UK: Palestinian Youth Football Team denied visas
01 October 2007
A planned three-week tour to Britain by the Palestinian Under-19 football squad was stopped in its tracks in August when the British consulate in Jerusalem refused to grant visas to the entire team. The youth team, which had arranged several matches, including games against Blackburn Rovers, Tranmere and Chester youth sides, was due to arrive on 21 August for a three week tour of the UK; refusal notices were received by the Palestinians on the 22 August.
The reasoning behind the decisions was as follows:
paragraph 41ii of the Immigration Rules requires me to be satisfied that you intend to leave the United Kingdom on completion of your proposed visit. You have applied for entry clearance at a time when the borders to Gaza have been closed for over two months with no indications of when they will be open again. You have produced no evidence that you will be permitted by the Israeli authorities to exit Gaza for onward travel to the UK, or that if you are able to travel, you would be able to return home to Gaza on completion of your visit. You are habitually resident in Gaza and have provided no evidence that should you be unable to return there, you would be admitted to any other country after a stay in the United Kingdom. I am therefore not satisfied that you intend to leave at the end of your proposed visit.
The organiser of the tour, Rod Cox, was additionally told that the youths' poverty was another reason for the ban. In a “Catch 22” situation, it would seem that the western boycott of Hamas, imposed after it won elections in Gaza in January 2006, has achieved its aim in reducing the region to poverty and now that poverty itself is given as a legitimate reason for restricting the Palestinians’ freedom even further.
Another result of the Israeli seige has seen the right of Palestinians to an education, as stipulated in the UN universal declaration of human rights, severely curtailed, as the case of Khaled al-Mudallal demonstrates. Khaled is a student at the University of Bradford but, along with thousands of others, has been unable to leave because of an Israeli Supreme Court ruling (October 2). In a letter to
The Guardian on 5 October, academics from the Department of Peace Studies at Bradford University, described the court's ruling as: "a fragrant breach of a fundamental right to education. This judgement undermines both academic freedom and the very possibility of constructive dialogue across communities."
At the beginning of November the Labour MP, Diane Abbott, tabled an Early Day Motion calling for the government to take action on the case Khaled al-Mudallal. It reads:
"That this House is concerned at the situation facing Bradford University student Khaled al-Mudallal, who is currently confined to Gaza as a result of restriction on his movement imposed by Israeli authorities; recognises that Mr al-Mudallal has a British residency permit allowing him to stay in the UK to study until 2010; believes that Mr al-Mudallal should be allowed back to Bradford to complete his degree in business and management; and calls on the Government to take action to ensure Mr al-Mudallal's right to education is secured.
For more information contact the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, email: info@palestnecampaign.org
See: http://www.palestinefootball.myzen.co.uk/page18.html; Guardian 5.10.07