Israel Travel Still Restricted

A recent State Department amendment to United States travel protocol downgrading its warning against travel in Israel ignited the hopes of Harvard students eager to study abroad in the Middle Eastern nation—despite the administration’s continued refusal to sanction studies in nations on the Department’s travel warning list.

The U.S. government, whose policy until last Thursday strictly warned American citizens against traveling to Israel, now “urges U.S. citizens to carefully weigh the necessity of their travel to Israel in light of the risks” but does not completely discourage it.

Students’ hopes were frustrated upon learning that Harvard’s current policy denying credit and funding to students who wish to study in countries on the State Department’s list, primarily for liability reasons, would not be altered with respect to Israel even with the reduced travel advisory.

Director of the Office of International Programs (OIP) Jane Edwards said, “With the policy as it is and with the warning as it is, even though it has been downgraded, it will not change [Harvard’s] policy towards Israel.”

The University’s current policy, especially with its refusal to remove Israel from its list of prohibited travel destinations, has incited the anger of students and faculty alike, who are eager to apply their classroom work to international studies.

Numerous reasons, including academic and financial discrimination, have been cited by students and faculty as evidence of the University’s need to amend its policy.

Liora R. Halperin ’05, a Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations concentrator, expressed her interest in studying in Israel for the Fall 2003 semester, but was refused funding and university credit by the administration. Though she was “lucky that [she] got to do what [she] wanted to do,” it was only due to her advanced standing that she was able to fit her studies in Israel into her academic plan.

Other students, including Arie J. Hasit ’05, who wished to research the hip-hop culture in Israel, were unable to fulfill their academic wishes.

“I was told that I could take leave from [Harvard], study [in Israel], and have my credit retroactively accepted,” Hasit wrote in an e-mail, “but I chose not to pursue it because I did not want to study abroad for no credit (for financial reasons).”

Halperin, in a 2003 e-mail to Dean of Harvard College Benedict H. Gross ’71 and then-Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education Jeffrey Wolcowitz, noted that the State Department’s warnings applied to countries concentrated in specific regions, namely Africa, the Middle East, and several Slavic nations, thus precluding students who study these areas from pursuing their interests abroad.

“It is sad for a lot of us who study Hebrew,” said Noah Hertz-Bunzl ’08. “That is a regional specialty that we can’t take advantage of.”

Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies Jay Harris said, “I think the policy is inconsistent with our academic mission, but it’s not just Israel. Other colleges find ways to send their students [to nations on advisory] and Harvard should do the same.”

Students from groups such as the Harvard Students for Israel, the Progressive Jewish Alliance, and the Harvard African Students’ Association, have spoken out against the policy and set up an online petition at travelpolicypetition.org. It is aimed at convincing Harvard administrators to remove the school’s restrictions on travel not only to Israel, but also to other nations with political unrest and dangerous conditions.

Hannah-Sarah Faich ’07, who has been working to “coordinate student efforts urging the College to revise its travel policy,” wrote in an e-mail that she is “still encouraging all students who have interest to travel/study in Israel (or any country on the State Department list) to go talk to Jane Edwards.”

But despite the protests, the administration’s policy will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future. Edwards noted that the only way for students to study in Israel and other restricted nations under the sanction of the University is for the University to change its ruling, but added that this is out of OIP’s jurisdiction.