation, Epicureanism and other fun innovations, like Democritus’ theorizing that the world was made up of atoms, and the Maccabees started slaughtering the Hebrews who were swayed by secularism.
There was a surprising amount of knowledge spread across the ancient world — the engineering know-how to build the pyramids, for instance, Greek philosophy and science, the processes to develop steel were actually figured out by 400 AD…
…and the more a people became invested in the holy monotheistic books, the less use they tended to have for what we’d now call ‘progress’.
Of the three greatest systems of global governance — the Roman Empire, the Mongol Empire, and the current Pax Americana — none were founded, coincidentally, on the foundation of monotheism.
Posted by Joe | June 3, 2008, 1:10 pmThe Fulbrights for the Gaza students have been reinstated.
Posted by Anonymous | June 3, 2008, 11:36 pmFaith is the enemy of reason…. and in this world of chronic stupidity masquerading as spiritual certainty, we need more of the latter, not the former.
I agree that secularism would be a healthy prescription for the Middle East – for Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi and Palestine – but let’s not forget that baseless religious silliness is used as daily justification for the daily imprisonment, disenfranchisement and colonisation of millions of Palestinians….
If we remove religion from politics – which I’m very much for – then we also remove the justification for Israel.
Wow…. result all round.
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 4, 2008, 10:30 amFaith is the enemy of reason…. and in this world of chronic stupidity masquerading as spiritual certainty, we need more of the latter, not the former.
I agree that secularism would be a healthy prescription for the Middle East – for Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi and Palestine – but let’s not forget that baseless religious silliness is used as daily justification for the daily imprisonment, disenfranchisement and colonisation of millions of Palestinians….
If we remove religion from politics – which I’m very much for – then we also remove the justification for Israel.
Wow…. result all round.
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 4, 2008, 10:30 amFaith is the enemy of reason…. and in this world of chronic stupidity masquerading as spiritual certainty, we need more of the latter, not the former.
I agree that secularism would be a healthy prescription for the Middle East – for Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi and Palestine – but let’s not forget that baseless religious silliness is used as daily justification for the daily imprisonment, disenfranchisement and colonisation of millions of Palestinians….
If we remove religion from politics – which I’m very much for – then we also remove the justification for Israel.
Wow…. result all round.
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 4, 2008, 10:30 amFaith is the enemy of reason…. and in this world of chronic stupidity masquerading as spiritual certainty, we need more of the latter, not the former.
I agree that secularism would be a healthy prescription for the Middle East – for Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi and Palestine – but let’s not forget that baseless religious silliness is used as daily justification for the daily imprisonment, disenfranchisement and colonisation of millions of Palestinians….
If we remove religion from politics – which I’m very much for – then we also remove the justification for Israel.
Wow…. result all round.
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 4, 2008, 10:30 amFaith is the enemy of reason…. and in this world of chronic stupidity masquerading as spiritual certainty, we need more of the latter, not the former.
I agree that secularism would be a healthy prescription for the Middle East – for Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi and Palestine – but let’s not forget that baseless religious silliness is used as daily justification for the daily imprisonment, disenfranchisement and colonisation of millions of Palestinians….
If we remove religion from politics – which I’m very much for – then we also remove the justification for Israel.
Wow…. result all round.
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 4, 2008, 10:30 amFaith is the enemy of reason…. and in this world of chronic stupidity masquerading as spiritual certainty, we need more of the latter, not the former.
I agree that secularism would be a healthy prescription for the Middle East – for Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi and Palestine – but let’s not forget that baseless religious silliness is used as daily justification for the daily imprisonment, disenfranchisement and colonisation of millions of Palestinians….
If we remove religion from politics – which I’m very much for – then we also remove the justification for Israel.
Wow…. result all round.
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 4, 2008, 10:30 amFaith is the enemy of reason…. and in this world of chronic stupidity masquerading as spiritual certainty, we need more of the latter, not the former.
I agree that secularism would be a healthy prescription for the Middle East – for Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi and Palestine – but let’s not forget that baseless religious silliness is used as daily justification for the daily imprisonment, disenfranchisement and colonisation of millions of Palestinians….
If we remove religion from politics – which I’m very much for – then we also remove the justification for Israel.
Wow…. result all round.
Posted by Darwin's appendix | June 4, 2008, 10:30 amhere’s an update on that one – they’re letting the scholars leave.
NY Times Article
Posted by ally | June 5, 2008, 10:18 pm“”
If we remove religion from politics – which I’m very much for – then we also remove the justification for Israel.”"
Yes and no. In the long-term, there’s no justification for Israel to remain a Jewish state, we agree.
In the short term, Israel being a Jewish state seems to be the option with the best shot of producing a secular liberal-democratic state in Palestine in the long run.
Once honor killing isn’t an issue in Arab Israeli communities, and you can hold a gay pride parade in the West Bank without fear, then I’ll be open to the proposition that it’s time for Israel to stop being an explicitly Jewish state.
Posted by Joe | June 6, 2008, 4:12 amOh, and yay for the scholars getting to leave.
Posted by Joe | June 6, 2008, 4:13 am“Israel being a Jewish state seems to be the option with the best shot of producing a secular liberal-democratic state in Palestine in the long run.”
Profoundly disagree…..
Thanks to the creation of Israel, the ethnic-based theocracy that continues to exclude, occupy and disenfranchise the local population, the region is now becoming more fundamentalist (Islamic and Judeo) with each passing year – not less.
You simply have to understand that Israel by its very creation set back, perhaps permanently, secular nationalism between the Jordan and the Mediterrannean… Palestine was a plurocratic, urbanised commercial centre with a long history of secularism and liberalism before the creation of Israel, but that Zionism torpedoed any hope of tolerance – because in and of itself, it was an intolerant phenomenon. Worse still, it was intolerant to those in whose land it was an all-too-recent interloper…
You obviously don’t understand the political and social currents of the region, or its history. Hamas is an entirely party – and its success is as solely a result of the murderous presence of Israel.
As I said before, Israel had 30 years to deal with Palestinian secular nationalists, and it chose war, occupation and colonisation.
Sadly, the whole region is reaping what they have sowed.
Posted by Lowfields | June 8, 2008, 9:26 amI will be linking back I really like your site keep up the good work.
Posted by Reverse Merger | June 8, 2009, 10:38 pm