The British Home Office has refused to grant a group of Palestinian students entry visas to visit Bolton, a town in Greater Manchester in England, local media reported.
The teacher who helped plan the trip, Julia Simpkins, who is also secretary of the Bolton branch of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said the children were regular visitors to the town.
“They weren’t sure the children would return home. The idea that an 11-year-old would prefer to stay in England and not return to their parents seems pretty crazy to me,” she told the Bolton News.
Simpkins also highlighted the lack of communication about the decision. “No one bothered to call me and check, this” she said.
The students aged between 11 and 17 years of age are residents of Askar refugee camp near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. They have been visiting the town frequently in recent years.
The trips included homestays around the borough, meeting the town’s MPs and enjoying trips to the beach in Blackpool, all designed to provide a respite from the harsh conditions Israel experienced in the occupied West Bank.
The expected trip this year, which was supposed to have already begun, was intended to repeat the activities of the previous visits.
