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Washington: The United States has revoked the visas of three Palestinian Fulbright scholars whose cases were taken up personally by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after Israel refused to let them leave Gaza for interviews, US officials said.
Visas for the three, along with a fourth Palestinian student from Gaza who had hoped to come to the US under a different programme, were approved after Rice intervened in June but were rescinded last week when "new information" about them was received, the officials said.
"There were four Palestinians who were issued visas about whom we then received additional information," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said. "We decided that we needed to take a closer and harder look at them in light of the additional information we received."
He said the visas were cancelled under a "prudential revocation" clause in immigration rules that allows them to be rescinded based on information about the holders after they were issued.
Gallegos declined to comment on the nature of the "new information" about the four Palestinians, one of whom had actually arrived in Washington before he was told his visa had been revoked.
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