GAZA, July 26, 2012 (WAFA) – The Gaza-based al-Mezan, a human rights group, and the Israeli Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement decided Thursday to ask the Israeli High Court to hold an urgent session to discuss the situation of five college students from Gaza who have been banned from returning to their West Bank universities to continue their higher education.

A statement by the two organizations said that since the new school year starts on August 22, they will ask the High Court to issue an injunction against a decision by the state prosecutor that would allow the five students to return to their colleges in the West Bank.

The prosecutor, in response to a High Court request that it reconsider an earlier decision banning the students from completing their higher education in West Bank universities, said that the ban will continue. The case was therefore returned to the High Court to rule on it.

Al-Mezan and Gisha said the prosecutor admitted in May that there were no security reasons for banning the students from returning to the West Bank to complete their college education, but rather the ban is against all Gaza students who want to study in the West Bank.

However, the Israeli government’s military coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territories claimed that the ban was due to “highly important political and security reasons.”

Israel has banned Gaza resident from being in the West Bank in the last 10 years without a special permit. Gazans can reach the West Bank only through the Israeli crossings, mainly Erez, in northern Gaza.

M.S.