UNITED STATES

US drops Gaza scholarships after Israel travel ban
Under Israeli pressure, United States officials have quietly cancelled a two-year-old scholarship programme for students in the Gaza Strip, undercutting one of the few American outreach programmes to people in the Hamas-ruled territory, writes Lauren E Bohn for Boston.com.The programme now faces an uncertain future, just two years after being launched with great fanfare by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during a visit to the region. It offers about 30 scholarships to promising but financially challenged Palestinian high school seniors from Gaza and the West Bank to study in local Palestinian universities. It is a rare opportunity for gifted students in Gaza, which has been constrained by an Israeli blockade since Hamas seized power five years ago.
Full report on the Boston.com site