Belgium will not be evacuating the 13 Palestinian students and researchers who received scholarships to study at Belgian universities but are unable to leave Gaza.
During the first 'core cabinet' meeting of the Federal Government after the summer break, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) and his five Deputy PMs discussed this issue, but they could not find a consensus.
"I put forward a memorandum with three parts," Deputy PM and Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés) confirmed to The Brussels Times after the meeting.
It concerned the accommodation of the 13 scholarship students at the Belgian universities, a gradual and reasonable resumption of evacuations from Gaza "given the still dire humanitarian situation", and a financial contribution to a joint operation by the WHO and Jordan to enable sick children to receive treatment in Jordan.
Blackmail
"That proposal was well received by two partners, met with a very lukewarm reception by another, and was completely rejected by the last – unless we were prepared to make concessions regarding return to Afghanistan and return hubs," Prévot said.
It is no secret that the evacuation are a very sensitive issue within the Federal Government, as the Prime Minister's N-VA (Flemish nationalists) and MR (Francophone liberals) are against the evacuations. Meanwhile, Prévot's own Les Engagés (Francophone centrists), Vooruit (Flemish socialists) and CD&V (Flemish Christian-Democrats) are in favour of the evacuations.
In previous days, Belgium's Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt (also N-VA) made it clear that she fears a "domino effect", as the students could facilitate the arrival of other Gazans through family reunification.
Due to the lack of agreement, Prévot opted to withdraw his entire proposal. "One issue is being held hostage by another, at the expense of people living in misery," he said. "Dignity is not for sale."
One of the students, doctor Ahmad Abu Jami, 28, is devastated by the news, he told The Brussels Times. "I was hopeful that there would be a solution because we are not breaking laws. We did everything right except being in Gaza."
Additionally, Prévot stressed that he has never refused to discuss the issue of the return hubs, "but not as a means of blackmail."
As things stand, there is no consensus within the Federal Government to facilitate the evacuation and reception of the scholarship students. "Given the positions taken today, it is to be feared that this will not change in the short term," he said.
