The Israeli Supreme Court turns down a petition put forward by human rights organizations on behalf of a UK student trapped in Gaza . Khaled Mudallal, 22, a British-educated business and management student has not been able to leave Gaza to the UK to do his final year at Bradford University and risks losing his third year if he does not return to Bradford next week.
The Supreme Court said that the matter is in the hands of the army and have consistently refused to interfere. Human rights organizations have argued that new restrictions which have so far prevented several hundred Palestinian students from returning from Gaza to courses abroad are in violation of international law.
A rally was organized at Bradford University to coincide court hearing by “Trapped in Gaza †campaign which was setup to try and put pressure on Israeli Government to lift the travel restrictions on Khaled as well as all o the r Palestinians. The organizers were hoping that the rally would conclude the campaign on a positive note, unfortunately the Israeli supreme court choose to ignore the Khaled’s case, despite the campaign gaining a lot of support, ranging from national newspapers, National union of students, UCU, several MPs and numerous civil society groups.
Khaled’s case is considered a test case of new restrictions on movements in and out of Gaza since Israel declared it as “hostile entity” last week. A student who joined the campaign commented that “The latest restriction on freedom of movement within Gaza is yet ano the r blow to all those who support basic human rights, within Palestine and across the world. The Israeli Supreme Court, yet again, has legitimised the idea that being a Palestinian in Palestine ranks you as a lower class citizen.â€
