Government bows to pressure over 10 Gazan medical students

Ten medical students from Gaza, nine of whom were initially refused a student visa by Norwegian authorities, are set to begin their studies in the fall as exchange students at the University of Oslo.

The Norwegian Directorate for Immigration (UDI) earlier rejected the nine students’ application for student visas on the grounds that there was a risk of them not returning to Gaza due to the situation there. The refusal led to a public outcry and an online petition which collected more than 5,000 signatories in less than 24 hours.

A joint press release from the office of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security on 2 August stated that the Norwegian Directorate for Immigration had been instructed by the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness to grant time-restricted visas to the Gaza students from the Al-Azhar-university in Gaza.

Humanitarian disaster

“The situation in Gaza is unsustainable. In spite of the enormous needs for immediate and life-saving health protection there are only 16 out of 34 hospitals in Gaza today that are partly in operation.

“Several hundred health workers have been killed and it is very difficult for aid organisations to get medical personnel into Gaza. The lack of healthcare personnel will make a severely affected healthcare system even less able to handle an already major humanitarian disaster.

“Therefore the government has decided that 10 medical students now will come to Norway to have an exchange stay at the University of Oslo. Together with contributions from other countries this may make a difference for the health system in Gaza over time,” Støre said.

Explaining the turnaround in the government’s approach to the students, the statement said the UDI makes decisions on individual cases in terms of the Immigration Act and it was “rare” that the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness intervenes in individual cases.

“This is only done if there are foreign policy considerations or fundamental national interests. In that case, the ministry can still instruct UDI,” it said.

“There is a high threshold for instructing the UDI in single cases. This is the way it shall be. This is an exception that is taken due to the very special situation for the health sector in Gaza now,” Støre said.

“Our view is that important foreign policy issues are involved in this case. In Gaza there is a huge need for health workers, and these 10 students will be able to contribute in the years ahead.

“On this ground we have today decided that the students will get residence permits for studies. This might also inspire other countries to give similar contributions,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide said in the statement

Al-Azhar University in Gaza has been hard-hit by Israeli attacks, forcing it to stop teaching. In addition, the Al-Shifa hospital where the students were undergoing practical training has been bombed, the press release noted.

Support from University of Oslo

Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo Magnus Løberg told the university’s online newspaper UNIFORUM the university was “ready to receive” the medical students from Gaza and was prepared to offer them extra support if necessary.

“Several hundred medical students in Gaza fled to Cairo after the war broke out. Ten of these got an offer to come to Oslo. But when they applied for a student visa, nine of them were rejected on the grounds that they would want to stay in Norway after the exchange stay,” Løberg said.

“The agreement with Al-Azhar university was made in the Spring and the University of Oslo had guaranteed to cover the expenses for travel and subsistence while in Norway,” he said.

On 22 July, however, Klassekampen reported that the UDI had rejected the students’ visa applications, which led to a public campaign, involving top leaders at the University of Oslo, and several discussions in the pages of newspapers and on social media platforms calling for the decision to be revoked.

On 28 July a petition titled “Let the Palestinian medical students come to Norway” complied by health workers Kveim Lie, Muhammed Almashhadani, Kaja Jamtli, Hilde Reksjø, Carl Munck, Sara Soraya Eriksen and Emma Lengle was published online.

During the first 24 hours the petition collected more than 5,000 signatories. At the time of the government's intervention on 2 August the petition had been signed by 9,975 people.