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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Toby Helm

‘I wish I had never come to the UK’: Palestinian academic despairs of getting visas for family stuck in Gaza

Bassem Abudagga, his wife Marim and two young children, Talya and Karim, at their home in Gaza before the outbreak of war.
Bassem Abudagga, his wife Marim and two young children, Talya and Karim, at their home in Gaza before the outbreak of war. Photograph: Handout

When Bassem Abudagga heard in 2022 that he had won a British Council scholarship to do his PhD in Britain, he was elated. “I was so proud,” he recalls. “It is what every academic in Palestine hopes for: to gain a qualification from the UK.

“It felt like a turning point for my career, my future, my family. It would shift my prospects to a completely different place.”

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