‘Disappearing’ scholarships are just the latest violation of the Palestinian right to education by Nada Elia

As spelled out in the Fourth Geneva Convention Israel, as the occupying power, is legally obligated to secure the human rights of the Palestinians—human rights it has systematically violated for decades.  Its violation of the Right to Education not only shatters the immediate hopes of individuals, it threatens the overall well-being of an entire society, as the brightest minds are deprived of opportunities to acquire badly-needed cultural, professional, and technical knowledge they would put to use to improve their society.  As I was researching this story, I also heard about dozens of scholarships to medical school in Cuba also “disappearing.” With the health and overall humanitarian situation in Gaza bordering on genocide, an influx of recent medical graduates would be life-saving.  Indeed, as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights makes clear, education is both a human right in itself, and a sine qua no condition for achieving other human rights.