ONE of the first academics to be rescued from Gaza and given sanctuary in the UK has received a placement at a Scottish university, it has been announced.
The Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara) has announced that Amani Ahmed, 40, the former head of the international relations department at the Islamic University of Gaza, has been given a place at Edinburgh University.
She has lived in Scotland since October 2, 2024 – moving from Gaza just five days before the Hamas attacks on Israel which sparked the brutal bombardment of Palestine.
Ahmed, who is pursuing a PhD in management studies, spent months in Scotland separated from her husband and children because her scholarship did not cover the cost of visas for her family.
Because of a communications blackout, she was unable to hear from her family as bombs rained down on them, with one airstrike damaging the family home.
After Ahmed’s family escaped Gaza and got to safety in Egypt, they were reunited and travelled to the UK this April. The next month, she and her husband welcomed the birth of their fourth child.
She is one of two Gazan academics Cara has helped move to the UK, with the charity helping to pay for the visas and other costs of moving her family to Scotland.
The other, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a visiting fellow at Cambridge University.
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The charity said it was supporting the rescue of 13 more Palestinian academics who are said to be arriving in Britain shortly to complete placements at Glasgow, York, Newcastle, Durham and Leeds.
Academics around the world are in peril, the charity said, with the war in Ukraine, the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and the brutal civil war in Sudan all putting strain on Cara’s work.
Since October 2023, it has received over 120 applications for help from Palestinians, almost all of them from Gazans, Cara said.
But frequent communication blackouts and closed border crossings have frustrated its efforts and requests for help "help far outweigh” the numbers that can be rescued, the charity said.
Stephen Wordsworth, executive director of Cara, said: “We are at a pivotal moment in our charity’s history. The desperate pleas for help from scholars facing persecution and danger – in Gaza and around the world – have surged to levels not seen since our foundation nearly a century ago.
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“Despite relocating more threatened academics than at any time in our history – thanks to the generous support of our university partners – the sheer number of academics now at risk poses a major challenge.”
He said that the charity must secure extra funding to continue its work, adding: “With greater support, we would be able to give even more scholars the chance to rebuild their lives and importantly, their shattered societies, when it is safe for them to return.”
The charity, which said it had seen a 400% increase in demand in the last three academic years compared with the three academic years from 2018, is currently taking a fundraising appeal around the country.
It is due to visit St Andrews University on October 30.
You can find out more about Cara and donate to support their work here.
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