NaveedYet somehow about 80 of #Palestine\ians (19 to 32) secured places in 32 #UK universities, including #Oxford, #Cambridge, Edinburgh, St Andrews and #London. Of these, 32 won full scholarships to become doctors, engineers, mental health professionals etc. https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-war/article/gaza-students-uk-universities-oxbridge-blocked-7j8hhqnhx
But after overcoming so many obstacles, it now turns out the #British government may be the hardest of all, making unfeasible demands for #Palestinians to get out, including eight who have been awarded #Chevening Scholarships.
Malak (16) achieved the top national results in her school exams, the equivalent of GCSEs, but her education stopped in 2023 as the schools in #Gaza shut. Despite this, she applied on her mobile phone (computers required too much power) to study in #Cambridge.
Nada Alfarra, 28, a doctor awarded scholarship in the University of Greenwich, is also affected. “I understand there are rules and requirements for visas but rules should have a heart, particularly in a place like #Gaza where everything is destroyed. And it's a govt scholarship.”
“One day while checking my email, a helicopter gunship suddenly appeared and fired directly at me. One shell nearly blew my head off. Another missed my hand by inches and almost destroyed the borrowed phone which was my lifeline to the world.” #Gaza #Palestine #Netanyahu
Some time after that he was at the house of a friend, who had solar panels with which to charge his phone and laptop, when it was directly targeted. “We were all wounded,” he said, “but by some miracle none of us died.”