In reponse to a campaign for the Palestinian MSc offer holder trapped in Gaza to pursue his degree, the School has offered him a conditional scholarship to study at the School.
Students at the LSE voted strongly in favour of a motion proposed by the LSESU Palestine Society, which mandated the Students’ Union to continue campaigning on behalf of Othman. Othman is currently unable to take up his offer due to the Israeli siege on Gaza, which has left his family homeless and restricted his movements outside the Gaza strip.
Several renowned figures such as Tony Benn and Lindsey German, President and convenor respectively of the Stop the War Coalition, and Jeremy Corbyn MP have sent messages of support for the Union’s campaign. Two days after the motion was passed on the 8th of October, Othman received a letter from the Catherine Baldwin, Head of Recruitment and Admissions a the LSE, offering him a scholarship conditional on his completion of the TOEFL English examination.
The scholarship will cover Othman’s tuition fees but is not enough to allow him and his two dependent children to leave Gaza and study at the LSE.
Mira Hammad, Chair of the LSESU Palestine Society called the development “a step in the right direction by the LSE administration,” but added that “in order to make a material difference to Othman, the LSE must first extend this scholarship to cover his family’s living costs and must then do all it can to facilitate Othman’s exit from Gaza, including issuing a statement requesting that Othman be allowed to leave Gaza and condemning the effect of the siege on his right to education.”
Elaborating on the school’s efforts, an LSE spokesman said, “Mr Sakallah has been offered a place to study at LSE and of course we very much hope he will be able to take it up. In light of his difficult situation we have also made a financial award which will go a long way towards meeting the expense of living and studying in London.
Mr Sakallah is planning to study in 2010. To enter Britain he has to apply for a visa and this application cannot be made until three months before his course starts. So it’s too early to say what representations might need to be made on his behalf but we certainly hope he will be allowed to leave and to attend LSE. Other Palestinian students (from the West Bank and Jerusalem) are studying at LSE this year.”
LSE students are continuing to lobby the LSE to assist Othman, specifically in facilitating his exit from Gaza. A campaign statement is being signed by hundreds of students urging the university to issue a statement condemning the siege and its impact on the ability of LSE students to pursue their right to education, and working with LSE to establish five new scholarships for Palestinians to support the right to education, and scholarships for students from other conflict zones.
Ziyaad Lunat, co-founder of the Palestine Solidarity Initiative, the organisation which assisted Othman in his application to the LSE, issued a statement welcoming the LSE’s recent move, but stating that “there is still a long way to go. The LSE is still very far from securing the right to education for Othman, or for other Palestinian students.”
Related posts:
- Motion to let Othman study passed at UGM
- Think of Othman
- Palestinian student denied right to study at LSE
- Dithering in the dark
- Palestine protestors embarrass Davies
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