Excellent News from Gaza

One of the Gazan grantees received an email today from the U.S. Department of State informing him that his grant had been reinstated. We are thrilled by this development and have heard from other Gazan grantees that they received the same good news. We are calling upon the global Fulbright community to continue showing their support for these seven grantees throughout their visa process. You can do this by signing the open letter below and by spreading the word about this positive step in the process of getting these grantees to the U.S.

The following is the text of the email received today (June 1, 2008) by the Gazan grantee.

The US Department of State is working to secure exit permits for you to travel to Jerusalem for your visa interview and for final travel to the United States in order to participate in the Fulbright program this year. We are working closely with the Government of Israel in order to secure its cooperation in this matter.

Therefore, I'm pleased to inform you that the Bureau of Educational and Cultural affairs (ECA) of the US Department of State has instructed Amideast in Washington to continue the placement process at a US university for the 2008-09 academic year for your Fulbright program nomination.

We will notify you when your placement has been arranged to begin the next steps inthe grant process.