BRUSSELS, Belgium: Belgium’s top universities condemned on Monday the government’s refusal to help 13 students from war-torn Gaza who received scholarships at Belgian universities reach the country.
Brussels set aside plans to evacuate the Palestinian students last week in a case that has split the coalition government.
The rectors of the European country’s top 10 universities expressed their “dismay” at the move in a letter, accusing the administration of using the students as “bargaining chips” in a “disgraceful political horse-trading.”
Centrist Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot has advocated in favor of evacuating the students but has faced opposition from the Flemish conservatives party of Prime Minister Bart De Wever, according to a government source.
Prevot said one member of the five-party coalition demanded concessions on migration, including the creation of deportation centers, in return for greenlighting the evacuations.
“They must not be treated as bargaining chips or as variables to be adjusted in political debates on migration,” the rectors wrote of the Gaza students.
“Their cases must be assessed for what they are: those of students and researchers who have been awarded scholarships on the basis of their academic merit and who have all expressed their intention to return to their home countries to contribute to their reconstruction.”
The students are among about 1,500 Palestinians in Gaza currently waiting to reach Belgium, having been granted the right to do so, mainly under family reunification rules, according to several NGOs.
Yet, evacuations from the Palestinian territory at war with Israel are proceeding at a trickle, with activists and now the universities accusing the government of deliberately slowing down the process.
“Discussions in recent weeks also show that the obstacles cited do not stem from insurmountable constraints but rather from a lack of political will,” the university chiefs wrote.
The case is not isolated, with Palestinian students hoping to study in Italy, Turkiye, the Netherlands, Germany also reporting delays in recent months.
Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,221 people, according to official Israeli figures.
Israel’s offensive has since claimed at least 73,470 lives in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry, which operates under Hamas.