JERUSALEM/GAZA, 1 June 2008 (IRIN) - Hundreds of students in the Gaza Strip are unable to leave and travel to universities outside the enclave due to the tight restrictions on entry and exit, the Israeli rights group Gisha said.

The matter was brought before the Israeli Knesset's (parliament) Education Committee on 28 May, which convened and heard student testimonies.

"Preventing students in Gaza from studying is reminiscent of a painful point in Jewish history," said Rabbi Michael Malchior, the committee chairman.

"Trapping hundreds of students in Gaza is immoral and unwise," he added.

A spokesman for Malchior told IRIN the committee would write to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, asking them to reconsider the current policy and allow out more students, taking into account all relevant security concerns.

The Gaza Strip has been under a tight blockade since Hamas took over the administration last June. The Rafah Crossing to Egypt has only been opened sporadically.

Since January, Israel has tightened the restrictions on who can exit through the northern Erez Crossing, limiting it to only "humanitarian cases", specifically medical patients, according to Gisha, which means "access" in Hebrew.

This affects people such as Obaida Abu Hashem, 18, who wants to travel to the US to study mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The field I want to study does not exist in Gaza, and study abroad is my only opportunity," Gisha cited Abu Hashem as saying.

Beyond the desires of the individuals to reach institutions abroad and expand their knowledge, the Gaza Strip itself is desperately in need of educated professionals as a brain-drain has already taken place.

A spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, told IRIN the government in the enclave was aware of the problem.

"Many students have lost their seats at the universities because they could not get out," he said. "We have coordinated with the Egyptians several times to let some students out through Rafah, but only a minority have been able to leave."

Studying to help the environment

With Gaza's sewage system a mess and the situation getting worse due to the fuel restrictions, the environmental impact is becoming more severe. Daily some 60,000 cubic litre of raw and partially treated wastewater is dumped into the sea.

Wisam Abuajwa wants to study for a master's degree in environmental sciences at the University of Nottingham.

"There is no master's programme in environmental sciences at the universities in Gaza," Abuajwa told IRIN. "I want to come back to Gaza and solve our water problem, because we have contamination problems and we need to fix this."

Similarly, Nibal Naif, 27, dreams of becoming the first woman in Gaza to hold a doctorate in computer engineering, but she needs to get to Germany first.

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