SDLP Youth have today urged people to sign a petition calling on the Israeli government to allow Palestinian student Haneen Wishah to travel to Ireland to begin a Masters in Business Innovation scholarship at the University of Ulster.

Haneen Wishah is a 23-year old student living in the Gaza Strip, but she is trapped there as the Israeli government will not supply a visa to allow her to cross the border into Egypt and on to Ireland.

Please take a moment to sign the petition

The petition by Trócaire is sent to the relevant Israeli ambassador in Dublin or London with the following message:

I am writing to you to express my serious concern at the situation of Haneen Wishah, a 23 year old Palestinian student living in the Gaza Strip. Haneen is a bright, talented young woman - people like her are the future of peace in the region. Israel is punishing the entire population of Gaza - including Haneen - for rocket attacks into Israel. This is not only unfair it is illegal, in violation of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Haneen is innocent and should not be punished for something she is not personally responsible for.

This summer Hanneen was offered a scholarship to study a Masters in Business and Innovation in the University of Ulster.

However, Haneen has been unable to get a visa to leave the Gaza Strip via Israel and is prevented from leaving through the Rafah crossing point to Egypt, over which Israel maintains effective control. Haneen is now seeking permission to travel out of Gaza to study at the University of Ulster this September.

If we want to have a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis then international humanitarian law must be respected and people like Haneen must be encouraged. I appeal to you to immediately issue Haneen with a visa so that she can leave Gaza to pursue her studies.

Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Palestine, Petition, Trócaire

This entry was posted on Monday 8th September 2008 at 7:13 pm and is filed under Civil Rights, International, Press Releases, University & Colleges. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.